List of current Senators of Canada

The Senate Chamber, located in the Centre Block of Parliament Hill

This is a list of current members of the Senate of Canada (French: Le Sénat du Canada), the upper house of the Canadian Parliament. Unlike the Members of Parliament in the House of Commons, the 105 senators are appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the prime minister.^[1] Senators originally held their seats for life; however, under the British North America Act, 1965, members may not sit in the Senate after reaching the age of 75. Prime ministers normally choose members of their own parties to be senators, though they sometimes nominate independents or members of opposing parties.

Seats are allocated on a regional basis, each of the four major regions receives 24 seats, and the remainder of the available seats being assigned to smaller regions. The four major regions are Ontario, Quebec, the Maritime provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island), and the Western provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan). The seats for Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut are assigned apart from these regional divisions.^[2] The province of Quebec has 24 Senate divisions that are constitutionally mandated. In all other provinces, a Senate division is strictly an optional designation of the senator's own choosing, and has no real constitutional or legal standing. A senator who does not choose a special senate division is considered a senator for the province at large.^[2] The distribution of seats has been criticized for not being proportional per region. For example, Ontario has 40 percent of Canada's population but only 24 seats, while the smaller Atlantic provinces have a combined 30,^[3] and British Columbia, the third most populous province, only has six seats.^[4]

Currently, there are 83 senators and 22 vacancies. There are 31 women in the Senate.^[5] The Conservative Party currently holds 47 seats, a majority of sitting senators. Active senators have been appointed on the advice of five different prime ministers: Stephen Harper, Paul Martin, Jean Chrétien, Brian Mulroney and Pierre Trudeau. Anne Cools is the longest-serving current senator; she was appointed on the advice of Pierre Trudeau in 1984.

As of 4 November 2015 there is no government caucus in the Senate because the Senate Liberal Caucus is not affiliated with the governing Liberal Party of Canada.

Current senators

^ † Quebec is the only province with Senate divisions that are constitutionally mandated. In all other provinces, a Senate division is strictly an optional designation of the senator's own choosing, and has no real constitutional or legal standing. A senator who does not choose a special senate division is considered a senator for the province at large.^[2]

^ * These three senators were suspended during the 41st Parliament and removed from the Conservative caucus. While suspended, they were unpaid and unable to debate or vote in the Senate. Their suspensions ended upon dissolution of the 41st Parliament on August 2, 2015.

^ ‡ On January 29, 2014, Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau announced all Liberal senators were removed from the Liberal parliamentary caucus, and asked to sit as independents;^[34] however, the senators retained their party membership, and still refer to themselves as Liberals.^[35]

Standings

The distribution of senators by party and by province is as follows:^[36]

Seating plan of the Canadian Senate

See also

• Canadian Senate seating plan
• List of Canadian Senate appointments by Prime Minister
• List of senators in the 42nd Parliament of Canada
• Party standings in the Canadian Senate

References

Federal Parliaments in Canada Parliaments 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st 32nd 33rd 34th 35th 36th 37th 38th 39th 40th 41st 42nd House Members … 11th … 36th 37th 38th 39th 40th 41st 42nd Senate Members 1st … 28th 29th 30th 31st 32nd 33rd 34th 35th 36th 37th 38th 39th 40th 41st 42nd Current Women 14th–29th … 39th 40th 41st 42nd