Senate Liberal Caucus

Senate Liberal Caucus
Caucus libéral du Sénat
Leader Hon. Joseph A. Day
Chairman Hon. Terry Mercer
Founded 29 January 2014
Split from Liberal Party of Canada
Ideology Liberalism
Political position Centre to Centre-left
Colours      Red
Seats in the Senate
18 / 105
Website
liberalsenateforum.ca

The Senate Liberal Caucus (French: Caucus libéral du Sénat) or Senate Liberals (French: libéraux au Sénat)[1] is a parliamentary grouping in the Senate of Canada made up of independent senators who are individually members of the Liberal Party of Canada and were appointed by previous Liberal Prime Ministers. The caucus is not formally affiliated to or recognized by the Liberal Party.

History

Senate Liberals were part of the parliamentary Liberal Party caucus until January 2014 when party leader Justin Trudeau expelled all senators from the caucus with the stated intention of their becoming independent senators that would act independently of the Liberal Party and Liberal MPs in the House of Commons.[2] After being expelled from the Liberal Party caucus in 2014, Liberal senators chose to keep the designation "Liberal" and continue to sit together as a caucus. Unlike previous practice in which the Senate Liberal leaders was appointed by the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, the leader of the Senate Liberal Caucus is now elected by Liberal senators.[3] Since 2014, several senators have left the caucus and redesignated themselves as non-affiliated senators or joined the Independent Senators Group.

When the Liberal Party under Trudeau formed the government following the 2015 federal election, contrary to previous practice, the Senate Liberals did not become the government caucus in the Senate. Instead, Trudeau appointed a non-affiliated senator to be the Representative of the Government in the Senate.

Leaders of the Senate Liberal Caucus

Name Prov. Term start Term end
Jim Cowan Nova Scotia January 29, 2014 June 15, 2016
Joseph A. Day New Brunswick June 15, 2016 present

References

  1. ↑ "Officers and Officials of Parliament - Current Officers". PARLINFO. Library of Parliament. Retrieved February 24, 2017.
  2. ↑ Spencer, Christina (29 January 2014). "Justin Trudeau kicks all 32 Liberal senators out of caucus in bid for reform". National Post. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  3. ↑ Crawford, Allison (3 Dec 2015). "Senate Liberals unsure how to work with Trudeau government". CBC News. Retrieved 1 Jan 2016.

See also

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