Stephen Harper swears off new Senate appointments

In pre-election move, Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he won’t fill any more Senate appointments, a move meant to force reform of the upper chamber.

Thestar.com
July 24, 2015
By Les Whittington

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he will keep starving the Senate of new members, a pre-election strategy meant to revamp his party’s stance on the future of Ottawa’s scandal-plagued upper chamber.

Harper, whose government has been dogged by revelations of Senate spending abuse, said he will use his personal appointment power to refuse to name any more senators, a move intended to force the provinces to agree to reform or abolish the unpopular institution.

“We’re just not going to make the appointments and the number of vacancies will continue to rise,” Harper said Friday.

Of the 105 seats in the Senate, 22 are currently vacant because Harper has not appointed any new senators for two and a half years. The Conservatives hold 47 Senate seats and seven are held by Independents. There are 29 Liberal senators, but they have been dropped from the Liberal parliamentary caucus.

“The government is not going to take any actions going forward that would do anything to further entrench that unelected, unaccountable Senate,” Harper said during a stop in Regina where he was meeting with Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall.

This will compel the provinces, which he said have so far resisted changes, to either agree on “comprehensive reform” or conclude that abolition is the way to go, he said.

“They’ve got a chance. The ball is in their court. They can now propose reforms,” Harper remarked, saying it’s time for what he called a “21st-century institution.

“Legislatures are elected in the 21st century. If you have a program to do that, show it to us,” he said.

However, Harper added a caveat that if the Conservatives continue in government, he might have to name senators in the future to ensure passage of legislation.

Formalizing a moratorium on new Senate appointments may give Harper a stronger position going into the Oct. 19 election. With a former top aide to Harper set to testify next month at the criminal trial of Mike Duffy, the suspended senator appointed by the prime minister, the ongoing Senate scandal and the future of the upper chamber will likely play heavily in the fall campaign.

In recent months, Harper appeared to have washed his hands of the issue of Senate reform in response to court rulings requiring the federal government to engage in daunting constitutional negotiations to accomplish changes. In contrast, the NDP has been calling for outright abolition of the Senate and the Liberals have proposed a new, non-partisan way to pick future members of the upper chamber.

But Harper’s latest approach to changing the unelected institution is likely to spark controversy and, if the Conservatives are re-elected, continuing court battles.

Vancouver lawyer Aniz Alani has launched a court challenge against Harper’s abolition-by-attrition policy, asking the courts to clarify if the prime minister is required to appoint senators. He said the Constitution requires that Senate vacancies be filled as they come open.

“I don’t think the Constitution, as it currently sits, allows the prime minister to let them accumulate indefinitely or, as he has announced today, to effectively stop appointing any more senators,” Alani told CBC’s Power and Politics Friday.

A spokesperson for Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said the Harper announcement “distracts from the urgent priorities facing Canadians, like infrastructure investments and retirement security.”

“The Premiers met last week and unanimously called on the federal government to address urgent issues like jobs and the economy, health care, Aboriginal issues, and climate change. Unfortunately the Prime Minister declined to participate,” Zita Astravas said in an email.

“We continue to urge the Stephen Harper government to focus on these urgent priorities,” she said.

NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair, who favours Senate abolition, responded by questioning Harper’s commitment to swear off Senate appointments after naming 59 Tory loyalists to the upper chamber since taking office in 2006.

“Way back in 2004, Mr. Harper promised to never appoint a senator. Today, we heard the same promise. Only problem is that in between those statements, he made almost 60 Senate appointments,” Mulcair said in a statement.

“With an election on the horizon, Mr. Harper is hoping Canadians forget that he’s responsible for the biggest scandal in the Senate’s sorry history. I’m confident they won’t,” he said.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said that both the Conservatives and New Democrats are advocating an unworkable, unconstitutional position.

“Both the NDP and Conservatives are posturing for a popular position that actually has no capacity of happening. Abolition actually requires negotiation with the provinces, constitutional haranguing that will take us through 10 years,” Trudeau said Friday during a visit to Vancouver.

“The Canadians that I talk to want a government that is focused on jobs and growth,” he said.

Harper has long been in favour of Senate reform - or failing that, its abolition. But despite that, he has nonetheless found himself on the hot seat as the upper chamber has sunk to a new low in public opinion, brought on largely by controversy stirred by his own appointees to the Senate.

The lightning rod for the upsurge in disapproval was Duffy, who was made a senator by Harper in 2008. While a highly popular keynote figure at Conservative functions for years, by 2012 Duffy was caught up in ethical questions about his Senate expense accounts.

In the resulting uproar, Harper was drawn into the scandal when it emerged his former chief of staff, Nigel Wright, had secretly written a $90,000 personal cheque for Duffy. The payment, which allowed Duffy to pay back $90,000 in questionable expense claims, was part of a months-long backroom campaign by officials in Harper’s office to keep the Duffy spending mess under wraps. Harper said he was kept in the dark by his officials.

Wright resigned from the Prime Minister’s Office and the RCMP later laid 31 charges, including fraud, bribery and breach of trust, against Duffy. He has pleaded not guilty. Duffy’s trial resumes Aug. 12 with Wright on the witness stand, a dramatic round of testimony likely to reignite national demands to do something about the upper chamber.

In addition to Duffy, Harper-appointed senator Patrick Brazeau is also facing a charge of breach of trust and fraud in relation to an RCMP investigation into living and housing expenses. Former broadcaster Pamela Wallin, also named by Harper to the Senate, remains under a police probe for her expenses, although no charges have been laid.

Conservative Sen. Don Meredith is under investigation by the Senate’s ethics officer after published allegations last month about a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old. And the RCMP is reviewing the cases of 30 senators after a scathing audit by auditor-general Michael Ferguson of Senate spending records.

At Friday’s press conference, Harper also disputed the findings of the independent parliamentary budget officer, who said this week that the government would fail to balance the books as promised in 2015 - instead running a $1-billion deficit.

“We are well on track to realize a balanced budget this year,” Harper told the media.