Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will appoint 10 new senators before leaving office in March, Radio-Canada reported on Tuesday.
The selection process has begun for the Senate vacancies, which must be filled before Trudeau steps down following the Liberal leadership vote on March 9.
PMO spokesman Simon Lafortune confirmed the advisory board’s active role in proposing candidates. “The prime minister takes his responsibility to appoint senators seriously and will do so as long as he remains in office,” Lafortune said.
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Conservative senators have criticized the move. “For someone who advocated an independent Senate, [Trudeau] will have ended up filling the Senate with a large majority of Liberals or people who support his policies,” Conservative Senator Claude Carignan said.
Conservative MP Dan Albas described Trudeau as “a man who knows no shame.”
Trudeau has appointed 90 senators since 2015, when he introduced a merit-based nomination process. Recent appointments include former Liberal MPs Rodger Cuzner and Nancy Karetak-Lindell, along with Liberal Party candidates Tracy Muggli, Bernadette Clement, and Michèle Audette.
Conservatives hold 12 seats in the 105-member Senate. The party wants Trudeau to delay appointments until after the next election.
The appointments could shape Parliament for years, as senators serve until age 75.
The Conservative Party, which has called on Liberal leadership contenders to “immediately speak out against this attempt by this lame-duck prime minister to stack the Senate with his preferred candidates just before he departs office,” worries these appointments might block their agenda if they win the next election.
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