Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced the appointments of two Alberta senators.
Governor Mary Simon has appointed Darryl Fridhandler and Christopher Wells to the Red Chamber, also known as the Senate, the Prime Minister’s Office announced in a news release Saturday.
According to a biography accompanying the announcement, “Fridhandler is a corporate lawyer, arbitrator, mediator and businessman with over 40 years of legal experience.”
Fridhandler was admitted to the Alberta Bar in 1984 and serves as a director of the electricity company Enmax.
According to a biography page on the website of Calgary law firm Barnett, Duckworth & Palmer, he has been an active supporter of the federal Liberal Party throughout his career and served as the party’s election co-chair in Alberta from 2004 to 2009. He has been a partner at the firm since 1990.
According to a database of political contributions published by Elections Canada, Fridhandler has donated about $80,000 to the Liberal Party of Canada between 2004 and 2023. Records show he donated $1,200 to Trudeau’s 2013 leadership campaign.
In a statement to CBC News, Friedhandler said he typically donates the maximum amount allowed by law to the federal Liberal Party, but has also donated to the federal Green Party, whose leader, Elizabeth May, is a former law school classmate of his.
He said he has donated province-wide to the Alberta Liberal Party, the Alberta Party, the Progressive Conservative Party and the New Democratic Party.
“I volunteer with political parties and candidates, as well as many good causes in the community,” Fridhandler said.
Christopher Wells’ biography describes him as “an educator and advocate for the 2SLGBTQ+ community who has used his research and advocacy to advance diversity, equity and human rights in Alberta and across the country.”
He is the editor-in-chief of LGBT Youth Journal., According to a biography on the website of Edmonton’s MacEwan University, where Wells is an associate professor, it is “the world’s leading research publication on 2SLGBTQ+ youth.”
Wells also helped create the Pride Tape initiative, which has been adopted by several National Hockey League players in recent years.
The latest appointments leave six vacant seats in the Senate: two each from British Columbia and Quebec, and one each from Ontario and Nunavut.
Alberta Premier criticizes appointments, calls for reforms
In 2021, Alberta held a “Senate election,” reviving a practice that took place in the province from 1989 to 2012. During that period, 10 senators were elected, but only half of them were actually appointed, and all of them were appointed by Conservative premiers.
The 2021 Senate elections are non-binding because senators are appointed by the governor general on the recommendation of the prime minister, who receives recommendations from an independent advisory committee that was set up by the Trudeau government when it came to power in 2014.
The commission itself is made up of five members, including the federal chair, two other federal commissioners, and two provincial commissioners on an ad-hoc basis. In Alberta’s case, the commissioners are former journalist Linda Hughes and businesswoman Sheila Risbad.
Neither Fridhandler nor Wells appeared on the ballot in Alberta’s most recent senior legislative election, which was held in conjunction with municipal elections. the controversial referendum on equalization; More than 200,000 voters left their Senate ballots blank.
Alberta Premier Daniel Smith on Saturday criticized Trudeau’s appointments to the federal senate, saying they showed a “blatant disregard” for the interests of Albertans.
“Despite Alberta having democratically elected its next senator time and time again to represent the interests of Albertans, he has chosen to appoint a left-wing loyalist who will do his and the Liberal party’s bidding at all costs,” Smith wrote on Twitter. “The Senate continues to lose credibility as an institution and is in need of complete reform.”
