Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed two new senators on Saturday, bringing broadcaster Charles Adler and health care executive Tracy Magri to the Canadian Senate.
“Canada’s Senate will be even stronger with the addition of independent senators, and Mr. Adler and Mr. Magri will bring their wealth of experience and knowledge to the service of Canadians in their new roles,” Trudeau said in a press release.
Adler, a refugee from Hungary, has been a news anchor and author for decades. She is an Emmy Award winner and a prominent political commentator throughout her career as a journalist. She will be elected to the Senate for Manitoba.
Magri is a senior executive in the health care industry in Saskatoon and has been active and served on the boards of numerous organizations in the health and social care sectors.
In 2016, Trudeau introduced a new appointment process that relied on an independent advisory committee.
Formally, the Governor-General appoints Senators, but he acts on the advice of the Prime Minister.
Trudeau has appointed 84 senators so far under the new process. The majority of senators belong to one of several independent groups in Parliament. In the Senate, several senators form the Conservative caucus.
The Liberal Party has revamped the appointments process with the aim of creating a more independent, less partisan and more diverse Senate.
Many independent senators say they have no ties to the ruling party and evaluate bills based on their own judgment, often pointing to the numerous amendments made to government bills in recent years.
Conservatives have consistently argued since 2016 that the process leads to appointments that favor the Liberal Party. Number of recent appointees Senators do have strong ties to their parties.
The House of Lords recently debated a series of new rules that would give more powers to independents in the House of Lords. These changes have been heavily criticised by the Conservative Party.
Muggli, who was appointed on Saturday, ran as the Liberal Party candidate in 2015 and 2019 and is a long-time donor to the party, according to publicly available donation data.
Adler is not running for office and does not appear in federal contribution databases. He has long been considered a conservative commentator but in recent years We discussed moving. Stop supporting conservative parties Policy shift And that’s the approach that’s happened over the last decade or so.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has long advocated for a bipartisan Senate, but a CBC News analysis shows that his recent appointments have become increasingly partisan — exactly what the reforms were meant to prevent.
“I just couldn’t believe that a Liberal prime minister – and critics would say too liberal – who has been mostly conservative up until now would even consider proposing this,” Adler told CBC News.
“To me, nothing demonstrates independence more than someone like me,” he said, adding that he is honoured to represent Manitoba.
Conservatives criticize the appointment
Adler said Trudeau stressed the importance of acting independently to him in the call, and that while several senators had contacted him to say they welcomed him, none had told him they expected him to express partisan views in the Senate.
In a statement on Saturday, the Conservative Party criticised the appointments of Muggli and Adler.
Citing Magri’s political ties and Adler’s past criticism of the Conservative party, the paper said the appointment “proves that Trudeau is appointing his Liberal friends to protect his disastrous policies.”
