Canadian Senate reform: A decade of membership changes and the road ahead

1. Senate of Canada: Background in brief

The Senate of Canada shares many similarities with the House of Lords.^[1] These include its role as a second chamber in a Westminster-style bicameral Parliament in which an elected House of Commons holds primacy; its members being appointed on the advice of a prime minister; and even the traditional red colour used for seating in its chamber. Indeed, for around a century—from shortly after Canadian confederation in 1867 until a revision in 1969—the Senate’s rulebook said explicitly that House of Lords procedure and precedent should be followed in any cases not provided for in the Senate’s own set of rules.^[2] In addition, King Charles III, as King of Canada, opened Canada’s 45th Parliament in the Senate chamber in May 2025.^[3]

However, today there are also important differences between the two second chambers. These include:^[4]

• the size of the Senate, which ordinarily has a fixed number of 105 seats
• senators being apportioned on a regional basis, with a prescribed number of seats reserved for each of Canada’s 10 provinces and three territories
• senators having a mandatory retirement age of 75
• the Senate’s speaker being authorised to rule on points of order and preserve order and decorum

The Senate’s 105 seats are distributed between the provinces and territories of Canada as follows:^[5]

• Ontario (24)
• Quebec (24)
• Maritime provinces (24): New Brunswick (10), Nova Scotia (10) and Prince Edward Island (4)
• Western provinces (24): British Columbia (6), Alberta (6), Saskatchewan (6) and Manitoba (6)
• Newfoundland and Labrador (6)
• Territories (3): Yukon Territory (1), Northwest Territories (1) and Nunavut (1)

Figure 1. Map of Canada showing Senate seats by province or grouping

2. Attempts at reform

Historically, Canadian prime ministers rarely appointed senators from other parties or independents, instead tending to make political appointments to the benefit of their party.^[6] This led to many Canadian citizens regarding the Senate as a controversial institution and fuelled debate on whether the chamber should be reformed into an elected body or abolished.^[7]

In 2011 Canada’s then Conservative government proposed the introduction of consultative elections for Senate appointments.^[8] However, three years later Canada’s Supreme Court confirmed that implementing consultative elections or introducing senatorial term limits required the consent of seven provinces representing 50% of Canada’s population.^[9] It also ruled abolition would require the consent of all 10 provinces. An informal moratorium on appointments followed for what Stephen Harper, then prime minister, termed the “unelected, unaccountable Senate”.^[10]

3. Moving towards a more independent chamber

Alongside these developments, in 2014 Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau, then in opposition, removed his party’s senators from the Liberal Party’s parliamentary caucus.^[11] Justifying his decision, Mr Trudeau called for a Senate with a less partisan membership:

The Senate was once referred to as a place of sober second thought. A place that allows for reflective deliberation on legislation, in-depth studies into issues of import to the country, and, to a certain extent, provide a check and balance on the politically driven House of Commons.

It has become obvious that the party structure within the Senate interferes with these responsibilities.^[12]

Mr Trudeau proposed that the Senate should be made non-partisan by way of an “open, transparent, non-partisan process” that would see all appointees to the Senate sit as non-affiliated independents.

After winning a majority in the 2015 federal elections, the Liberal government acted on its manifesto commitment to “create a new, non-partisan, merit-based process to advise the prime minister on Senate appointments”.^[13] In December of that year the government announced it would establish a new Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments^[14] to assist with identifying Canadians who would “make a significant contribution” to the work of the Senate.^[15]

Mr Trudeau made his first seven recommendations for appointments in line with the new process in March 2016.^[16] Between this first list and his final set of recommendations made in March 2025, Mr Trudeau recommended 100 independent appointments to the Senate following recommendations received from the independent advisory board.^[17]

Alongside changes in composition arising from the new appointments system, over the past decade the Senate also:

• undertook an inquiry on modernisation, leading to, among other changes, the start of televised proceedings^[18]
• moved to a new temporary chamber in Ottawa as part of the Parliament of Canada’s own restoration and renewal programme^[19]
• introduced a package of rule changes to reflect the large and growing proportion of independent senators.^[20]

4. Where next?

Mr Trudeau announced his resignation as leader of the Liberal Party in January 2025. His successor as party leader and prime minister, including following federal elections in April 2025, Mark Carney, has said little so far about his government’s plans regarding the Senate.^[21] In the meantime, political disagreement has continued on whether the changed character of the Senate over the past decade has made the Senate more effective, and whether further reforms, for example to seat allocations between provinces, should be prioritised instead.^[22]

5. Read more

• John Paul Tasker, ‘Trudeau radically overhauled the Senate: Will Carney keep his reforms?’, CBC News, 26 July 2025
• Senate Government Representative’s Office, ‘A brief history of the Canadian Senate’, accessed 1 December 2025
• House of Lords Library, ‘Canadian Senate reform: What has been happening?’, 17 March 2020; and ‘Canadian Senate reform: Recent developments’, 13 September 2016
• Jason VandenBeukel et al, ‘Birds of a feather? Loyalty and partisanship in the reformed Canadian Senate’, Canadian Journal of Political Science, December 2021, vol 54, issue 4, pp 830–49

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Image by Parliament of Canada on Flickr.