Editing Senate of Canada (section)

==Composition==
===Qualifications===
[[File:CAsenate.jpg|right|thumb|250px|The Senate Chamber of [[Parliament Hill]] in [[Ottawa]].]]
{{Canadian politics}}
Senators are appointed by the governor general via the recommendation of the prime minister. Traditionally, members of the prime minister's party were chosen. The constitution requires that a person be a [[Canadian citizen|subject of the King]], between 30 and 75 years of age and a resident of the province or territory for which they are appointed, to become a senator. Senators must also own property worth at least $4,000 above their debts and liabilities,<ref name=Franco/> a rule introduced to ensure senators were not beholden to economic vagaries and turmoil. There is a mandatory retirement age of 75. A sitting senator is disqualified from holding office if they:

*fail to attend two consecutive sessions of the Senate;
*become a subject or citizen of a foreign power;
*file for [[bankruptcy]];
*are convicted of [[treason]] or an [[indictable offence]]; or
*cease to be qualified in respect of property or of residence (except where required to stay in Ottawa because they hold a government office).

===Representation===
Each province and territory is entitled to its number of Senate seats specified in section 22. That section divides most of the provinces of Canada geographically among four regions, with one province and all three territories remaining outside any division. The divisions have equal representation of 24 senators each: [[Western Canada]], Ontario, Quebec, and the [[Canadian Maritimes|Maritimes]]. The Western division comprises British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, each having 6 seats. The Maritimes division comprises New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, who each have 10 seats, and Prince Edward Island, which has 4 seats. [[Newfoundland and Labrador]] is represented by six senators. The [[Northwest Territories]], [[Yukon]] and [[Nunavut]] have one senator each.

Quebec senators are the only ones to be assigned to specific [[Canadian Senate divisions|districts within their province]]. This rule was adopted to ensure that both French- and English-speakers from Quebec were represented appropriately in the Senate.{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}}

[[File:Canada population per senator map.svg|thumb|206x206px|Population per senator in each region. A redder hue indicates that the region is overrepresented, and a greener hue indicates that the region is underrepresented.]]

Like most other upper houses worldwide, the Canadian formula does not use representation by population as a primary criterion for member selection, since this is already done for the House of Commons. Rather, the intent when the formula was struck was to achieve a balance of regional interests and to provide a house of "sober second thought" to check the power of the lower house when necessary. Therefore, the most populous province (Ontario) and two western provinces that were low-population at their accession to the federation and that are within a region are under-represented, while the Maritimes are over-represented. For example, British Columbia, with a population of about five million, sends six senators to Ottawa, whereas Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, both with populations under one million, are entitled to 10 senators each. Only Quebec has a share of senators approximate to its share of the total population.{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}}

Senators must possess land worth at least $4,000 and have residency in the province or territory for which they are appointed.<ref name=Franco/> In the past, the residency requirement has often been interpreted liberally, with virtually any holding that met the property qualification, including primary residences, second residences, summer homes, investment properties, and undeveloped lots, having been deemed to meet the residency requirement;<ref name=wallin>{{cite web |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/senator-says-she-won-t-talk-more-about-sask-residency-1.837918?ref=rss |title=Senator says she won't talk more about Sask. residency |publisher=[[CBC News]] |date=February 17, 2009}}</ref> as long as the senator listed a qualifying property as a residence, no further efforts have typically been undertaken to verify whether they actually resided there in any meaningful way.<ref name=wallin/>

Residency has come under increased scrutiny, particularly as several senators have faced allegations of irregularities in their housing expense claims. In 2013, the Senate's internal economy committee required all senators to provide documents proving their residency in the provinces.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ottawacitizen.com/business/Senators+ordered+provide+concrete+proof+primary+residence/7901612/story.html |title=Senators ordered to provide concrete proof of primary residence |work=[[Ottawa Citizen]] |date=January 31, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130204072103/http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/Senators+ordered+provide+concrete+proof+primary+residence/7901612/story.html |archive-date=February 4, 2013  }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Province or territory
!Senate division!!Senators!!Population per senator<br />(2021)
!Total population<br />(2021)!!% of senators!!% of population!!{{abbr|No.|Number}} of seats,<br />House of Commons!!% of seats,<br />Commons
|-
|{{flag|Ontario}}||Ontario
|24
|592,664
|14,223,942
|22.9%
|38.5%
|121
|35.8%
|-
|{{flag|Quebec}}||Quebec
|24
|354,243
|8,501,833
|22.9%
|23.0%
|78
|23.1%
|-
|{{flag|British Columbia}}
| rowspan="4"|[[Western Canada]]
|6
|833,480
|5,000,879
|5.7%
|13.5%
|42
|12.4%
|-
|{{flag|Alberta}}
|6
|710,439
|4,262,635
|5.7%
|11.5%
|34
|10.0%
|-
|{{flag|Manitoba}}
|6
|223,692
|1,342,153
|5.7%
|3.6%
|14
|4.1%
|-
|{{flag|Saskatchewan}}
|6
|188,751
|1,132,505
|5.7%
|3.1%
|14
|4.1%
|-
|{{flag|Nova Scotia}}
| rowspan="3" |[[Maritimes]]
|10
|96,938
|969,383
|9.5%
|2.6%
|11
|3.3%
|-
|{{flag|New Brunswick}}
|10
|77,561
|775,610
|9.5%
|2.1%
|10
|3.0%
|-
|{{flag|Prince Edward Island}}
|4
|38,583
|154,331
|3.8%
|0.4%
|4
|1.2%
|-
|{{flag|Newfoundland and Labrador}}
| rowspan="4" {{n/a}}
|6
|85,092
|510,550
|5.7%
|1.4%
|7
|2.1%
|-
|{{flag|Northwest Territories}}
|1
|41,070
|41,070
|0.9%
|0.1%
|1
|0.3%
|-
|{{flag|Yukon}}
|1
|40,232
|40,232
|0.9%
|0.1%
|1
|0.3%
|-
|{{flag|Nunavut}}
|1
|36,858
|36,858
|0.9%
|0.1%
|1
|0.3%
|- class="sortbottom"
| colspan="2"|Total/average, {{flag|Canada}}
|105
|352,305
|36,991,981
|100%
|100%
|338
|100%
|-
| colspan="9" |'''Note:''' Population data based on the latest official '''[[2021 Canadian census]]''', conducted and published by [[Statistics Canada]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Government of Canada|first=Statistics Canada|date=2018-03-27|title=Population and dwelling counts: Canada, provinces and territories|url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810000101|access-date=2023-01-21|website=www150.statcan.gc.ca}}</ref>
|}

There exists a constitutional provision—section 26 of the ''Constitution Act, 1867''—under which the sovereign may approve the appointment of four or eight extra senators, equally divided among the four regions. The approval is given by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister, and the governor general is instructed to issue the necessary letters patent. This provision has been used only once: in 1990, when Prime Minister [[Brian Mulroney]] sought to ensure the passage of a bill creating the [[Goods and Services Tax (Canada)|Goods and Services Tax]] (GST). The appointment of eight additional senators allowed a slight majority for the [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Progressive Conservative Party]]. There was one unsuccessful attempt to use Section 26, by Prime Minister [[Alexander Mackenzie (politician)|Alexander Mackenzie]] in 1874. It was denied by [[Queen Victoria]], on the advice of the British Cabinet.<ref>W.H. McConnell, Commentary on the ''British North America Act'' (Toronto:  McMillan & Co., 1977), pp. 72–73.</ref> The clause does not result in a permanent increase in the number of Senate seats, however. Instead, an attrition process is applied by which senators leaving office through normal means are not replaced until after their province has returned to its normal number of seats.

Since 1989, the voters of Alberta [[Alberta senate nominee elections|have elected "senators-in-waiting"]], or nominees for the province's Senate seats. These elections, however, are not held pursuant to any federal constitutional or legal provision; thus, the prime minister is not required to recommend the nominees for appointment. Five senators-in-waiting have been appointed to the Senate: the first was [[Stan Waters]], who was appointed in 1990 on the recommendation of Brian Mulroney; the second was [[Bert Brown]], elected a senator-in-waiting in 1998 and 2004, and appointed to the Senate in 2007 on the recommendation of Prime Minister [[Stephen Harper]]; the third was [[Betty Unger]], elected in 2004 and appointed in 2012; the fourth and fifth, [[Doug Black]] and [[Scott Tannas]], were both elected in 2012 and appointed in 2013.<ref name=7new>{{cite news|title=Harper appoints 7 new senators|date=January 6, 2012|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/harper-appoints-7-new-senators-1.1140276|publisher=CBC News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |agency=The Canadian Press |date=2013-03-25 |title=Harper appoints Scott Tannas to Senate to fill Alberta vacancy |url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/article/harper-appoints-scott-tannas-to-senate-to-fill-alberta-vacancy/ |access-date=2025-02-13 |website=CTVNews |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Alberta Senator Doug Black Retires |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-senator-doug-black-retire-1.6137309}}</ref> None of the senators-in-waiting elected in 2021 have been appointed to the senate.

The base annual salary of a senator was $184,800 in 2025,<ref>
{{cite web |url=https://lop.parl.ca/sites/ParlInfo/default/en_CA/People/Salaries |title=Indemnities, Salaries and Allowances |website=Parliament of Canada |publisher=Library of Parliament |access-date=July 27, 2015}}</ref> although members may receive additional salaries in right of other offices they hold (for instance, the title of Speaker). Most senators rank immediately above [[Member of Parliament (Canada)|Members of Parliament]] in the [[Canadian order of precedence|order of precedence]], although the speaker is ranked just above the [[Speaker of the House of Commons (Canada)|speaker of the House of Commons]] and both are a few ranks higher than the remaining senators.{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}}

===Current composition===
{{Main|List of current senators of Canada}}

====Parliamentary groups====
While for much of the Senate's history, most senators were affiliated with the same federal political parties that seek seats in elections to the House of Commons, this has changed in the 21st century and the large majority of current senators have no formal partisan affiliations. From 1867 to 2015, prime ministers normally chose members of their own parties to be senators, though they sometimes nominated non-affiliated senators or members of opposing parties. Since November 4, 2015, all newly appointed Senators have not been affiliated with a political party and there has been no government caucus in the Senate.{{efn|name=SenLiberals|The [[Senate Liberal Caucus]], which existed from 2014 until 2019, was not affiliated with the governing [[Liberal Party of Canada]]}} On December 6, 2016, for the first time in Canadian history the number of senators without a partisan affiliation exceeded that of the largest parliamentary group of senators with a partisan affiliation, and on October 17, 2017, the largest parliamentary group became one composed of senators unaffiliated with a political party. By the end of the [[43rd Canadian Parliament|43rd Parliament]], only 20 per cent of senators were affiliated with a political party, all members of the Conservative caucus.

Senators are organized into one of four recognized [[parliamentary group]]s (or caucuses), or are described as [[independent (politics)|non-affiliated]] if they are members of none. Three of the parliamentary groups have weak to nonexistent patterns of [[party discipline]] and in lieu of a [[Whip (politics)|whip]] designate an individual to serve as a liaison; they have accordingly been compared to [[technical group]]s or [[crossbenchers]] in other jurisdictions. By contrast, the Conservative group remains affiliated with the [[Conservative Party of Canada|federal party]] with its members attending caucus meetings with its members of the House of Commons; they follow the party whip as a condition of continued affiliation.

[[File:Senate of Canada - Seating Plan By Province.svg|thumb|Canadian Senate seat count in each province and territory, {{as of|2021|06|lc=on}}]]
{{Table alignment}}
{| class="wikitable col3right"
! colspan="2" | Caucus
! Senators<ref>{{Cite web |title=Senators |url=https://sencanada.ca/en/senators/ |access-date=2025-04-28 |website=Senate of Canada |language=en}}</ref>
|-
| {{Canadian party colour|CA|ISG|background}} | &nbsp;
| [[Independent Senators Group]]
| 45
|-
| {{Canadian party colour|CA|Canadian Senators Group|background}} | &nbsp;
| [[Canadian Senators Group]]
| 18
|-
| {{Canadian party colour|CA|Progressive Senate Group|background}} | &nbsp;
| [[Progressive Senate Group]]
| 18
|-
| {{Canadian party colour|CA|Conservative|background}} | &nbsp;
| [[Conservative Party of Canada#Senate Caucus|Conservative]]
| 11
|-
| {{Canadian party colour|CA|Independent|background}} | &nbsp;
| [[Independent (politician)|Non-affiliated]]{{efn|name=NA|The non-affiliated senators include the Speaker of the Senate and the three members of the Government Representative Office.<ref name="senatorslist">{{cite web |url=https://sencanada.ca/en/senators/ |title=Senators |date=April 11, 2016 |publisher=Senate of Canada |access-date=29 April 2025}}</ref><ref name=gro>{{cite web |url=https://senate-gro.ca/about/ |title=About the Government Representative Office (GRO) |publisher=Government Representative Office |access-date=28 July 2020 |quote=Although the three senators represent the Government to the Senate, they do not sit in a partisan caucus and do not lead a caucus.}}</ref>}}
| 12
|-
| {{Canadian party colour|CA|vacant|background}} | &nbsp;
| Vacant
| 1
|-
| colspan="2"| &nbsp;'''Total'''
| '''105'''
|}

====Gender====
A majority of sitting senators are women. {{As of|2025|04|28|df=US}}, there are 57 women in the Senate out of 105 sitting members (54.3%).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://lop.parl.ca/sites/ParlInfo/default/en_CA/People/parliamentarians?expression=&refiners=4-1,&permalink=1240Create |title=Women in the Senate |access-date=May 13, 2023 |publisher=Parliament of Canada |archive-date=January 23, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100123101022/http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/senmemb/Senate/isenator.asp?sortord=W&Language=E |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2023/10/31/prime-minister-announces-appointment-senators | title=Prime Minister announces the appointment of senators | date=October 30, 2023 }}</ref>

The Senate has generally had a higher level of female representation than the House of Commons throughout history.<ref name="hillnotes-women">{{cite web|url=https://hillnotes.ca/2021/12/01/women-in-the-parliament-of-canada-100-years-of-representation/|title=Women in the Parliament of Canada: 100 Years of Representation |date=December 2021 |publisher=Library of Parliament}}</ref> The number of female senators equalled males for the first time ever on November 11, 2020,{{efn|name=GenderParity|Following the mandatory retirement of [[Norman Doyle]], there were 47 male and 47 female senators.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://theconversation.com/the-canadian-senate-briefly-reached-gender-parity-heres-why-it-matters-153525 |title=The Canadian Senate briefly reached gender parity — here's why it matters|date=March 3, 2021 }}</ref>}} and surpassed males for the first time on October 2, 2022.{{efn|name=MoreWomen|Following the resignation of [[Vernon White (politician)|Vernon White]], there were 45 female and 44 male senators.}}

;Notes
{{notelist}}

===Vacancies===
There is some debate as to whether there is any requirement for the prime minister to advise the governor general to appoint new senators to fill vacancies as they arise. In 2014, [[Leader of the Official Opposition (Canada)|Leader of the Opposition]] [[Tom Mulcair]] argued that there is no constitutional requirement to fill vacancies. Constitutional scholar [[Peter Hogg]] has commented that the courts "might be tempted to grant a remedy" if the refusal to recommend appointments caused the Senate to be diminished to such a degree that it could not do its work or serve its constitutional function.<ref>–{{cite news|title=Stephen Harper obliged to fill empty Senate seats?|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/is-stephen-harper-obliged-to-fill-empty-senate-seats-1.2701619|access-date=December 10, 2014|publisher=CBC News|date=July 10, 2014}}</ref>

Vancouver lawyer Aniz Alani filed an application for judicial review of Prime Minister [[Stephen Harper]]'s apparent refusal to advise the appointment of senators to fill existing vacancies in 2014, arguing that the failure to do so violates the ''Constitution Act, 1867''.<ref>–{{cite news|title=Stephen Harper's unappointed Senate seats unconstitutional, Vancouver lawyer says|url=http://www.cbc.ca/m/news/canada/british-columbia/stephen-harper-s-unappointed-senate-seats-unconstitutional-vancouver-lawyer-says-1.2873629 |access-date=December 18, 2014|publisher=CBC News|date=December 15, 2014}}</ref>

On July 24, 2015, Harper announced that he would not be advising the governor general to fill the 22 vacancies in the Senate, preferring that the provinces "come up with a plan of comprehensive reform or to conclude that the only way to deal with the status quo is abolition". He declined to say how long he would allow vacancies to accumulate.<ref name="chase">{{cite news |last1=Chase |first1=Stephen |title=Harper not planning to appoint more senatoTrs despite growing vacancies |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/harper-no-immediate-plans-to-appoint-more-senators/article13937317/ |website=The Globe and Mail |access-date=4 February 2020 |date=2018-05-11}}</ref> Under the ''Constitution Act, 1867'', senators are appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister. If no such advice is forthcoming, according to constitutional scholar [[Adam Dodek]], in "extreme cases, there is no question that the Governor General would be forced to exercise such power [of appointment] without advice".<ref>Adam Dodek, "PM's constitutional disobedience a dangerous game to play", ''The Globe and Mail'', July 28, 2015.</ref>

On December 5, 2015, the new Liberal government announced a new merit-based appointment process, using specific new criteria as to eligibility for the Senate. Independent applicants, not affiliated with any political party, will be approved by a new five-member advisory board (to be in place by year end), a reform that was intended to begin eliminating the partisan nature of the Senate.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/senate-advisory-board-non-partisan-leblanc-monsef-1.3348531 |title=Liberal plan to pick 'non-partisan' senators draws quick criticism B.C. Premier Christy Clark slams reforms |last=Harris|first=Kathleen |date=December 3, 2015 |publisher=CBC News |access-date=December 4, 2015}}</ref> At the time, there were 22 vacancies in the Senate. On April 12, 2016, seven new senators were sworn in, including Prime Minister [[Justin Trudeau]]'s hand-picked [[Representative of the Government in the Senate]], [[Peter Harder (politician)|Peter Harder]].

A series of additional appointments were announced for October and November 2016 that would fill all vacancies. Once these senators were summoned, the independent non-aligned senators became more numerous than either of the party caucuses for the first time in the Senate's history. The independent senator group also grew to include over half the total number of senators.

On December 12, 2018, the four remaining vacancies were filled in Nova Scotia, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Ontario. With these appointments, the Senate had a full complement of senators for the first time in over eight years.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-names-four-more-senators-1.4942729 |title=Trudeau names four new senators – including a failed Liberal candidate |publisher=CBC News|date=December 12, 2018|last=Tasker |first=John Paul }}</ref>