RANDALL WHITE. FERNWOOD PARK, TORONTO. SATURDAY, July 11, 2026. The already hazy early summer probably is a good time for Prime Minister Carney (acting as principal advisor to the Governor General, in strictest 1867 written constitutional terms) to make his first four appointments to the still unreformed Senate of Canada.

Appointees include two new representatives for Quebec — “now-former Conservative MP Richard Martel and longtime Liberal Tom Pitfield, the PMO’s principal secretary.” To round out this first batch of new PM-Carney-appointed senators, add “Geeta Tucker, for Manitoba” and for New Brunswick, Dr. Rodney Ouellette.

Some observers have seen these appointments (and the apparent process or lack thereof behind them) as “most cynical” or at least “disappointing.” I may be too much of a cynic about the various real worlds of Canadian politics myself to altogether agree. But I get the point.

At the same time, the Prime Minister’s statement announcing his first four Senate appointments has also announced that : “With five more Senate vacancies anticipated before the end of 2026, a new Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments will be established in the coming days. Guided by constitutional requirements and merit-based criteria, the Board will identify highly qualified candidates with diverse experience and perspectives, and make recommendations to the Prime Minister. Canadians are invited to apply to serve in the Senate through an application process that will open in the coming weeks.”

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The Prime Minister’s statement goes on : “As Canada faces an increasingly divided and uncertain world, Canadians expect their leaders to work together to meet today’s challenges.” The “modifications to the Senate appointment process”announced alongside PM Carney’s first four Senate appointments “will ensure the Senate is equipped to advance ambitious legislation that will help build a stronger future for all Canadians.”

This last phrase about how changes the government wants “will ensure the Senate is equipped to advance ambitious legislation that will help build a stronger future for all Canadians” almost certainly signals the most important new policy direction.

The “Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments” that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau established will carry on, but in a somewhat revised new form. Most prominently (and cynically back to the bad old days, some will say), the new Carney Liberal “government is also removing the non-partisanship criterion for Senate appointments. This decision recognises the valuable contributions made by Canadians who have chosen to serve in elected office or in other partisan roles, including knowledge of the governing and legislative processes, which will contribute to a stronger, more effective Senate.”

PM Carneys first Senate appointments embrace this new enthusiasm for partisanship as well. The particular case of (now former) Conservative MP Richard Martel, eg, has been nicely summarized by the excellent Éric Grenier. And as the ancient tradition would expect from a Liberal prime minster : “For the Liberals, this is one fewer vote on the opposition benches.”

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In my view the new Carney Liberal “modifications to the Senate appointment process” also do appear to be keeping the one seriously benign, democratic, idealistic, and populist part of the Justin Trudeau reforms, when the PM statement announces : “Canadians are invited to apply to serve in the Senate through an application process that will open in the coming weeks.”

(And PM Carney’s current Manitoba appointee, chartered accountant Geeta Tucker, who applied under the old Trudeau process, is already a case in point.)

Beyond this, from a Carney Liberal angle one big trouble with the Justin Trudeau non-partisan reforms was that they created too many senators too taken with their own fresh legitimacy.

This meant too much legislation passed in the House was getting stuck in the Senate for too long — as more serious respectably appointed senators spent too much time on already democratically settled issues, especially in PM Carney’s new era of urgent new Canadian nation building.

The virtue of more experienced partisan political appointees in this context is that they at least already understand how the game is played.

The unelected Senate of Canada, that is to say, lacks democratic legitimacy. It must largely take what the democratically elected Canadian House of Commons decides as the settled public policy gospel. The Senate can do some useful minor work tidying up legislation. But it can’t delay its inevitable approval of House bills for any remotely serious length of time.

That does seem one new principle of keeping the unreformed Senate of Canada still alive as long as PM Carney is head of government.

And, serious Senate reform being altogether beyond anywhere Canada and its provinces are at right now (even Alberta is just contemplating abolishing the Senate in its assorted fall 2026 referendums), I find it difficult to disagree or otherwise complain about the ongoing Canada strong and building agenda of the present Prime Minister.