Senate Elections - An Unending Political Tug of War
For decades, Alberta and its uniquely conservative politics have pushed for the Senate to be reformed. Even the progressives within the province hope to see reform, although their reform consists of complete abolishment of the second chamber. To quote former Alberta Minister and Calgary School professor Dr. Ted Morton, the Canadian Senate is “a scandal-plagued institution that is widely viewed as no longer performing any constructive role in Canadian politics.” As such, it is no surprise that since its inception, the federal Conservative party has held a strong policy position of a triple-E Senate –effective, equal, and elected. For a great deal of time, nearly all of Alberta’s provincial parties also supported this policy, most notoriously demonstrated by the 1987 resolution tabled in the Legislature by Alberta’s Liberals.
Pierre Elliot Trudeau was elected Prime Minister in 1968, partially due to promises of Senate reform during the election. Unfortunately, these promises never came to fruition. Following Mulroney’s election as Prime Minister, who ran largely on constitutional reform, Senate reform was once again at the top of the government’s agenda. As such, they attempted to institute change through the Meech Lake Accord. The Meech Lake Accord would have amended the Constitution on various issues (if ratified by all 10 provinces), largely decentralizing the federal government’s powers including the appointment of Senators. It would have given Premiers the power to appoint their provinces’ Senators, leading to the sitting Alberta Premier Don Getty’s government tabling Bill 11, the Senatorial Selection Act, for Albertans to elect their own Senate nominees.
Prior to the Senatorial Selection Act, Alberta had already begun its push for Senate reform under Premier Peter Lougheed. In 1983, Lougheed’s government established the Select Special Committee on Upper House Reform which produced the 1985 Strengthening Canada: Reform of Canada’s Senate report. This report has been the basis of Alberta’s Senate reform proposals since it was drafted. Getty’s Senate legislation followed this basis; however, Bill 11 died on the order paper as Getty called the 1989 spring election. Many political pundits at the time believed the legislation to be a distraction for voters, with the Progressive Conservatives struggling in the polls due to financial collapse of Principal Trust and doubts in Getty’s leadership skills. This is the tried-and-true method of winning an Alberta election still used to this day – run against Ottawa.
The Senatorial Selection Act was reintroduced following the PCs election victory that same year, receiving Royal Assent on August 18. This set the stage for Canada’s first ever Senate election – albeit a faux election. The winning candidate would not be declared elected to the Senate – their name simply would be submitted to the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada by the Government of Alberta so that they may be summoned to the Senate at the advice of the Prime Minister. Regardless, Alberta went forward with their Senate election that coincided with the province’s municipal elections, with Reform Party candidate Stan Waters winning with 42%.
Unfortunately for Mulroney, the Meech Lake Accord failed to obtain Quebec’s stamp of approval. Following this, Premier Getty stated that there would not be further Senate elections in Alberta; however, the Alberta Legislative Assembly proceeded to recommend that Mulroney appoint Stan Waters. To everyone’s surprise, Mulroney actually did appoint Waters despite the undeniable risk the Progressive Conservative
leader was putting on himself by further legitimizing the Reform Party that only had one seat in the House of Commons at the time. This set the precedent that Ottawa is confronted with the input of the electorate for Senate appointments, rather than appointments based on party and patronage. Ignoring the will of the people for Senate appointments is fully within the Prime Ministers constitutional rights, something that Mulroney and Prime Minister Jean Chretien later did; however, they may do so at their own peril in the next election.
In early 1997, scandal rocked the Upper House. Two sitting Senators were convicted of criminal acts and Senatorial attendance records caused national uproar as some were almost entirely absent from sittings. To top off these events, an Alberta Senate vacancy occurred that fall. The province made their desire to elect their next appointee clear to Ottawa; however, Prime Minister Jean Chretien hastily filled the vacancy through patronage. With Albertans indignant, Premier Ralph Klein’s Progressive Conservative government renewed its Senatorial Selection Act as it was set to expire in December 1999. Klein then proceeded to announce a second Senate vote for October 1998 – with or without a vacancy.
The 1998 Alberta Senate election was clearly a reaction against continued nepotism, as five Alberta Senators were appointed between 1989 and 1998 despite the province’s numerous requests for an election. Additionally, the ‘rogue’ election was intended to highlight the ineffectiveness, inequal, and unelected representation in the Upper House. By holding this election regardless of a vacancy, it was a clear democratic challenge to the federal government that could become a practical alternative to the outdated practice of patronage appointments. This was another step towards Senate reform in the lengthy chess game of constitutional politics.
“Real reform of the Canadian Senate involves three E’s - equal, effective and elected. Alberta Liberals are sticking to their support for a Triple-E Senate.”
Throughout the campaign for the 1998 election, Chretien referred to the election as a ‘joke,’ ‘meaningless,’ ‘a waste of time and tax dollars’ and ‘impotent’ until Senator Jean Forest announced her retirement mid-way through. The tone of the Liberal government then changed as they called the election ‘unconstitutional and undemocratic’ as the winners wouldn’t face the electorate again once appointed. Chretien further insisted that this would complicate Canada’s unity agenda by including Senate reform. Regardless, Alberta pushed forward with the election to loudly promote Senate reform with support from all elected parties. “Real reform of the Canadian Senate involves three E’s – equal, effective and elected. Alberta Liberals are sticking to their support for a Triple-E Senate,” was stated by Liberal leader Nancy Macbeth in 1998, as well as the New Democrats also supported the policy briefly as they took a break from their abolitionist stance. The two Reform Party candidates overwhelmingly swept the election against the two independents, yet Chretien chose to ignore the democratic mandate given by Albertans by filling the vacancies with patronage, as per usual.
In 2004, Alberta went through yet another provincial election where Ralph Klein’s PCs were successful, owing this partially to their commitment to another Senatorial election within the province. Prime Minister Paul Martin had indicated to Klein during a first ministers meeting prior to the election that he would fill Alberta’s three vacant Senate seats with those elected; however, he proceeded to advise the Governor General to appoint three Senators of his choosing. Following the collapse of the Martin government and election of Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2007, the winning candidate of both the 1998 and 2004 Alberta Senatorial Elections, Bert Brown, was appointed to the Senate.
Alberta was due for yet another Senate nominee election in 2010 as the terms for the elected nominees from 2004 were due to expire, as well as a vacancy was due to open soon for Alberta. Premier Ed Stelmach made the surprising decision to extend the term for senators-in-waiting until 2013. This created great upset as many believed it to be undemocratic seeing as the electorates’ mandate for these nominees had expired. Stelmach’s reasoning for this extension was justified by saving costs on an election. The 2004 Senate election cost Alberta taxpayers $1.6 million – only half the cost of the 1989-1998 elections. Others believe that Stelmach delayed this Senate election as a tactic to prevent the Wildrose Alliance from defeating the Progressive Conservatives prior to a provincial election.
One of the three 2004 nominees, Link Byfield, slammed Stelmach for his decision and resigned from his designation in order to run for the Wildrose Alliance in the upcoming provincial election. Byfield criticized Stelmach, calling the decision undemocratic and stated his dissatisfaction with Stelmach for not attempting to advance Senate reforms to help nominees during their terms. Prime Minister Stephen Harper went on to appoint Betty Unger to the Senate eight years after she was elected as a nominee. Cliff Breitkreuz, the third of Alberta’s 2004 elected nominees, saw his term expire in 2012 without being appointed.
Alison Redford won the PC party leadership in late 2011 and was sworn in as Premier. She promptly announced that the province would hold yet another Senate election for three new nominees alongside the provincial election’s ballots in 2012. Redford was criticized for the $3 million price tag; however, neither her nor the committee chair MLA Lindsay Blackett ever commented on the cost. Out of the dozen candidates running, the winners all belonged to the PC party. Prime Minister Stephen Harper advised the Governor General to appoint two of these senators-in-waiting in 2013, Doug Black and Scott Tannas.
Under Alberta’s NDP government, the Senatorial Selection Act was not renewed when its sunset clause caused it to lapse in 2016. This was unsurprising as the NDP hold a strong abolitionist stance towards the Senate. However, Premier Jason Kenney promised to bring Senate elections back to Alberta during his 2019 campaign, a promise that he kept. In July 2019, Bill 13 known as the Alberta Senate Election Act was passed, further amended in the summer of 2020. The next Senate election in Alberta will be held on October 18th, 2021 in conjunction with the municipal election and two referendum questions.
