The Senate of Canada () is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they compose the bicameral legislature of Canada.
The Senate is modelled after the British House of Lords, with its members appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister. The appointment is made primarily by four divisions, each having twenty-four senators: the Maritime division, the Quebec division, the Ontario division, and the Western division. Newfoundland and Labrador is not part of any division, and has six senators. Each of the three territories has one senator, bringing the total to 105 senators. Senate appointments were originally for life; since 1965, they have been subject to a mandatory retirement age of 75.
Although the Senate is the upper house of parliament and the House of Commons is the lower house, this does not imply the former is more powerful than the latter; it merely entails that its members and officers outrank the members and officers of the Commons in the order of precedence for the purposes of protocol. As a matter of practice and custom, the opposite is true, with the House of Commons being the dominant chamber. The prime minister and Cabinet are responsible solely to the House of Commons and remain in office only so long as they retain the confidence of that chamber. Parliament is composed of the two houses together with the "Crown-in-Parliament" (i.e. the monarch, represented by the governor general as viceroy).
The approval of both houses is necessary for legislation to become law, and thus the Senate can reject bills passed by the House of Commons. In practice, this power has rarely been invoked throughout Canadian history. Although legislation can normally be introduced in either chamber, the majority of government bills originate in the House of Commons, with the Senate acting as the chamber of "sober second thought" (as it was called by Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada's first prime minister).
Notable examples of the Senate failing to approve a bill passed by the Commons include its rejection of the Naval Aid Bill in 1912; its refusal to allow a vote on legislation enabling the 1988 Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement, thus precipitating the 1988 federal election; and the 1991 defeat on a tie vote of a bill that would have criminalized abortion.
History The Senate came into existence in 1867, when the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the British North America Act, 1867 (now entitled the Constitution Act, 1867), uniting the Province of Canada (as two separate provinces, Quebec and Ontario), Nova Scotia and New Brunswick into a single federal Dominion. The Canadian parliament was based on the Westminster system (that is, the model of the Parliament of the United Kingdom). Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, described the Senate as a body of "sober second thought" that would curb the "democratic excesses" of the elected House of Commons and provide regional representation. He believed that if the House of Commons properly represented the population, the upper chamber should represent the regions. It was not meant to be more than a revising body or a brake on the House of Commons. Therefore, it was deliberately made an appointed house, since an elected Senate might prove too popular and too powerful and be able to block the will of the House of Commons.
In 2008 the Canadian Heraldic Authority granted the Senate, as an institution, a coat of arms composed of a depiction of the chamber's mace (representing the monarch's authority in the upper chamber) behind the escutcheon of the Arms of Canada.
+ Change in number of senators over timeModifying actDate enactedNormal totals. 26 totalOnt.Que.Maritime ProvincesWestern ProvincesN.L.N.W.T.Y.T.Nu.N.S.N.B.P.E.I.Man.B.C.Sask.Alta.Constitution Act, 1867727824241212 Manitoba Act, 18707480242412122British Columbia Terms of Union77832424121223Prince Edward Island Terms of Union (as set out in section 147 of the Constitution Act, 1867)778324241010423Manitoba Act, 1870788424241010433 8086242410104332Manitoba Act, 18708187242410104432 8389242410104434Alberta Act and Saskatchewan Act87932424101044344Constitution Act, 1915961042424101046666Newfoundland Act as set out in s. 1(1)(vii) of the Constitution Act, 191510211024241010466666Constitution Act (No. 2), 19751041122424101046666611Constitution Act, 1999 (Nunavut)10511324241010466666111
Senate reform Discussion of Senate reform dates back to at least 1874, but there was little meaningful change until the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments was created in 2016 by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
In 1927, The Famous Five Canadian women asked the Supreme Court to determine whether women were eligible to become senators. In the Persons Case, the court unanimously held that women could not become senators since they were not "qualified persons". On appeal, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ruled that women were qualified, and four months later, Cairine Wilson was appointed to the senate.
In the 1960s, discussion of reform appeared along with the Quiet Revolution and the rise of Western alienation. The first change to the Senate was in 1965, when a mandatory retirement age of 75 years was set. Appointments made before then were for life.
In the 1970s, the emphasis was on increased provincial involvement in the senators' appointments. Since the 1970s, there have been several proposals for constitutional Senate reform, all of which have failed, including the 1987 Meech Lake Accord, and the 1992 Charlottetown Accord.
Starting in the 1980s, proposals were put forward to elect senators. After Parliament enacted the National Energy Program Western Canadians called for a Triple-E (elected, equal, and effective) senate. In 1982 the Senate was given a qualified veto over certain constitutional amendments. In 1987 Alberta legislated for the Alberta Senate nominee elections. Results of the 1989 Alberta Senate nominee election were non-binding.
Following the Canadian Senate expenses scandal Prime Minister Stephen Harper declared a moratorium on further appointments. Harper had advocated for an elected Senate for decades, but his proposals were blocked by a 2014 Supreme Court ruling that requires a constitutional amendment approved by a minimum of seven provinces, whose populations together accounted for at least half of the national population.
Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments
In 2014, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau expelled all senators from the Liberal caucus and, as prime minister in 2015, announced a new appointment process overseen by a new Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments, both of which were attempts to make the Senate less partisan without requiring constitutional change.
The Independent Advisory Board was constituted in 2016. Members of the board include members from each jurisdiction where there is a vacancy. The board provides a short list of recommended candidates to the prime minister, who is not bound to accept them. Some provinces refused to participate, stating that it would make the situation worse by lending the Senate some legitimacy.
From the beginning of the new appointments process in 2016, 100 new senators, all selected under this procedure, were appointed to fill vacancies. All Canadians may now apply directly for a Senate appointment at any time or nominate someone they believe meets the merit criteria.
In 2019, it was reported that candidates shortlisted by the Independent Advisory Board were subject to additional scrutiny from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) prior to an appointment being confirmed, with the PMO using Liberalist, a Liberal Party donor database and organizing guide, in order to vet prospective appointees. The Globe and Mail reported that one-third of senators appointed under Trudeau had previously donated to the Liberal Party. A 2017 CBC News study had also found that notionally independent senators appointed by Trudeau voted with the government 94.5 percent of the time.
Prime Minister Mark Carney made reforms to the Senate appointment process, removing the non-partisanship criterion. A new Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments was established in 2026.
Chamber and offices
The original Senate chamber was lost to the fire that consumed the Parliament Buildings in 1916. The Senate then sat in the mineral room of what is today the Canadian Museum of Nature until 1922, when it relocated to Parliament Hill. With the Centre Block undergoing renovations, temporary chambers have been constructed in the Senate of Canada Building (formerly Ottawa Union Station), where the Senate began meeting in 2019.
There are chairs and desks on both sides of the chamber, divided by a centre aisle. A public gallery is above the chamber. The dais of the speaker is at one end of the chamber, and includes the two royal thrones built in 2017, made in part from English walnut from Windsor Great Park. Outside of Parliament Hill, most senators have offices in the Victoria Building across Wellington Street.
Composition Qualifications
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 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, 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 twenty-four senators each: Western Canada, Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes. The Western division comprises British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, each having six seats. The Maritimes division comprises New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, who each have ten seats, and Prince Edward Island, which has four 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 districts within their province. This rule was adopted to ensure that both French- and English-speakers from Quebec were represented appropriately in the Senate.