Progressives courting key ninth member in Senate

Progressive Senate Group leader Jane Cordy says she is in contact with multiple Senators from other groups as she seeks to expand the PSG, which is now one member short of gaining official recognition in the Senate. “I’ve gotten some calls,” she said, adding Senators had also reached out through email and text to set up conversations with her about the possibility of joining the PSG. The PSG recently grew from six to eight members within the span of a week, when Senator Patricia Bovey (Manitoba) joined after leaving the Independent Senators Group on May 8, and non-affiliated Senator Peter Harder (Ottawa, Ont.) joined on May 14. Sen. Cordy (Nova Scotia) said she had called both Sen. Bovey and Sen. Harder to ask if they wanted to join the group before they came onboard. “When the time came that we felt she was interested, I made a phone call, and we discussed it,” she told The Hill Times in a phone interview of her discussions with Sen. Bovey. “I said, ‘We’d love to have you, with your experience that you have, you would bring so much to our group.’” Sen. Harder, a former government representative in the Senate who resigned to sit as a non-affiliated Senator, had been sitting next to members of the PSG in the Senate Chamber before it was adjourned amid the COVID-19 pandemic. “I think that he got to know us, to talk with us, and saw that we work extremely well together, we all get along really well. I think he saw all those things,” said Sen. Cordy. She said she called Sen. Harder to ask him to join the PSG the week before he officially came onboard. “He was ready. It was just a matter of finding out how it would work and when would be the best time to do it,” said Sen. Cordy. Senators in the PSG are considered non-affiliated by the Senate, which requires any group to have nine members before it will be given official status. With that status comes a new set of rights and powers within the Chamber for the group leaders; funding for the group to maintain a research and administrative staff; and a stronger claim to a share of the Senate’s committee seats. “We’re interested in getting larger. Of course we’re also interested in becoming a recognized group, because it will give us access to all the committees. It will allow us to have a member on all of the committees, and that’s really important,” said Sen. Cordy. The Senate leaders have already negotiated, but not yet passed, a motion assigning committee seats for the 43rd Parliament. Because it is not a recognized group, the PSG has not been awarded any seats permanently. The Senate leaders have agreed informally to give the PSG committees seats that are not wanted by members of their own group. However, Sen. Cordy said those seats could be pulled away from the PSG at any time. “If for some reason they decided that they wanted it back, then technically speaking it’s their position. We would like to have positions on the committees that belong to the Progressive group,” she said. Sen. Cordy said she hoped that the Senate Selection Committee would meet to reorganize the Senate’s committees and grant the PSG permanent seats if the group is able to gain official status after the committees have been formally established. Sen. Cordy said she pitches the PSG to other Senators as a group that is "collaborative" and willing to work with other groups in the Chamber; one that does not whip votes; and one that is relatively small, with "more collegiality." She said the group would welcome Senators who don't fit into the mould of a centre-left "progressive" as well. “We would learn from them and they would learn from us,” said Sen. Cordy. Retirements on the horizon The PSG recruitment push isn’t new, however. The PSG has been trying to peel members off from other Senate groups since its formation. Former leader Joseph Day, now retired, told The Hill Times in November 2019 that there was “lots of interest” from other Senators in joining the group, but none did until Sen. Bovey changed affiliation. The PSG was formed by members of the Senate Liberal caucus in November 2019. Sen. Day told The Hill Times at the time that the Liberals formed the PSG to attract Senators from the larger Independent Senators Group who were uncomfortable joining the Senate Liberals because they were named after a political party. The PSG lost recognized status later that same month, when Sen. Percy Downe (Charlottetown, P.E.I.) left to join the Canadian Senators Group. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Que.) expelled Liberal Senators from his caucus in 2014, when he was the leader of the third party in the House of Commons. Since winning power, Mr. Trudeau has asked the Senators he has appointed to serve as independents, without formal ties to a political caucus. The former Senate Liberals, appointed by prime minister Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin, are dwindling in number, as more reach the mandatory age of retirement—75—each year. The PSG will have to add more than one new member in order to maintain its recognized status in the long run. Several of its members are slated to retire in the coming months and years: Sen. Lillian Dyck (Saskatchewan) in August; Sen. Jim Munson (Ottawa/Rideau Canal, Ont.) in 2021; Sen. Terry Mercer in 2022 (Nova Scotia); and three more in 2023 and 2024. Sen. Cordy said she would be reaching out to newly appointed Senators to pitch them on joining the group. The Senate currently has nine vacant seats, which can be filled at any time by Mr. Trudeau. “Perhaps when new Senators are appointed they will see that there are more options than just going to the ISG.” peter@hilltimes.com @PJMazereeuw

Progressives courting key ninth member in Senate

Gaining official status in the Senate 'will allow us to have a member on all of the committees, and that’s really important,' says PSG leader Jane Cordy.

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Progressives courting key ninth member in Senate

Gaining official status in the Senate 'will allow us to have a member on all of the committees, and that’s really important,' says PSG leader Jane Cordy.

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