senators

Nobody Elects Canada's Senators. Here's How They Actually Get the Job — and What Changed in 2016.

Canadian senators are appointed, not elected. The Governor General formally appoints them on the advice of the Prime Minister, to serve until age 75. Since 2016, the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments has vetted candidates and recommended names on a non-partisan basis, and the majority of senators now sit in the Independent Senators Group or other non-caucus groupings rather than as members of a party caucus. The Senate has nearly identical legislative powers to the House of Commons — it must pass a bill in identical form for it to become law, and it can propose amendments — with two key limits: it cannot originate money (taxation or spending) bills, and by convention it defers to the elected House on matters of clear democratic mandate. The Senate rarely defeats government bills outright; its modern role is "sober second thought" — detailed study, amendment, and the occasional high-profile stand, as with the Bill C-9 amendment this site covered. Eligibility requirements (a $4,000 property qualification, residency in the province represented, age 30+) are constitutional holdovers from 1867.