No visible movement on vacant Manitoba Senate seat By: Dylan Robertson Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022

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This article was published 29/08/2022 (848 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — The Prime Minister’s Office has sat idle for months with a shortlist of names that could fill a Manitoba Senate seat vacant since February 2021.

“I hope that they would do it sooner rather than later,” said Manitoba Metis Federation president David Chartrand, one of two Manitoba delegates on the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments.

The committee started reviewing Manitobans who had applied to sit in the Red Chamber on April 20. Within weeks, Chartrand said it had sent along a shortlist of five recommended names.

Chartrand didn’t recall exactly when the list was submitted, but said it was before the summer weather.

“I think our committee was unanimous in the process of how we categorized the weighting system, of choosing who was first, second (and) third priority,” Chartrand told the Free Press on Monday.

A month before the April 20 deadline, the committee had roughly 150 applications to consider. Chartrand said after the committee submitted its shortlist this spring, Ottawa did not ask it to provide more nominations.

The Privy Council Office would not say whether Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had chosen Manitoba’s missing senator, nor when one will be announced.

“An announcement in regard to filling the Senate vacancy for Manitoba will be made in due course,” wrote spokesman Stéphane Shank, who would not confirm receiving a shortlist.

Retired judge Murray Sinclair stepped down from the Senate 19 months ago, leaving Manitoba one seat short of its full complement of six senators.

The Senate exists to ensure the national legislature reflects regional and minority concerns, unlike the House of Commons, which represents Canadians on a per capita basis.

That’s why Manitoba has six Senate seats, instead of the three it would hold under a proportionate formula.

Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal, the sole Manitoban in the federal cabinet, also wasn’t sure when news will be coming.

“It’s important to have a Senate that represents the demographics of Canada, and this is a priority for Canada and for Manitoba, and I’m hoping that it gets done very soon,” he said.

Chartrand’s fellow Manitoban helping with Senate appointments, Ashleigh Everett, did not return voicemails left Monday and Tuesday. Everett is head of Royal Canadian Securities Ltd., and involved in numerous corporate boards in Winnipeg and nationally.

“It’s important to have a Senate that represents the demographics of Canada, and this is a priority for Canada and for Manitoba, and I’m hoping that it gets done very soon.” – Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal

Yet another Manitoba vacancy will open in the Red Chamber by mid-May, when Sen. Patricia Bovey reaches the mandatory retirement age of 75.

The Trudeau government has long been criticized for taking its time to appoint officials.

Two weeks ago, Trudeau announced former MP Anita Neville will soon become Manitoba’s lieutenant governor, long after the current Lt.-Gov. Janice Filmon had expected to retire.

Filmon has held the role since 2015, longer than any of her Manitoba predecessors. She battled cancer for a second time in 2019, and broke her hip in a fall last September, leaving her husband, former Manitoba premier Gary Filmon, who turned 80 this month, to help with her duties.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca