OTTAWA – Prime Minister Stephen Harper filled all nine vacancies in the Senate Thursday afternoon, giving Conservatives 46 seats in the 105-seat chamber.
Harper largely rewarded some of his longest-serving and most loyal partisans with Senate appointments, but also named Jacques Demers, a former Montreal Canadiens hockey coach, and former journalist Linda Frum to the Senate. Frum, daughter of legendary broadcast journalist Barbara Frum, now uses her married name, Sokolowski.
"I just want to be able to contribute. If I can do something to make a difference, it’s a blessing," said Demers, who travelled to Quebec City Thursday to meet with the prime minister. "I’ll fight for things I believe in."
Demers, who turned 65 Tuesday, was never politically active. As the head coach of the Canadiens – one of the most high-profile jobs in sports – he couldn’t afford to be.
Four years ago, Demers said Harper approached him to run for election as a "star candidate." He declined.
"I didn’t feel comfortable being that kind of politician – stand around in a shopping centre, ‘vote for me,’ make promises," Demers said. "It’s not something I wanted to do. But a senator plays a different role, could be a positive influence. And that role was more acceptable for me."
The other appointees are Doug Finley, who managed Harper’s election campaigns; Carolyn Stewart-Olsen, Harper’s press secretary since 2000; Don Plett, Conservative party president; and Judith Seidman, a Montrealer and Conservative party organizer. Harper also appointed Montrealer Claude Carignan, who ran unsuccessfully for the Tories in 2008; former Acadia University president Kelvin Ogilvie; and Nunavut politician Dennis Patterson.
Harper spoke at a news conference in Quebec City Thursday afternoon but did so before his office issued a news release announcing the names of the new senators.
So while Harper would say nothing about the senators his office was to name hours later, he said he believed it was his responsibility to name new senators who would unequivocally back his government.
"It is my intention to have senators in there that will support the elected government and will stop blocking our significant legislations – anti-crime legislation and legislation on democratic reform," Harper said. "It’s unacceptable for unelected senators appointed by a different government to block the will of the people."
Harper’s political opponents were immediately critical of the appointments.
"Stephen Harper has called the Senate a 19th-century relic," said New Democrat Party Leader Jack Layton. "He has declared to the Canadian public that he would not name unelected people to the Senate. Yet, here he is again doing just that. His word means less and less every day he’s in office, and he’s behaving more and more like the Liberals."
Last December, Harper appointed 18 new senators.
Liberal Party of Canada researchers distributed a brief to journalists noting that, in appointing nine new senators, Harper has now set the record for the most Senate appointments in a 12-month-period – 27 – exceeding the previous record set by former Conservative prime minister Robert Borden in 1917.
There will be several more vacancies in the Senate this fall as senators reach the retirement age of 75, opening up enough seats that, by early 2010, Harper will be able to appoint another group that will give the Conservatives a majority in the Senate.
Here is a snapshot of the new senators:
– Claude Carignan (Quebec) is a failed Conservative candidate who taught law at the Universite du Quebec a Montreal and at the Universite de Montreal. Since November 2000, he has been mayor of Saint-Eustache, near Montreal.
– Jacques Demers (Quebec) won a Stanley Cup in 1993 as coach of the Montreal Canadiens. Most recently, he has been a broadcaster with the Quebec sports television network RDS.
– Doug Finley (Ontario) is the husband of Human Resources Minister Diane Finley. Most recently, he was director of political operations for the Conservative Party of Canada. In the 2006 and 2008 general elections, Finley served as national campaign director.
– Linda Frum Sokolowski (Ontario) is a journalist and bestselling author. From 1998 to 2007 she worked as a feature columnist for the National Post.
– Kelvin Ogilvie (Nova Scotia) is past-president of Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S., and an award-winning international expert in biotechnology, bio-organic chemistry and genetic engineering.
– Dennis Patterson (Nunavut) is a former premier of the Northwest Territories who served there for several years in the legislative assembly.
– Don Plett (Manitoba) is the owner of a plumbing supply store in Landmark, Man. Plett has been president of the Conservative Party of Canada since its formation after the merger between the Progressive Conservative Party and the Canadian Alliance.
– Judith Seidman (Quebec) chaired Harper’s leadership campaign in Quebec in 2003 and is an educator, researcher and adviser in the field of health and social services.
– Carolyn Stewart-Olsen (New Brunswick), a registered nurse, has been one of Harper’s longest-serving aides, joining him as press secretary in late 2001. She retired as his director of strategic communications in July.
With a file from Montreal Gazette
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