Today Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean C.C., C.M.M., C.O.M., C.D., the Governor General of Canada, summoned The Honourable Senator David Braley (Ontario) to the Honourable the Senate of Canada. The appointment comes on the advice of The Right Honourable Stephen Harper P.C., M.P. (Calgary Southwest), the Prime Minister of Canada. The honourable senator will sit under the banner of Her Majesty’s Government for Canada in the Senate.
The appointment doesn’t actually change the standings in the Senate, because the appointment only replaces another Government senator, The Honourable Wilbert Keon (who has reached the mantary age of retirement from the Senate). The Government holds a plurality of seats, but doesn’t hold an absolute majority; the support of a handful of honourable senators for opposition parties (either Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition in the Senate, or the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada) is needed to pass legislation in the Upper House.
Senator Braley is the owner of the B.C. Lions and the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League, and was a political donor to the tune of $10,000 to Mr. Harper’s campaign (as well as $30,000 to the then-Conservative campaign of The Honourable Belinda Stronach, and $10,000 for The Honourable Tony Clement P.C., M.P. (Parry Sound—Muskoka), the Minister of Industry and Minister for the Federal Economic Initiative for Northern Ontario).
The prime minister has appointed more senators than any other prime minister in Canadian history, having appointed thirty-three Canadians to the Upper House in eighteen months.
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The appointment doesn’t actually change the standings in the Senate, because the appointment only replaces another Government senator, The Honourable Wilbert Keon (who has reached the mantary age of retirement from the Senate). The Government holds a plurality of seats, but doesn’t hold an absolute majority; the support of a handful of honourable senators for opposition parties (either Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition in the Senate, or the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada) is needed to pass legislation in the Upper House.
Senator Braley is the owner of the B.C. Lions and the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League, and was a political donor to the tune of $10,000 to Mr. Harper’s campaign (as well as $30,000 to the then-Conservative campaign of The Honourable Belinda Stronach, and $10,000 for The Honourable Tony Clement P.C., M.P. (Parry Sound—Muskoka), the Minister of Industry and Minister for the Federal Economic Initiative for Northern Ontario).
The prime minister has appointed more senators than any other prime minister in Canadian history, having appointed thirty-three Canadians to the Upper House in eighteen months.
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