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|{{legend|{{Canadian party colour|CA|ISG}}|[[Independent Senators Group]] (39)}}
|{{legend|{{Canadian party colour|CA|Canadian Senators Group}}|[[Canadian Senators Group]] (17)}}
|{{legend|{{Canadian party colour|CA|Progressive Senate Group}}|[[Progressive Senate Group]] (14)}}
|{{legend|{{Canadian party colour|CA|Non-affiliated}}|Non-affiliated (
|{{nowrap|{{legend|{{Canadian party colour|CA|
}}
| voting_system1 = Appointment by the [[Governor General of Canada|governor general]] on [[Advice (constitutional)|advice]] of the [[Prime Minister of Canada|prime minister]]
| last_election1 =
| session_room =
| house_type = Upper House
| session_res = 250px
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In the 1960s, discussion of reform appeared along with the [[Quiet Revolution]] and the rise of [[Western alienation]]. The first change to the Senate was in 1965, when a mandatory retirement age of 75 years was set. Appointments made before then were for life.<ref name = SPaP/>
In the 1970s, the emphasis was on increased provincial involvement in the senators' appointments.<ref name=stillborn/> Since the '70s, there have been at least 28 major proposals for constitutional Senate reform, and all have failed,<ref name="Joyal" /> including the 1987 [[Meech Lake Accord]], and the 1992 [[Charlottetown Accord]].
Starting in the 1980s, proposals were put forward to elect senators. After Parliament enacted the [[National Energy Program]] Western Canadians called for a [[Triple-E Senate|Triple-E]] (elected, equal, and effective) senate.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mapleleafweb.com/features/senate-reform-canada |title=Senate Reform in Canada |author=Makarenko, Jay |date=October 1, 2006 |access-date=November 24, 2008 |publisher=MapleLeafWeb}}</ref> In 1982 the Senate was given a qualified veto over certain constitutional amendments.<ref name=Joyal>{{Cite book| url=https://archive.org/details/protectingcanadi0000unse| title=Protecting Canadian Democracy: The Senate You Never Knew| last=Joyal| first=Serge| publisher=[[McGill-Queen's University Press]]| date=July 2003| isbn=978-0-7735-2619-8| df=mdy-all| url-access=registration}}</ref> In 1987 Alberta legislated for the [[Alberta Senate nominee elections]]. Results of the [[1989 Alberta Senate nominee election]] were non-binding.
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Following the [[Canadian Senate expenses scandal]] Prime Minister [[Stephen Harper]] declared a moratorium on further appointments. Harper had advocated for an elected Senate for decades, but his proposals were blocked by a 2014 [[Supreme Court of Canada|Supreme Court ruling]]<ref name="macfarlane">{{cite web |last1=Macfarlane |first1=Emmett |title=Did the Supreme Court just kill Senate reform? - Macleans.ca |url=https://www.macleans.ca/politics/did-the-supreme-court-just-kill-senate-reform/ |website=Maclean's |access-date=3 February 2020}}</ref> that requires a constitutional amendment approved by a minimum of seven provinces, whose populations together accounted for at least half of the national population.<ref name="fekete">{{cite web |last1=Fekete |first1=Jason |title=How to solve a problem like the Senate |url=https://ottawacitizen.com/news/politics/how-to-solve-a-problem-like-the-senate |website=Ottawa Citizen |access-date=3 February 2020 |language=en |date=19 June 2015}}</ref>
In 2014, Liberal leader [[Justin Trudeau]] expelled all senators from the Liberal caucus and, as prime minister in 2016, created the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointment,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/senate-advisory-board-non-partisan-leblanc-monsef-1.3348531|title=Liberal plan to pick 'non-partisan' senators draws quick criticism|last=Harris|first=Kathleen|date=December 3, 2015 |publisher=CBC News |access-date=December 4, 2015}}</ref> both of which were attempts to make the Senate less partisan without requiring constitutional change.<ref name="macfarlane"/> Members of the board include members from each jurisdiction where there is a vacancy.<ref name="members">{{cite web |last1=Office |first1=Privy Council |title=Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments: Mandate and members |url=https://www.canada.ca/en/campaign/independent-advisory-board-for-senate-appointments/members.html |publisher=Government of Canada |access-date=3 February 2020 |date=7 July 2016}}</ref> The board provides a short list of recommended candidates to the Prime Minister, who is not bound to accept them.<ref>{{cite news |date=January 19, 2016 |author=The Canadian Press |work=CTV News |title=Two Manitoba MPs appointed to senate advisory committee |url=https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/two-manitoba-mps-appointed-to-senate-advisory-committee-1.2743690}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/liberal-senate-advisory-board-1.3410090 |title=Senate advisory board named, 1st appointments expected within weeks |last=Tasker |first=John Paul |date=January 19, 2016 |publisher=CBC News |access-date=January 19, 2016}}</ref> Some provinces refused to participate, stating that it would make the situation worse by lending the Senate some legitimacy.<ref name="christyclark">{{cite web |title=Christy Clark says Trudeau legitimizing unaccountable Senate, B.C. under-representation |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/clark-trudeau-senate-reform-1.3353128 |website=CBC |access-date=3 February 2020}}</ref> Since this new appointments process was launched in 2016, 66 new senators, all selected under this procedure, were appointed to fill vacancies. All Canadians may now apply directly for a Senate appointment at any time, or nominate someone they believe meets the merit criteria.<ref>{{cite news|title=Chantal Peticlerc, Murray Sinclair among 7 new Trudeau-appointed senators|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/senate-appointments-1.3496977|access-date=March 18, 2016|publisher=CBC News|date=March 18, 2016}}</ref>
==Chamber and offices==
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|0.3%
|- class="sortbottom"
| colspan="2"|Total/
|105
|352,305
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| {{Canadian party colour|CA|ISG|background}} |
| [[Independent Senators Group]]
|
|-
| {{Canadian party colour|CA|Canadian Senators Group|background}} |
| [[Canadian Senators Group]]
| 17
|-▼
▲| {{Canadian party colour|CA|Conservative|background}} |
| [[Conservative Party of Canada#Senate Caucus|Conservative]]▼
| 15▼
|-
| {{Canadian party colour|CA|Progressive Senate Group|background}} |
| [[Progressive Senate Group]]
| 14
▲|-
| {{Canadian party colour|CA|Conservative|background}} |
▲| [[Conservative Party of Canada#Senate Caucus|Conservative]]
|-
| {{Canadian party colour|CA|Independent|background}} |
| [[Independent (politician)|Non-affiliated]]{{efn|name=NA|The non-affiliated senators include the Speaker of the Senate and the three members of the Government Representative Office.<ref name="senatorslist">{{cite web |url=https://sencanada.ca/en/senators/ |title=Senators |date=April 11, 2016 |publisher=Senate of Canada |access-date=28 July 2020}}</ref><ref name=gro>{{cite web |url=https://senate-gro.ca/about/ |title=About the Government Representative Office (GRO) |publisher=Government Representative Office |access-date=28 July 2020 |quote=Although the three senators represent the Government to the Senate, they do not sit in a partisan caucus and do not lead a caucus.}}</ref>}}
|
|-
| {{Canadian party colour|CA|vacant|background}} |
| Vacant
|
|-
| colspan="2"| '''Total'''
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====Gender====
A majority of sitting senators are women. {{As of|2023|09|07|df=US}}, there are 51 women in the Senate out of 94 sitting members (54.4%).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://lop.parl.ca/sites/ParlInfo/default/en_CA/People/parliamentarians?expression=&refiners=4-1,&permalink=1240Create |title=Women in the Senate |access-date=May 13, 2023 |publisher=Parliament of Canada |archive-date=January 23, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100123101022/http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/senmemb/Senate/isenator.asp?sortord=W&Language=E |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2023/10/31/prime-minister-announces-appointment-senators | title=Prime Minister announces the appointment of senators | date=October 30, 2023 }}</ref>
The Senate has generally had a higher level of female representation than the House of Commons throughout history.<ref name="hillnotes-women">{{cite web|url=https://hillnotes.ca/2021/12/01/women-in-the-parliament-of-canada-100-years-of-representation/|title=Women in the Parliament of Canada: 100 Years of Representation |date=December 2021 |publisher=Library of Parliament}}</ref> The number of female senators equalled males for the first time ever on November 11, 2020,{{efn|name=GenderParity|Following the mandatory retirement of [[Norman Doyle]], there were 47 male and 47 female senators.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://theconversation.com/the-canadian-senate-briefly-reached-gender-parity-heres-why-it-matters-153525 |title=The Canadian Senate briefly reached gender parity — here's why it matters|date=March 3, 2021 }}</ref>}} and surpassed males for the first time on October 2, 2022.{{efn|name=MoreWomen|Following the resignation of [[Vernon White (politician)|Vernon White]], there were 45 female and 44 male senators.}}
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A series of additional appointments were announced for October and November 2016 that would fill all vacancies. Once these senators were summoned, the independent non-aligned senators became more numerous than either of the party caucuses for the first time in the Senate's history. The independent senator group also grew to include over half the total number of senators.
On December 12, 2018, the four remaining vacancies were filled in Nova Scotia, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Ontario. With these appointments, the Senate had a full complement of senators for the first time in over eight years.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-names-four-more-senators-1.4942729 |title=Trudeau names four new senators – including a failed Liberal candidate |publisher=CBC News|date=December 12, 2018|last=Tasker |first=John Paul }}</ref> Since December 2018, additional senators have retired, resigned or died so the Senate currently has fewer than 105 members again, with
==Officers==
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{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book| last = Smith| first = David E.| title = The Canadian Senate in Bicameral Perspective | publisher = [[University of Toronto Press]] | year = 2003| isbn = 9780802087881}}
* [https://data.ipu.org/parliament/ca?chamber_id=13360 About parliament – Senate], Inter-Parliamentary Union
{{refend}}
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