Mark Carney appoints one of his top advisors and a Conservative MP to Senate

Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday that he will appoint one of his most senior advisers to the Senate, a move that could send shockwaves through the Red Chamber.

Tom Pitfield, who served on Carney’s 2025 campaign team and then became a principal secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, has been named to the upper house. The government will also remove the “non-partisan criterion” that previously defined the appointments process under Justin Trudeau.

In a highly unusual move, Carney will also name a sitting Conservative MP, Richard Martel, to the Senate, creating a vacancy in a competitive Quebec riding.

Martel, a past hockey coach who was first elected in 2018, narrowly won Chicoutimi—Le Fjord for the Conservatives in the last general election, with the Bloc Québécois and Liberal candidates a close second and third in a riding considered part of the separatist heartland.

It’s unclear if Martel will sit as a Conservative in the Red Chamber, but the party’s Senate leader, Leo Housakos, said in a social media post that he was “pleased to welcome my friend and longtime caucus colleague” to the upper house. A Conservative party spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

First Senate picks for Carney

Pitfield, a childhood friend and longtime digital campaign strategist for Trudeau, is a major figure in the modern Liberal movement.

His wife, Anna Gainey, is a Liberal MP from Quebec and the secretary of state for children and youth. His father, Michael Pitfield, was a former top civil servant who himself served in the Senate for nearly 30 years.

Anna Gainey, the federal secretary of state for children and youth, centre, is pictured with her husband, Thomas Pitfield, and former U.S. president Barack Obama at an event in Toronto in May 2026. (facebook.com/annamgainey)

New Brunswick cancer researcher Dr. Rodney Ouellette and Manitoba chartered professional accountant Geeta Tucker were also named to the Senate on Tuesday.

Before today’s announcement, Carney had not appointed anyone to the Senate since becoming prime minister. 

The Pitfield pick signals Carney is willing to make a partisan appointment to a chamber that has undergone a sometimes painful process to try to strip partisanship from its ranks over the last decade.

Trudeau kicked Liberal senators out of the national caucus at the height of the Senate expenses scandal in 2014 and then implemented a process to appoint only independents to the upper house after being elected.

The chamber, once defined almost exclusively by a Liberal-Conservative split, has since divided into five groups and caucuses and some non-affiliated members.

Most Trudeau appointees sit as members of the Independent Senators Group, although some have also joined the Progressive Senate Group and the Canadian Senators Group. Five members of the Government Representative’s Office help usher legislation through the Senate. 

The 11 Conservative senators that remain in the upper house are members of the national party caucus while the remaining roughly 80 senators are not part of a party that must face the electorate.

Detractors say the Trudeau process stripped the chamber of political actors in favour of neophytes, rendering it irrelevant. Supporters, meanwhile, say the push to appoint independents has made the chamber less beholden to the government-of-the-day and party interests.

End to non-partisan picks

The Prime Minister’s Office said the Trudeau-era process that largely excluded partisans needs to end.

“This decision recognizes the valuable contributions made by Canadians who have chosen to serve in elected office or in other partisan roles, including knowledge of the governing and legislative processes, which will contribute to a stronger, more effective Senate,” the PMO said in a news release.

To that end, the PMO said the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments, which has been used to sort through applications from would-be senators with an eye to those who are “independent and non-partisan,” will be reconstituted.

“Guided by constitutional requirements and merit-based criteria, the board will identify highly qualified candidates with diverse experience and perspectives, and make recommendations to the prime minister,” the PMO said.

“Canadians are invited to apply to serve in the Senate through an application process that will open in the coming weeks.”

The Trudeau changes also largely did away with whips in the upper house — senators who insured attendance and enforced party discipline on some key government bills. As a result, the upper house has become much more unpredictable.

As a chamber essentially composed of lone wolves, the Senate has had a freer hand to take its time to debate and consider legislation.

Over the last 10 years, the chamber has also been much more active in amending government bills, which can slow down the legislative process. There has also been a proliferation of Senate public bills, legislation akin to a private member’s bill in the Commons, which critics inside the chamber itself say has distracted the place from its main constitutional responsibility: reviewing government legislation.

The PMO said the government is “acting with urgency and ambition” and this Senate overhaul will require “strong, effective and focused representatives who can ensure Canada’s institutions are equipped to respond to the challenges of the country they serve.”