Senator Shugart cautions colleagues from becoming ‘de facto’ government opposition, calls for ‘restraint’

If the Upper Chamber takes the concept of independence too far, senators may be setting themselves up to become a “de facto opposition to the government,” non-affiliated Sen. Ian Shugart warned his colleagues on Tuesday.

In his first speech in the Upper Chamber since being appointed to the Senate in September 2022, the former clerk of the Privy Council said that from where he’s sitting, senators “need to relearn the virtue of restraint.”

Warning that if the concept of an independent senate—something ushered in by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and arguably cemented after several years of nonpartisan appointments—is taken too far, it “could be a recipe for legislative paralysis.”

“The farther we get from a party-based Senate, the more entrenched will be the idea of independence and freedom of action. Taken too far, we could find ourselves with many senators effectively setting themselves up as a de facto opposition to the Government,” Shugart said.

“We could be left with a frequent or perpetual standoff between the two chambers, as more and more independent senators claim a right to block legislation coming from the elected chamber.”

Following 40 years in government and top public service roles, Shugart noted in his speech that it has been slightly difficult to make the transition from the executive branch to having legislative power.

In his time in the Senate so far, there have been a few examples of the Senate taking time studying and amending government bills and sending them back to the House of Commons, but there haven’t been any cases where government bills have been blocked in their entirety.

In making his case for caution, Shugart sought to weave a narrative path from the time when the prime minister was Pierre Elliott Trudeau enacted the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s recent invocation of the notwithstanding clause as key constitutional moments of restraint.

He said he now sees Senate as the potential future place where the “seeds of constitutional crisis” could be taking root if, whether under this government or the next, more senators claim a right to block legislation coming from the elected chamber, if it reflects a “philosophical perspective” that they disagree with.

“Canada is a big, diverse country—geographically, socially, culturally, economically, philosophically. For each of us, for parties and for institutions, restraint can begin with acknowledging that our point of view, as legitimate as it is, is not the only point of view,” Shugart said.

“We have benefited from restraint in this country, and in these times, we need it again. May we all find it within ourselves to practice restraint,” Shugart said.