Canadian Senators Group


The Canadian Senators Group is a parliamentary group of senators in the Senate of Canada founded on November 4, 2019, by eight senators from the Independent Senators Group, two from the Conservative Party of Canada's Senate caucus, and one non-affiliated senator. The group named Scott Tannas as its interim leader and Josée Verner as interim deputy leader, though the actual caucus leadership roles and role titles have yet to be announced.

History

The caucus was formed on November 4, 2019.
In an interview with CTV News' Don Martin, Tannas admitted that there was no question that the motivation for him and at least several other senators to depart the ISG was a perceived lack of independence in the contentious spring 2019 legislation related to west coast oil tanker moratoriums and other oil and gas-related legislation. Additionally, Tannas cited the concern that following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's radical overhaul of the Canadian Senate, there was the concern that the ISG, numbering 58 Senators, had become too large, and that a diversity of voices was needed in order to prevent a "tyranny of the majority." In addition, in an effort to avoid "groupthink", CSG interim leader Senator Scott Tannas announced that the initial founding members of the group had agreed to cap membership in the group to no more than 25 members. Also included among the reasons for the founding of a second, non-partisan, and independent Senate caucus was a perennially renewed effort to focus on regional issues, despite this notionally being the constitutionally-enshrined purpose of the Senate as a whole.
Included among those decamping to the Canadian Senators Group was former ISG Senator Elaine McCoy, who previously served as the ISG's founding Facilitator prior to the selection of that group's current Facilitator Yuen Pau Woo.
On November 18, 2019, two more senators joined the CSG: Percy Downe, formerly of the Progressive Senate Group and Senate Liberal Caucus; and Jean-Guy Dagenais, a Conservative. Downe said he still supported the Liberal Party but liked the "diversity of views" in the CSG; while Dagenais cited disagreements with the leadership of Andrew Scheer, particularly Scheer's social views and the "low importance" he placed on Quebec, as the reasons for his defection.

Leadership

;Interim Leader:
;Interim Deputy Leader: