Last week, the Prime Minister filled another three vacant seats in the Senate by appointing Baltej Dhillon (British Columbia), Martine Hébert (Quebec), and Todd Lewis (Saskatchewan) as "independent" Senators.But, let's be real.As we’ve told you before, Justin Trudeau claims to be “modernizing” the Senate, by appointing “independent” Senators.But, the idea that these Senators are truly independent is laughable.Almost all of Trudeau’s Senate appointments look a lot more like partisan Liberals than independents.Many are current or former Liberal donors, activists, and/or supporters.In some cases these “independents” have even been former Liberal MPs and MLAs!And almost all the “independent” Senators vote with the Liberal government almost all of the time.They may not officially carry the Liberal party banner, but their worldviews and political leanings are unmistakable.Clearly, this is just a Liberal government ensuring that the upper chamber remains stacked with Trudeau-friendly voices, all while pretending it’s some grand step towards nonpartisanship.Worse, because of the large number of Senate vacancies left unfilled by Prime Minister Harper before the 2015 election, almost the entirety of the new Senate is now Liberal.Trudeau has now appointed 93 "independent" Senators — so many, in fact, that he’s now actually starting to replace some of his own earlier appointments!Here’s the current makeup of the Senate, broken up by who appointed them:Jean Chrétien - 3Stephen Harper - 17Justin Trudeau - 78Vacancies - 7As you can see, there’s now a super-majority of Trudeau appointees.Remember, these unelected officials hold immense power to review, amend, and even block legislation.So, any agenda brought forward by a successive federal government that does not align with the values of the upper chamber could be blocked by these unelected Senators.This is yet another reminder of why real Senate reform is necessary.We need an upper chamber accountable to the provinces they represent and where each province is represented equally.Until then, the supposedly “independent” Senate will just keep getting more and more partisan.And that should concern every voter, no matter their political stripe.
