Senate of Canada

Senate of Canada Sénat du Canada
44th Parliament
Type
Type	Upper House of the Parliament of Canada
Leadership
Speaker	Raymonde Gagné since May 16, 2023
Speaker Pro Tempore	Pierrette Ringuette since May 1, 2020
Representative of the Government	Marc Gold since January 24, 2020
Senate Opposition Leader	Don Plett, Conservative since November 5, 2019
Facilitator of the ISG	Raymonde Saint-Germain since January 1, 2022
Leader of the CSG	Scott Tannas since November 4, 2019
Leader of the PSG	Jane Cordy since December 12, 2019
Structure
Seats	105
Political groups	Independent Senators Group (42)   Canadian Senators Group (18)   Progressive Senate Group (14)   Conservative Party (12)   Non-affiliated (13)   Vacant (6)
Elections
Voting system	Appointment by the governor general on advice of the prime minister
Meeting place
Senate Chamber Senate of Canada Building 2 Rideau Street Ottawa, Ontario Canada
Website
sencanada.ca
Rules
Rules of the Senate (English, French)

The Senate of Canada (Quebec French: Sénat du Canada) is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they compose the bicameral legislature of Canada.

The Senate is modelled after the British House of Lords with members appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister.^[1] The appointment is made primarily by four divisions, each having twenty-four senators: the Maritime division, the Quebec division, the Ontario division, and the Western division. Newfoundland and Labrador is not part of any division, and has six senators. Each of the three territories has one senator, bringing the total to 105 senators. Senate appointments were originally for life; since 1965, they have been subject to a mandatory retirement age of 75.^[2][3]

Although the Senate is the upper house of parliament and the House of Commons is the lower house, this does not imply the former is more powerful than the latter. It merely entails that its members and officers outrank the members and officers of the Commons in the order of precedence for the purposes of protocol. In fact, the opposite is true; as a matter of practice and custom, the House of Commons is the dominant chamber. The prime minister and Cabinet are responsible solely to the House of Commons and remain in office only so long as they retain the confidence of that chamber. Parliament is composed of the two houses together with the "Crown-in-Parliament" (i.e. the monarch, represented by the governor general as viceroy).

The approval of both houses is necessary for legislation to become law, and thus the Senate can reject bills passed by the House of Commons. Between 1867 and 1987, the Senate rejected fewer than two bills per year, but this has increased in more recent years.^[4] Although legislation can normally be introduced in either chamber, the majority of government bills originate in the House of Commons, with the Senate acting as the chamber of "sober second thought" (as it was called by John A. Macdonald, Canada's first prime minister).^[5]