Progressive Senate Group

Background

On January 29, 2014, as part of his proposal for a non-partisan Senate, Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau expelled all the Liberal senators from the parliamentary caucus.^[3] Despite being formally independent, the senators chose to sit together as a caucus, known as the Senate Liberal Caucus (SLC).^[4]

After the Liberal Party formed the government following the 2015 federal election, Trudeau appointed only independents to the Senate. By 2019, floor-crossings and retirements had reduced the SLC to nine members. As a minimum of nine members is required for official party status, which entitles a group to access to funding and other supports and privileges, the Senate Liberals were expected to lose their recognition as an official Senate caucus on January 24, 2020, when the mandatory retirement of Senator Joseph A. Day would reduce the caucus to eight.^[5]

Foundation

On November 14, 2019, Joseph Day announced that the SLC had been officially disbanded, with its current complement of nine members forming a new, non-partisan parliamentary group in the Progressive Senate Group, with the hope that the new group would be able to attract additional Senators. Day confirmed that, like Independent Senators Group and newly formed Canadian Senators Group, the PSG would not have whipped votes, and that the requirements of membership included supporting or holding "progressive" political values, support of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and supporting a new relationship with Indigenous peoples in Canada.^[1] Day, previously leader of the SLC, was named the PSG's interim leader, and Terry Mercer, previously the SLC chair, was confirmed as the PSG's deputy leader.^[6] Percy Downe was named as the interim whip/facilitator of the PSG.^[7]

As a caucus

On November 18, Downe left to join the Canadian Senators Group. As Downe's departure dropped the PSG's standings below the minimum nine members required to be recognized as a caucus, the PSG lost its official status and became ineligible for the privileges associated with being an official parliamentary group, such as $410,000 in annual funding for staff and research as well as its right to be represented on Senate committees and procedural rights on the Senate floor.^[8] Despite the loss of official recognition, Day said that the group would not disband, and that it hoped to recruit additional members.^[8][9][10]

With Day's mandatory retirement forthcoming in January 2020, on December 12, 2019, Jane Cordy tweeted that her colleagues in the PSG had selected her as the new leader, ostensibly effective that same date.^[11] Additionally, it was announced later that day that Mercer would be moving into the whip/caucus chair role, and that Dennis Dawson would become deputy leader.^[12][13] Serge Joyal's retirement followed on February 24, 2020, further reducing the PSG to six members.

On May 8, 2020, Patricia Bovey joined the caucus. Bovey, a Trudeau appointee and former member of the ISG, was the first member of the PSG to not be a former Liberal senator.^[14] A week later, on May 14, former Representative of the Government in the Senate Peter Harder joined the caucus. Harder, previously non-affiliated, explained that he was concerned about "majoritarianism" in the Senate and believed that, as part of the PSG, he could be "part of a bulwark against that."^[15] On May 21, 2020, Pierre Dalphond joined the caucus, bringing their numbers to nine and thus restoring official party status to the group.^[16]

On June 11, 2020, Bovey was named the PSG's liaison.^[17]

Former leadership positions

• Percy Downe - Whip/Facilitator (interim) (November 14, 2019 – November 17, 2019)^[8]
• Joseph Day - Leader (interim) (November 14, 2019 – December 11, 2019)^[19]
• Terry Mercer - Deputy Leader (interim) (November 12 – December 11, 2019);^[13] Caucus Chair (December 12, 2019 – November 30, 2020)^[20]
• Dennis Dawson - Deputy Leader (December 12, 2019 – May 31, 2021)^[21]
• Patricia Bovey - Liaison (June 11, 2020 – January 31, 2023)^[17]
• Jane Cordy - Leader (December 12, 2019 – February 27, 2024)^[11]
• Brian Francis - Caucus Chair (December 1, 2020 – February 27, 2024)^[20]