Prime Minister Mark Carney has named his principal secretary Tom Pitfield to the Senate and says he is dropping the non-partisan criteria for appointments to the upper chamber.
Pitfield is one of four new appointments to the Senate announced Tuesday, the first Carney has made since he took office more than a year ago.
Conservative MP Richard Martel is also on the list, who along with Pitfield will represent Quebec.
New Brunswick cancer researcher Dr. Rodney Ouellette and Manitoba chartered professional accountant Geeta Tucker round out Carney's first round of Senate appointments.
Pitfield is a longtime Liberal strategist who has served as Carney's principal secretary since he became prime minister in March 2025. Pitfield advised Carney on artificial intelligence, productivity and the digital economy, according to a biography shared by the Prime Minister's Office along with Pitfield's appointment.
Pitfield has been a tech sector executive and consultant outside of politics and is a co-founder of Canada 2020, a progressive think tank. He has been heavily involved in Liberal campaigns, including running digital operations for the party during the 2015 and 2019 federal elections. He is married to Anna Gainey, a Liberal MP from Montreal.
Martel was first elected in 2018 and has served in several opposition leadership roles including Quebec lieutenant under Conservative leader Erin O'Toole.
Martel's appointment will trigger a future byelection in the Quebec riding Chicoutimi—Le Fjord. He is the fifth Conservative MP to leave the opposition benches in the House of Commons since the election last year, including four who crossed the floor to sit with the Liberals.
The removal of the non-partisan section of the Senate selection criteria is yet another Carney policy change from the Liberal government under Justin Trudeau, who established an arms length advisory board for advising the prime minister on Senate appointments.
The goal of this was to have a more independent Senate after the upper chamber faced criticism that it was a den of patronage appointments and an overly partisan institution. Trudeau also barred senators from sitting with the Liberal caucus in 2014.
Carney's office Tuesday said a new independent advisory board for Senate appointments will be established shortly.
Senate opposition leader Leo Housakos posted a comment on X Tuesday congratulating all the appointees and said he is "particularly delighted" to welcome his "longtime friend and colleague" Martel to the Senate.
The four new appointments leave five vacant seats in the Senate with six more senators set to retire by the end of 2026.
A news release from the Prime Minister's Office said that Carney is putting an "enhanced focus" on Senate applicants with expertise in Canadian strategic industries, regulatory frameworks plus emerging social and economic affairs.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
