Senator aims to speed evolution to non-partisan chamber, sits as independent

OTTAWA –A third senator has decided to sit as an independent, hoping to speed up reforms aimed at returning Canada’s Senate to its intended role as a non-partisan chamber of sober second thought.

Pierrette Ringuette says she’ll no longer remain part of the Liberal Senate caucus.

She’s following in the footsteps of Jacques Demers and John Wallace, who recently quit the Conservative caucus to sit as independents in the upper house.

Ringuette is something of a maverick who’s been advocating greater non-partisanship in the Senate for some time — even after Justin Trudeau ejected senators from the national Liberal caucus.

Two years ago, she proposed a “transformation” of the Senate, which would have included creating regional caucuses of senators, rather than party caucuses, and doing away with the offices of government and opposition leaders.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new Liberal government is attempting to reduce partisanship in the Senate, creating a new arm’s length advisory body to recommend non-partisan nominees for future appointments to the upper house.

In the meantime, Ringuette says current senators need to move away from “hard-line partisanship.”

“I believe the Senate can be the strong institution of sober second thought it was intended to be,” she said in a statement Tuesday announcing her decision to quit the Liberal Senate caucus.

“It is my hope for this to happen sooner rather than later and that is why I want to help move it along a little faster.”