The Carney doctrine and the Canadian Senate

It’s an open question as to whether the prime minister will treat the Senate as a strategic asset or leave the institution under-utilized in a national moment when it is most needed to rebuild national cohesion.

Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, has decisions to make about the Senate. De-politicized by design a decade ago, it never regained a shared parliamentary purpose with the House of Commons, and is now an institution some describe as adrift, write Richard Nolan and Greg MacDougall.The Hill Times photographs by Andrew Meade

Opinion

BY GREG MACDOUGALL, RICHARD NOLAN

February 9, 2026

Is the time finally upon us for the federal government to realign its responsibilities with the provinces? When Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks of institutional renewal, strategic realism, and a willingness to absorb political cost, is he articulating a governing doctrine,...

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