What is the average age of a senator in canada

The movement of former federal members to state parliament is less frequent, with no obvious trends over time. Local government service continues to play a significant role in the career path of federal members. In political historian Joan Rydon observed:.

Approximately 30 per cent of the first Parliament served in local government. The figure dropped to 19 per cent in [15] and 15 per cent in the 43 rd Parliament. As at 1 July , of the members of the 43 rd Parliament, nearly two-thirds MPs or 65 per cent had served less than 12 years; 45 members 20 per cent had served less than three years see Figure 9. Figure 9. Length of service, total. The length of service in each chamber is similar with some occasional fluctuations see Figure Figure Length of service, by chamber.

These differences are consistent with the and election results and the respective swings to and from the ALP. Length of service, by party.

For those MPs elected between and the average completed length of service was For those elected between and the average completed length of service rose to Therefore there has been a slight if not substantial reduction in length of service. A comparison with similar statistics compiled in other countries suggests these demographic trends are not unique to Australia, although there are interesting differences:.

Consequently, to some extent the characteristics of the Australian Parliament reflect global trends in other parliaments. The 43 rd Parliament was prorogued on 5 August Twenty-five Members of the House of Representatives did not contest the 7 September election. This is the highest number of retirements in the House of Representatives at one election—the previous highest number was 21 in This is also comparable with , which saw the departure of ten senators.

With such a sizeable turnover, it will be interesting to examine the characteristics of the 44 th Parliament, and to monitor its traits and trends. In it was observed that MPs were predominantly middle-aged, well-educated men, likely to have been employed in politics-related occupations, business or law before entering parliament. This figure is based on information obtained from published biographical information and first speeches in Parliament.

J Rydon, op. Fellowships, memberships, and associates of professional or other bodies are not counted. The individual chambers of bicameral Parliaments have been combined for ease of comparison. Members of the House of Commons - average age , Parliament of Canada website, accessed 1 August With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms, and to the extent that copyright subsists in a third party, this publication, its logo and front page design are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.

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The only other centenarian was David Wark of New Brunswick who was when he died in A total of 22 Senators have sat in the Chamber after their 90th birthdays. A further Senators sat past their 80th birthdays. A total of Senators were at least 80 years old when they ceased to be members.

This represents Only two "lifers" were sitting at the end of While editorial cartoonists are likely to continue targeting the age of Senators, the fact is that the average age has decreased considerably in the last 30 years. Senators have not been younger since the s. The increase in age following is principally explained by the fact that Senators held their seats for life.

The average age increased yearly, while only a few new and younger members replaced those who resigned or died. Table I Average age of Senators from to As new provinces and territories became part of Canada, the number of Senators rose from its original 78 to the current The addition of new members slowed the increase in average age.

But as the new members grew older, the average age of Senators increased. Part of the increase in average age might be explained by the increase in life expectancy. In , when Statistics Canada first calculated estimates, life expectancy stood at The Harper government argued that under the Constitution , abolition only requires the approval of Parliament plus seven provinces representing 50 per cent of Canada's population. Most provinces, however, say abolition requires the formal consent of all 10 provinces.

The Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision on the matter on 25 April The Court said creating an elected Senate with nine-year term limits required the consent of seven provinces with 50 per cent of the population. And it said abolishing the Senate required the consent of all 10 provinces.

In each case, a constitutional amendment would be necessary. It had included Liberal members of both the House of Commons and the Senate. Senators who had previously served as Liberals instead became independent members. The change effectively freed Liberal senators from having to vote along party lines. Following this change, the Liberal senators divided themselves into two camps; one group sits as independent senators, while a larger group chooses to call itself the Senate Liberal Caucus albeit removed from the Liberal caucus in the House of Commons.

Many Liberal and independent former Liberal senators remained card-carrying members of the Liberal Party of Canada. There was no similar change applied to Conservative senators; they were still members of the Conservative Party parliamentary caucus.

After becoming prime minister , Trudeau in appointed 22 new independent senators. The remaining 15 were picked by the Advisory Board under a new process that saw more than 2, Canadians apply for Senate jobs. This was the first time the government had issued a public call for applications for Senate membership.

He was responsible for stewarding government legislation through the upper chamber. They could command party members in the Senate to support government legislation. In November , there were several significant changes in the composition of the Senate. Early that month, the Canadian Senators Group was established by former members of the Independent Senators Group, the Conservative Senate Caucus and a non-affiliated senator.

This meant that for the first time since Confederation , there were no sitting Liberal senators in the upper house. Only days later, the Progressive Senate Group lost official group status after one of its members joined the Canadian Senators Group. Senators Official information source about current members of the Senate in Ottawa.

From the Parliament of Canada website. Senate expenses: what you need to know An interactive CBC News feature about key issues and personalities involved in the Senate expense scandal. From the Government of Canada website.

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