OTTAWA — Sports tycoon David Braley is being punted into Parliament’s upper chamber.
Braley, who owns the B.C. Lions and the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League, was appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The businessman from Hamilton, Ont., who previously owned the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats, replaces Conservative senator Wilbert Keon. Keon reached the mandatory Senate retirement age of 75 days ago.
“I look forward to working with Mr. Braley and all of our senators as our government works towards a more democratic, accountable and effective Senate,” the prime minister said in a news release.
Harper has typically waited for a number of Senate vacancies to open before making a group appointment, but officials in the Prime Minister’s Office say there is too much important legislation to be passed before the summer recess and every Conservative vote is needed.
Senator Lowell Murray, who sits as a Progressive Conservative and not with the government caucus, is raising concerns about Harper’s omnibus budget bill, which he and others say was rushed through the House of Commons by opposition parties fearful of an election.
The massive budget bill contains important legislative changes on everything from environmental assessments and nuclear policy to Canada Post.
Critics say the bill is an abuse of the budget process because it shields what should be stand-alone legislation from proper public and parliamentary scrutiny. They want the Senate to split the budget bill so that non-budget-specific elements get debated separately.
“What the government is doing with this bill is indefensible — 880-odd pages, 24 parts, maybe 60 statutes being amended,” Murray said.
The Harper government also says it wants the Senate to speed through changes to the federal pardons regime and a bill on mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug crimes.
The Conservatives hold 51 of 105 seats in the Senate, two more than the Liberals but not an absolute majority. Murray is one of two Progressive Conservatives. There are three unaffiliated senators.
Harper — who once said he would never appoint senators but instead wanted them elected — has appointed 33 Conservatives to the 105-seat upper House in the last 18 months.