Despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s appointment of supposedly “independent” senators, Trudeau’s latest appointment has deep ties to the Liberal party.
Trudeau announced that alongside Charles Adler, he would be appointing Tracy Muggli to the Senate to represent her home province of Saskatchewan. Muggli is a long-time social worker and healthcare professional who is currently the executive director of St Paul’s Hospital Saskatoon.
However, Muggli is also a loyal supporter of the federal Liberal party.
Between 2006 and 2020, Muggli donated to the Liberals 221 times, donating to the party, her local riding association, and Liberal leadership contestants.
Her 221 donations to the Liberals amounted to $18,832.07 in total, with an average donation amount of just over $85. Muggli also gave $915 in non-monetary donations.
Her first few donations were made in July 2006, where she donated $200 to the Liberals and $100 to Liberal leadership candidate and soon-to-be MP Martha Hall.
Muggli frequently supported Hall during her political career, donating $1,856 to help support Hall’s 2007 leadership campaign, to pay Hall’s leadership campaign debt off, and again to support her unsuccessful bid for the Liberal leadership in 2013.
Muggli’s most recent donation to the Liberals was in Sept 2020 when she donated $25 to her local riding association, totalling $225 for that year.
Muggli even ran as a Liberal party candidate in the 2015 and 2019 federal elections in the riding Saskatoon—Grasswood, though she placed a distant third behind the NDP and Conservative candidates in both elections.
In an interview with local media during the 2019 election, Muggli stated that she supported the Liberal government’s firearm ban, the carbon tax, furthering trade ties with China, and implied that Western alienation is a product of misinformation.
The Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointment recommended Muggli’s appointment The body created by Trudeau consists of two members from each province who recommend to the Prime Minister so-called independent and qualified Canadians for the Senate.
The supposedly independent advisory board has a history of being manned by Liberal candidates, donors and recommending other Liberal supporters to the Senate.
In 2021, the Trudeau government appointed Gerald Glavine and Sandra Kelly to the IABSA despite the two having made multiple donations to the Liberal party in the past.
The Trudeau government has also appointed numerous senators who’ve donated to or ran for the Liberals, including Bernadette Clement, Hassan Yussuff, Michèle Audette, Amina Gerba, and Joan Kingston. The Trudeau government even appointed former Liberal MP and cabinet minister Rodger Cuzner to the Red Chamber.
In a comment to True North, a Conservative party spokesperson attacked Trudeau for appointing senators that, despite the independent label, are Liberals in all but name.
“Justin Trudeau lied to Canadians and said he would make the Senate independent and non-partisan but the reality is that nearly every person he has appointed is in fact a Liberal Senator,” said spokesperson Sebastian Skamski.
“The appointment of Charles Adler, one of Justin Trudeau’s biggest cheerleaders and most vicious anti-Conservative attack dogs in the media, and Tracy Muggli, Team Trudeau Liberal candidate and prolific Liberal Party donor, prove that Trudeau is appointing his Liberal friends to defend his disastrous policies.”
Skamski said that under a Conservative government led by Pierre Poilievre, the party would appoint senators that will support priorities such as axing the carbon tax and ending crime.
“When Canadians vote for a common sense Conservative government to axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget, and stop the crime, Pierre Poilievre will appoint Senators who will axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget, and stop the crime.”
True North reached out to the Prime Minister’s office for comment, but no response was given.