Howard Wetston, the former head of the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), and Sabi Marwah, recently retired vice chairman and chief operating officer with Bank of Nova Scotia, have been tapped to join the Senate as part of an effort to make the upper chamber less partisan.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Monday that he’s recommending six new independent senators to represent Ontario. The nominees include Wetston, former chairman and CEO of the OSC, and Marwahm who spent 35 years at Scotiabank.
The appointments follow a new process that allows people to apply to serve in the Senate. More than 2,700 people applied, and the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments reviewed their submissions and then provided Trudeau with a short list. From that list, he picked the six people that he will recommend to the Governor General to join the Senate.
In addition to Wetston and Marwah, Trudeau also recommended Gwen Boniface, law enforcement pioneer; Tony Dean, professor at the School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Toronto; Lucie Moncion, president and CEO of the Alliance des caisses populaires de l’Ontario; and Kim Pate, human rights expert.
“The individuals being recommended today for appointment to the Senate were chosen using the Government of Canada’s new merit-based process, which is designed to help ensure that the Senate is independent, reflective of Canada’s diversity, and best able to tackle the broad range of challenges and opportunities facing the country,” the government says in a statement.
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