OTTAWA—A more unpredictable Senate is forcing the Liberal government to pay near-unprecedented attention to dynamics in the Red Chamber, documents obtained by the Star suggest.

Briefing notes to Liberal cabinet ministers now include a greater focus on how laws are likely to be received by the Senate, the documents show.

What was once a foregone conclusion in the days when either Liberals or Conservatives dominated the Senate has now become a crucial consideration for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government as it struggles to move forward a promise-heavy agenda.

And it’s largely a headache of Trudeau’s own making.

During the Senate expense scandal, then opposition leader Trudeau expelled Liberal senators from his caucus and vowed to appoint “independent” senators when he became prime minister.

Now, Trudeau’s government is having trouble advancing its agenda in a Senate dominated by “non-aligned” senators, Liberals free from party discipline, and Conservatives almost constitutionally opposed to the Liberals’ priorities.

Peter Harder, the former senior public servant turned Trudeau’s point man in the Red Chamber, said ministers and their senior staff have invited him to strategy sessions on how best to shepherd bills through the Senate.

Harder said it’s quite a contrast to when he served in the bureaucracy, when governments could count on their senators to push the agenda forward.

“When I was a deputy minister, and doing memoranda to cabinet, your parliamentary strategy really was your House of Commons strategy, and you certainly felt that once a bill was through the House of Commons it was done,” Harder said in an interview last week.

“You have exceptions, but the fact we can count the exceptions on one hand probably tells us something, too. I think that the sustainable impact of the decisions the prime minister made with regard to the Senate are working their way through, and changing behaviour.”

The documents obtained by the Star detail a briefing by the Privy Council Office — the nerve centre of the federal government, which supports the prime minister — to the information commissioner’s office. Along with a greater focus on the Senate, ministerial briefing notes are also now being written so they can be more easily skimmed, and to put potential policy decisions up front.

Harder has expressed frustration in recent weeks at the Conservatives in the Senate delaying government bills. He released a discussion paper earlier this month on changing Senate rules, with moves he suggested would preserve debate while ensuring the Liberals’ legislation is considered in a timely fashion.

Sen. Larry Smith, the newly minted leader of the Conservatives in the chamber, declined to be interviewed for this article.

His colleague, Halifax Sen. Stephen Greene, agreed that Senate rules need updating in the unprecedented situation the chamber finds itself in.

“We have essentially an opposition, which is a political caucus, and no political caucus on the (government) side,” Greene said in an interview.

“So the rules that we’ve got are not adequate. So I do believe that Sen. Harder is right when he says that we should establish some kind of Senate business committee to structure debate … Bt he’s wrong, to another extent, in blaming the Conservatives. They’re only using the tools that they’ve got (to oppose).”

It’s not just the Senate that is proving a challenge for the Liberals, however.

A Liberal proposal to “modernize” House of Commons rules has helped stall debate in that chamber for weeks.

Government House leader Bardish Chagger’s proposals, which would dramatically change how the House of Commons operates, have been vigorously opposed by both opposition Conservatives and New Democrats. You can’t change the rules of the game, the opposition argues, without the consent of the other players.

The proposals have led to an opposition filibuster at the Commons procedure committee for weeks — ironically enough, given the Liberals’ desire to curtail opposition filibusters. Good will seems in short supply.

The tension has led at least one government backbencher to speak out. In an interview with the Hill Times this week, Prince Edward Island MP Wayne Easter said Liberal backbenchers are “frustrated” by the government’s difficulties in moving the agenda forward.

While the debates may seem arcane, or limited to the so-called Ottawa bubble, they present a real problem for the Liberals’ ambitious agenda — which includes major bills on issues such as marijuana legalization and national security reform in coming weeks.

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Mark Kennedy, a spokesperson for Chagger, said the government will wait to see the lay of the land after MPs return from two weeks of constituency work on May 1.

“At this stage … the best I can say is that we’re going to wait to see what the mood is of all MPs when the place comes back, and we’ll take it from there,” Kennedy said.

When asked if the government is prepared to sacrifice its legislative agenda for the proposed rule changes, should the mood remain the same, Kennedy said it’s a question he can’t answer.

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