Trudeau names four new senators, filling every seat in the Senate

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has appointed four new senators — including a failed Liberal candidate — filling every seat in the upper chamber.

The Senate has a full complement of 105 senators, the first time there hasn't been a vacancy in about eight years.

Trudeau has appointed 49 senators since becoming prime minister and will have the chance to appoint more in 2019.

Five Conservative appointees are schedule to hit the mandatory retirement age of 75 by this time next year, according to the Senate's website, including three before next October's federal election.

Trudeau said in a statement that the latest round of appointees will ensure a "high standard of integrity, collaboration and non-partisanship" in the revamped Senate.

The Liberals changed the process for Senate appointments after coming to office and now require prospective senators to apply and be vetted by an outside panel. The final decision about whom to name to the upper chamber rests with the government.

Margaret Dawn Anderson will fill the Northwest Territories seat in the Senate. An Inuvialuk, she has been a public servant with the territory for more than 20 years, playing a role in Inuvialuit self-government negotiations.

Former Yukon Liberal premier Pat Duncan helped sign land-claims agreements with First Nations during her time in office and the transfer of power from the federal government to the territory. She'll take Yukon's single Senate seat.

Trudeau is appointing Stanley Kutcher to an open seat in Nova Scotia. A professor at Dalhousie University and former federal Liberal candidate in Halifax, Kutcher is an expert on adolescent mental health and has been involved in mental-health work in more than 20 countries.

Rosemary Moodie will fill a vacancy in Ontario. She has been a pediatric physician and teacher at SickKids hospital in Toronto, receiving awards nationally and internationally for her work.

The Canadian Press