The Canadian Senate has always been a bastion of WASP privilege. Modelled after the British House of Lords, it is Parliament’s house for the moneyed elite.

To qualify, a person has to be a “natural born subject of the Queen” at least 30 years of age, with land worth at least $4,000 (approximately $200,000 in current dollars) and assets worth $4,000 (another $200,0000).

Over the years, these requirements have been interpreted in a variety of overtly discriminatory ways. For the first 63 years of the Senate’s existence, women were barred. No aboriginal Canadians were appointed until 1958; black Canadians until 1984; Chinese Canadians until 1988; Canadians of South Asian descent until 2001.

These invisible barriers are gone, but the upper house of Parliament remains overwhelmingly white, male, privileged and sexagenarian. The average age is 64.9.

But even the fusty red chamber is yielding to change. And Prime Minister Stephen Harper, to his credit, is accelerating the pace. Last week, he appointed a Philippine banker from Toronto and a Vietnamese citizenship judge from Ottawa to the Senate. Earlier this year, he appointed an Indian gynecologist from Toronto. In 2010 he appointed a Pakistani realtor and an Indian businessman, both from Toronto. In 2009, he appointed Korean teacher from Vancouver.

It is not a huge influx, but in the 105-member Senate, every non-white face alters the balance.

It would be an exaggeration to call Harper a trailblazer. Sixty-one years ago, Louis St. Laurent appointed the first senator born outside the British Empire, a Lebanese manufacturer from Newfoundland. Twenty-eight years ago, Pierre Trudeau broke the colour barrier, appointing a black social activist from Toronto. Over his 10-year term, Jean Chrétien appointed four non-white senators. (Paul Martin was the biggest mould-breaker — he appointed a nun with no property or assets, a non-partisan native rights activist and three Conservatives — but he did not increase visible minority representation.)

What Harper has done is consolidate these gains and quicken the pace.

So far, he has added six non-white members to the upper house. The number may not be impressive, but no prime minister before him deviated this far from the tradition of packing the upper house with defeated and retired politicians, party bagmen, former aides, business leaders, sports icons and television personalities. He has made the Senate less white than it has ever been.

Critics attribute this to his party’s thrust to win over “ethnic voters.” No doubt that is part of the motivation. Patronage is a useful tool for signalling to members of a visible minority that the Conservatives are looking out for their interests.

But other factors are also at play:

• The first is demographic pressure. By 2031, federal officials project visible minorities will make up between 29 per cent and 32 per cent of the population. In the nation’s major cities (except Montreal), the proportion will be much higher; 63 per cent in Toronto and 59 per cent in Vancouver.

• The second is a need to modernize his party’s image. Until 2006, no Conservative prime minister had appointed a non-white senator. Brian Mulroney, who headed the government from 1984 to 1993, joked about using the Senate to provide “jobs for the boys” — and did. Joe Clark’s appointments were all white. John Diefenbaker’s record was equally bleak. If Harper wants to supplant the Liberals as Canada’s natural governing party, he will have to bring the Conservatives into the 21st century.

• Finally, there is his desire to shift the focus away from his 2006 campaign promise of an elected Senate. Harper thought he could make this reform without reopening the Constitution, but discovered he couldn’t do it unilaterally. Rather than risk a divisive showdown with the provinces, he concentrated on smaller reforms — including appointments that reflect the nation’s diversity — so he could at least point to practical progress.

Unlike the House of Commons, which gets new members every four years, the Senate has no natural renewal mechanism. Only the prime minister can change it.

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With a solid Conservative majority in the upper house — 62 out of 105 seats — Harper could afford to move faster and be bolder.

Carol Goar's column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

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