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Robert Asselin, a University of Ottawa professor and one of Trudeau’s advisers, described the senators as “great individuals who have served the party.”

“But as you’ve seen with his leadership campaign, (Trudeau) started from the proposition that we needed to rebuild the party from scratch,” Asselin said.

“Justin brings a generational change,” he added. “Politics is obviously cyclical, and at one point people are looking for the next generation to step up and change things. And I think that’s where we are in the cycle.”

The move also shows that Trudeau “doesn’t owe anything to anyone” within the party, Asselin said, which gives him enormous freedom to act on his promises to Canadians.

“Canadians see a bunch of old politicians doing the same thing over and over,” he said. “And they see this young guy saying ‘I’m going to change things and I mean it. And here’s the proof of it. I’m going to fire a bunch of senators from my own caucus.’ ”

Maharaj said the fact Trudeau was able to single-handedly eject the senators without significant pushback is unprecedented.

“This is not a party he has inherited,” Maharaj said. “It is a party he has control of. It shows very much that this is Justin Trudeau’s party.”

There will be some costs, starting with a dramatic drop in representation from western and northern Canada inside the Liberal caucus. There were seven senators representing provinces west of Ontario, and one from the territories — Northwest Territories Sen. Nick Sibbeston.