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“Now you’ve got to balance more interests — but I would say that is a great thing because it means more voices will have to be listened to,” he said.

The new caucus means the Senate membership is now split among the Canadian Senators Group (11 members), the Independent Senators Group (49 members), the Conservatives (26 members), the Liberals (nine members), and six non-affiliated senators. However, the Senate Liberals — who were ejected from the larger Liberal caucus by Trudeau in 2014 — will cease to be an official caucus in January, as Sen. Joseph Day must retire when he turns 75. A caucus must be at least nine members to get access to parliamentary budgets for research and administration, among other perks.

Former ISG Sen. Diane Griffin said she joined the CSG to promote a more “centrist viewpoint” in the Senate and to split the power between more independent caucuses. She was invited by Sen. Black around nine days ago to join the CSG.

Canada would be poorly served by diminishing the role of Official Opposition in the Senate Chamber

“This is a way of preparing for the future so we don’t end up with just two groups,” Griffin said.

Sources told the National Post the CSG would likely set a cap of no more than 25 members, providing more influence to individual senators within its caucus. The formation of the CSG also guarantees seats on Senate committees and provides more opportunities to direct questions toward the government representative in the upper chamber.

University of Waterloo Professor Emmett Macfarlane, who advised the government on its changes to the Senate appointment process and has studied how the new Senate has functioned so far, said he sees this new group as a natural progression.