Leader of the Government in the Canadian Senate

The Representative of the Government in the Senate (French: Représentant du gouvernement au Sénat) is the independent member of the Senate of Canada who chiefly is responsible for introducing, promoting, and defending the government's bills in the Senate after they are passed by the House of Commons of Canada. The representative is appointed by the Prime Minister of Canada.

The position replaces the Leader of the Government in the Senate (French: Leader du gouvernement au Sénat), which from 1867–2015 was a senator who was a member of the governing party and led the government side in the Canadian Senate (whether or not that party held a majority in the Senate). The old position had almost always been held by a cabinet minister, except briefly in 1926, from 1958–63 and since 2013. Due to current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's 2014 decision to remove senators from the Liberal Party of Canada caucus, leaving them all effectively sitting as independent senators, Trudeau named a Representative of the Government in the Senate in the 42nd Canadian Parliament rather than a government leader. The situation has created some uncertainty about how the Senate will function, and how government legislation will be brought to the Senate. Retired civil servant Peter Harder was named to the position on March 18, 2016.

The government leader's counterpart on the Opposition benches is the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, who continues to be a member of the opposition political party.

Early Canadian cabinets included several senators who would be answerable to the Senate for government actions, one of whom would serve as de facto government leader in the Senate. In the nineteenth century, it was not considered unusual for a senator to be Prime Minister. Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott and Sir Mackenzie Bowell served as prime minister from the Senate. Abbott and Bowell both found it difficult to lead the government from the Senate, however, and over time, the perceived legitimacy of the Senate declined. Today, it is rare for senators to occupy prominent positions in cabinet. From 1935 on, it was typical for a cabinet to have only one senator who would have the position of minister without portfolio alongside the position of leader of the government in the Senate.