Three Canadians with legal connections are among five people set to take their seats in the Red Chamber as Prime Minister Stephen Harper
announced a slew of Senate appointments today.
The lawyers include Thomas Johnson McInnis, who practised at Halifax law firm Weldon McInnis until 2005. Besides his work in the law, McInnis was previously a member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1978-1993 and ran for the federal Progressive Conservative Party in 2000. He’s currently president of the Sheet Harbour & Area Chamber of Commerce and was appointed to the Halifax Port Authority in 2008.
Also joining the Upper House is lawyer Paul McIntyre of Charlo, N.B. Currently the chairman of the New Brunswick Review Board, McIntyre had previously served in that role from 1985-1998. He was also senior partner at the McIntyre Law Firm in Dalhousie, N.B., until 2008. In addition, he has a long history of community involvement.
Harper also appointed Ottawa citizenship judge Thanh Hai Ngo to the Senate today. Formerly chairman of the Employment Insurance Board of Refugees in Ottawa, Ngo became a citizenship judge in 2007. Besides his work for the government, Ngo is active in the Vietnamese community in Canada and overseas.
The other appointments include Diane Bellemare, an economist who previously ran for office provincially as a candidate for the Action Démocratique du Québec, and Tobias Enverga Jr., a Toronto resident and project manager at the Bank of Montreal.
“I look forward to working with these talented individuals,” said Harper, who noted the new senators have all pledged to support the government’s efforts at reforming the Upper Chamber. “Their skills and experience will help to further advance our shared goals of jobs, growth, and long-term prosperity for all Canadians.”
