V. Peter Harder (born August 25, 1952) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

former senior civil servant who was named to the

Senate of Canada The Senate of Canada (french: region=CA, Sénat du Canada) is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The Senate is modelled after the ...

to represent

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

on March 23, 2016, after the Prime Minister had announced his intention to recommend his appointment on March 18, 2016. He served as

Representative of the Government in the Senate The representative of the Government in the Senate (french: représentant du gouvernement au Sénat) is the member of the Senate of Canada who is responsible for introducing, promoting, and defending the government's bills in the Senate after th ...

from 2016 to 2019. A longtime senior bureaucrat in the Canadian civil service, he was deputy minister to the

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

when he retired from the civil service in 2007. He later became senior policy advisor for Denton's, a Canadian law firm,"Peter Harder's job on Trudeau transition team praised by former bureacrats"
''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris, it was renamed the ''Citizen'' in 1851. The news ...

'', October 21, 2015. and had a key role on

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since ...

's transition team following the 2015 election. From 2009 to 2016, he served as the President of the

Canada China Business Council The Canada China Business Council or CCBC (French: ''Conseil d'affaires Canada-Chine'', Chinese: ''加中贸易理事会'') is a private, non-profit business association founded in 1978 to facilitate and promote business, trade and investment betwe ...

, before his appointment as a senator. On November 29, 2019, the Prime Minister's office announced that Senator Harder would be stepping down from his position as

effective December 31, 2019. Senator Grant Mitchell retired as Government Liaison in the Senate, when Harder's successor was named the following month. On May 14, 2020, Harder joined the

Progressive Senate Group The Progressive Senate Group (french: Groupe progressiste du sénat) is a parliamentary group in the Senate of Canada. It was formed on November 14, 2019, out of the now-defunct Senate Liberal Caucus, which had been expected to lose official p ...

. Explaining his move, Harder said he was concerned that partisanship in the Senate had been replaced by "majoritarianism" as the

Independent Senators Group The Independent Senators Group (ISG; french: Groupe des sénateurs indépendants) is a parliamentary group in the Senate of Canada. Established on March 10, 2016, the Independent Senators Group (ISG) is committed to a non-partisan Senate and the ...

became the largest caucus, and wanted to be "part of a bulwark against that."

Awards

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harder, Peter Canadian civil servants Canadian Mennonites Canadian senators from Ontario Independent Canadian senators Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Living people 1952 births 21st-century Canadian politicians