EXIT INTERVIEW — Add one senator for Nunavut to the prime minister’s human resources to-do list. The retirement of DENNIS PATTERSON last month on his 75th birthday leaves the northern territory without a representative in the red chamber when it resumes sitting Feb. 6. Patterson was appointed to the Senate more than 14 years ago as a Conservative. He quit the party’s parliamentary caucus in February 2022 during the so-called Freedom Convoy. “No regrets,” Patterson told Playbook about his headline-grabbing decision to leave the Conservative caucus as he was packing up his office in the Victoria Building just before the holidays. He was surrounded by eight Canadian Tire cardboard boxes packed with books for donation. Patterson ended his tenure as a member of the Canadian Senators Group, voting, he said, with “total freedom” he hadn’t enjoyed previously. But time ran out on his goal to dump an archaic eligibility rule that restricts prospective Senate appointees to people who own real estate. Under Canada’s Constitution, financially savvy renters (still) need not apply for plum Senate postings. The Vancouver-born lawyer, who has called Nunavut home for 40 years, told Playbook that in retirement he plans to work on a book about the territory’s history. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. What’s left on your to-do list? The invidious, inequitable elitist provisions based on the principle that the landed gentry are the only people fit to be parliamentarians — I was not able to get that removed. That is the property and net worth requirements set out in the Constitution. The rule that appointed senators must own at least C$4,000 in property. Yes, C$4,000 worth of assets and title in fee-simple land worth $4,000. That is a bill I have before the Senate on the order paper, S-228, which is still languishing. Sen. MARY JANE MCCALLUM has offered to take up the torch, just as I had offered to carry the torch for the late Sen. TOMMY BANKS from Edmonton. There are eight cardboard boxes in my view. What are you feeling now, in this moment, as you look at those boxes and at the art coming off the walls? I've had a great run. I have been impressed that — and perhaps it's an advantage to be the only voice in the Senate for Nunavut — that my advice and concerns have been respected by the Senate. I've seen results from my work. Tangible results. And so I'm leaving with that satisfaction and that peace and hoping there'll be another voice for Canada's largest region soon appointed. You were appointed in 2009 by former PM STEPHEN HARPER. Walk me through how the federal political environment has changed since your first sitting. I've had an interesting series of experiences. From being part of a really partisan Senate as a senator of a minority government; as a senator in a majority government; and then back as a senator in opposition; and finally, as a senator in a newly constituted Senate with so-called independent senators. Reflecting on that evolution, I can say I was satisfied about being able to have my issues and agenda addressed and sometimes realized in every iteration of the Senate. Having said that, I have found the new Senate frustrating in some respects. There is not the predictability and certainty there was in the partisan system because rules are unclear. And because the largest caucus is not whipped. It's difficult to make the kind of agreements amongst leadership that leads to a smooth functioning of the Senate. There are behind-the-scenes meetings that take place daily to organize the business of the Senate, the so-called “scroll” which I have participated in. It's definitely less efficient and, at times, even chaotic with the four groups that are now in the Senate. How have the challenges facing Nunavut evolved during your tenure? There's been slow progress in economic development with the success of the mining industry in Nunavut. The one thing that has been a worsening problem, aggravated by our third-world population growth, is the failure to address housing. Overcrowded housing leads to family violence, health impacts like tuberculosis and respiratory illnesses, unemployment, poor educational outcomes and suicide. It's been frustrating to me that despite an Indigenous peoples committee's study focused on the housing issue in Inuit Nunangat, there has been no significant progress. Similarly, although I have successfully managed to push for exemptions on the carbon tax for fuel use to generate power … and the home heating oil exemption, which was recently driven by Atlantic Canada but does apply to Nunavut, we're still paying significant carbon pricing. And there is no significant progress on alternate energy in Nunavut. The case I made in my farewell speech and have been harping on for years is carbon pricing is effective, and not something I oppose where paying the tax will be an incentive to choose greener options. We don't have those in Nunavut. We don't have alternatives to gas-powered snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles and boats. We don't have wind or solar to replace the diesel that is required to heat homes in the coldest climate in the country. So I'm disappointed that although there have been programs to wean Nunavut off diesel power … there's been very little progress over my time in the Senate. Very little. You mentioned your frustration over the housing backlog. Are you hopeful Ottawa’s new focus on addressing the housing crisis in the south will address these long-standing problems in the north? The Nunavut government and the Nunavut Tunngavik, the land claims implementation organization in Nunavut, have both identified housing as a first priority and have unrolled an ambitious plan to build 3,000 units by 2030 in Nunavut. I'm hopeful this will succeed. You were a Conservative senator for 12 years, 5 months and 7 days until you quit caucus in February 2022. At the time, you called the Freedom Convoy the “last straw.” What were the other conditions that made you decide it was the time to leave? I've been proud to be a Diefenbaker, Clark, Mulroney, Harper Conservative most of my adult life, but I became disenchanted with the caucus leadership around the time of the Freedom Convoy. It wasn't just over the Freedom Convoy. There were other right-wing strains in the caucus that weren't compatible with my Progressive Conservative roots. So I left the Conservative caucus but retained my membership. I'm still active in the party. I went to the policy convention. I raised my voice on issues like not defunding the CBC, which is a lifeline in the north, especially CBC radio. I have no regrets about leaving the parliamentary caucus. And I am going to remain active in the party and hoping for a change in the federal government in the years going forward. | 
