Prime minister announces two Senate appointments for Alberta

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced two Senate appointments for Alberta.

In a press release Saturday, the Prime Minister's Office said Governor General Mary Simon has appointed Daryl Fridhandler and Kristopher Wells to the Red Chamber, as the Senate is sometimes called.

According to biographies accompanying the announcement, "Fridhandler is a corporate lawyer, arbitrator, mediator, and businessman with over 40 years of legal experience."

Fridhandler was called to the Alberta Bar in 1984 and is on the board of directors of the Enmax, an electricity provider.

He has been an active supporter of the federal Liberal party over his career, serving as the party's election co-chair in Alberta between 2004 and 2009 — according to his biography page on the site of law firm Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP, where he has been a partner since 1990.

Wells's biography describes him as "an educator and a champion for the 2SLGBTQI+ community who has used research and advocacy to help advance diversity, equity, and human rights in Alberta and across the country."

He is the editor-in-chief of Journal of LGBT Youth, which is the "world's leading research publication on 2SLGBTQ+ youth," according to his biography on MacEwan University's website, where Wells is an associate professor.

He has also helped with the creation of the PrideTape initiative, which several National Hockey League players have adopted in recent years.

With the latest appointments, there remains six vacancies in the Senate: two seats for British Columbia and Quebec, respectively, and one seat each for Ontario and Nunavut.