Dennis Dawson

Dennis Dawson (born September 28, 1949) is a Canadian politician and administrator. Dawson is a Canadian Senator and former Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada. Dawson is a member of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Born in Quebec City, Quebec, Dawson's first entry into politics was spending five years as a trustee on the Commission des écoles catholiques de Québec. After that, Dawson represented the riding of Louis-Hébert, Quebec in the House of Commons from 1977 to 1984. He is a former Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Labour and former Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment and Immigration.

In 2004, he ran in the federal election as a "star" candidate for the Liberal Party of Canada in the riding of Beauport but was beaten by Bloc Québécois candidate Christian Simard, losing by a ratio of nearly 2:1.

On August 2, 2005, Dawson was appointed to the Canadian Senate on the recommendation of Prime Minister Paul Martin. He represented the Liberal Party of Canada in the Upper Chamber until Justin Trudeau's removal of Liberal Senators from the Canadian Liberal caucus in 2014.[1]

With the Senate Liberal Caucus facing losing official parliamentary caucus status in 2020 with a third of its caucus facing mandatory retirements on their turning age 75, Senator Joseph Day announced that the Senate Liberal Caucus had been dissolved and a new Progressive Senate Group formed in its wake,[2][3] with the entire membership joining the new group, including this senator.[2]

With Senator Day's mandatory retirement in January 2020, on December 12, 2019, Senator Jane Cordy tweeted[4] that her colleagues in the PSG had selected her as the new leader, ostensibly effective that same date.[4] Additionally, she subsequently announced[5] later that day Senator Mercer would be moving into the Whip/Caucus Chair role, that Senator Dennis Dawson would be become the new Deputy Leader, and that the interim monikers were being removed at the same time.[5]

He has two daughters, Cindy and Kathryn-Anne, and a son named Julian.