A conversation with Senator Daryl Fridhandler

by Maxine Fischbein

(AJNews) – “I’m so lucky. I didn’t know what I was getting into when I put my name forward, and I hit the jackpot,” says the Honourable Daryl Fridhandler—one of two recently appointed Alberta Senators—whose enthusiasm for Canada’s Upper House reminds one of a kid in a candy store.

“It’s more like a kid in that Banff candy store, but on steroids,” chuckled Fridhandler who sat down with AJNews a month after he was sworn in.

A respected corporate lawyer who has spent his entire legal career at Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer, where he is a partner, Fridhandler—designated QC in 2004— has served as counsel in mega projects including, “some of the most interesting, largest capital projects that have ever occurred in Atlantic Canada,” he told AJNews.

Among them are the Hibernia and Sable Island offshore energy projects, the Confederation Bridge linking PEI and New Brunswick, and a major fisheries transaction in which Ocean Choice International acquired significant divisions of Fisheries Products International with an Icelandic industry co-investor.

“It was a big deal to be working on these projects. They are career transactions,” Fridhandler recalled.

It appears that you can’t take the Maritimes out of Fridhandler, even though he has spent his 40 plus years as a lawyer in Calgary, where he has racked up other impressive career transactions.

Fridhandler was, for example, lead counsel on the WestJet start-up in Calgary, after getting to know founding shareholder and former Chairman Clive Beddoe during prenatal classes when their respective wives were expecting.

“I always tell juniors that you have to behave wherever you are because you never know,” said Fridhandler as he related many other examples of chance encounters and coincidences that have led to memorable business and personal relationships over the years.

Fridhandler enjoys people. This includes “the big guys and the little guys,” like a group of Pizza 73 owners—most of them new Canadians—who, years back, got a raw deal when the Edmonton-based company was bought by Pizza Pizza.

Fridhandler says he got the owners more respect in the corporate structure, helping them on their way. He still represents some of them to this day.

Add to all this Fridhandler’s lengthy track record of service on numerous corporate, not for profit and civic boards and the key roles he has played as a political organizer and fundraiser (mainly, though not exclusively, on behalf of the Liberal party) and it is easy to understand why he received a call from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the end of August inviting him to sit in the Upper House, described by Canada’s first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, as the “chamber of sober second thought.”

Senators are appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister, who personally called Fridhandler to share the news of his appointment.

A couple of other Jewish Calgarians have sat in the Upper Chamber. The Honourable Jack Austin, a Jewish Senator from British Columbia who was born and raised in Calgary, was appointed to the Upper House in 1975 and later served as Leader of the Government in the Senate.

The Honourable Ronald Ghitter served as a Progressive Conservative Senator from 1993 to 2000 and chaired the Senate Standing Committee on Energy, Environment and National Resources.

Trudeau’s senate reforms in 2016 were aimed at making the senate a less partisan chamber, so Fridhandler does not sit as a Liberal, the political party in which he was active for decades.

“[Trudeau] set a process in place where each province has an independent committee that reviews applicants or nominees from a province…unless you’re on that shortlist you aren’t getting through,” Fridhandler said.

In May, Fridhandler resigned from the Federal Liberal Agency of Canada and surrendered his Liberal membership. Self-described as “left to centre,” he has joined the Progressive Senators Group. Other groups include the Independent Senators Group, the Canadian Senators Group and the Conservative Senate Caucus. There are also non-affiliated senators.

Last month, Fridhandler reflected on his good fortune in the book-lined study of his Calgary home, which is filled with mementos from his diverse personal journey.

Born in Montreal, Fridhandler was about four years old when he moved to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia with his mother, who was born there. His grandparents owned and operated a hotel with a kosher kitchen, catering to observant Jews from the American Northeast, especially during hay fever season.

With a population of maybe 20 Jewish families, Yarmouth was not a hotbed of Jewish education, but Fridhandler and other Jewish boys studied four days each month with a Rabbi who traveled from Boston to teach them in the lead-up to their Bar Mitzvahs.

Fridhandler studied law at Dalhousie University before moving to Calgary, where he met his wife Ellen (nee Churgin) on a blind date.

Of her husband’s appointment to the Upper House, Ellen Fridhandler told AJNews, “Daryl is in his element and he’s thrilled. I’m thrilled for him.”

The Fridhandlers’ son and daughter, Arnie and Rachel, are both lawyers. Fridhandler recalls with a chuckle how he and Rachel made history when they studied law at NYU at the same time, close to a decade ago. Fridhandler had decided, at the age of 59, to pursue a Master of Laws degree.

“At the time, the University was not aware of another parent and child studying full time, at the same time, in the history of the school,” Fridhandler told AJNews.

Rachel previously served as a summer intern some years back in Justin Trudeau’s office, when he was Liberal leader.

“I’m finally going to recoup my name in Ottawa,” said Fridhandler. “In the last number of years…when I go to Ottawa and meet younger hill staffers, they say, ‘Are you related to Rachel Fridhandler?’”

Senator Fridhandler reminisces about the days when he took his kids to all the Liberal conventions. His family, including his toddler grandson Eli, joined him for his swearing in ceremony in Ottawa, which took place September 17.

Fridhandler been busy ever since, hiring staff and settling in in Ottawa.

I was surprised to learn that Fridhandler continues to practice law, engage in business, and serve on the board of Enmax and two other private companies, one of which he chairs.

He says many Canadians are not aware that Senators, unlike judges, are allowed to continue running businesses and/or engaging in professions and volunteer commitments.

“It’s not pens down,” says Fridhandler, though Senators must scrupulously avoid conflict of interest, and he has already met a couple of times with the ethics officer to get direction.

How does the Senator successfully juggle multiple obligations and interests?

“I work hard,” says Fridhandler, who burns the midnight oil after his Senate work to stay on top of his legal and board work, always mindful that he must compartmentalize the various roles.

Many senators transition out of their other careers, says Fridhandler, mainly because they find senate work “more interesting than anything else they’ve ever done.”

Having spent some time exploring the options, Fridhandler has joined two senate committees, Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources, and Banking, Commerce and the Economy.

Also high on his to-do list is arts and culture.

An avid collector of contemporary Canadian art, Fridhandler has served on the boards of the Contemporary Calgary Arts Society, the Alberta College of Art and Design (now known as the Alberta University of the Arts), and the Alberta Ballet, which he chaired from 2017 through 2023. He describes himself as still “peripherally involved” in a project that aims to integrate the ballet’s various operations on one campus.

Fridhandler is speaking with the people he has worked with in arts organizations over the years as he considers what he might eventually tackle on the national scene.

Originally, Senate appointments were for life, but that changed during the 1960s with the introduction of mandatory retirement at the age of 75.

Proving the point, Fridhandler shows me his Senate ID, which includes his “expiry date” just shy of seven years from now.

The Honoruable Marc Gold—a Jewish Senator from Montreal who has served as the Government Representative in the Senate since 2020—reached out to Fridhandler the day before the announcement of his appointment and has been a mentor to him, said Fridhandler who adds that he has been warmly welcomed by colleagues throughout the Upper House.

“I’ve seen first-hand how hard people work as senators and how uber-qualified they are,” said Fridhandler, adding, “There are so many great people on the Senate from across the country…. I haven’t been in a collegial situation like that since I hung out in the coffee lounge at law school.”

All bills passed in the House of Commons go to the Senate for review and approval. In addition to researching and reviewing bills, senators—who can also introduce non-money bills— play important roles representing regions and protecting minority rights.

A large part of Fridhandler’s job is representing the people of Alberta.

“It will take me time to get up to speed on the issues that are important to Albertans [where] the Federal government might have some impact,” he says.

“I’m going to hear from industry, I’m going to hear from not-for-profits, I’m going to hear from individuals…. Almost every national association of everything wants to come and tell you what they’re about so that you’re heads up on what they’re dealing with,” adds Fridhandler, who receives hundreds of emails every day.

This, of course, includes the oil and gas industry.

“We’re fortunate to have it under the ground here,” says Fridhandler, adding that Albertans are also fortunate to belong to a federation.

“There were days when it was a dust bowl in Alberta and Alberta got oil and gas support, and there will be days in the future that Alberta might look to other parts of the country for support. You know, we’re a family.”

Fridhandler says he wants to spend time with leaders in the oil and gas industry and learn a lot more about their policy positions, adding that one senior executive recently told him, “I know you’re a Liberal, but you’re reasonable and you understand this stuff, so I’m happy to spend some time.”

He has recently met with other groups including representatives of the Business Council of Alberta, who left him with helpful briefing notes.

“The groups that are important to Alberta, my door is open. They are important for me to listen to and understand.”

Fridhandler rues the fact that Canadians tend to know very little about the Senate. Some of his speeches already speak to what the senate does and why the Upper House is important to Canadians.

He hopes to share the message with community associations and high school students when he is at home.

At a time when divisiveness seems to be the default, Fridhandler favours “bringing the temperature down and aiming for more “constructive discourse.”

“You can only do it one person or small groups at a time,” Fridhandler said. “I think it all starts [with] better civic affairs education.”

Has Fridhandler’s Jewish heritage influenced his trajectory?

“Oh yeah, anyone who gets brought up by a Jewish mother gets influenced big time,” chuckled Fridhandler.

Fridhandler’s father was an editor of the Baltimore Jewish Times and did some speech writing for Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, Fridhandler said, adding that his dad’s work in public relations in Washington, DC exposed him to American politics.

In Calgary, Fridhandler served on the Board of the Little Synagogue on the Prairies, helping to raise funds to move an historic 1916 Synagogue—originally built on the Montefiore Colony near Sibbald Alberta—to Heritage Park some 15 years ago.

He also served for a year on the board of The Calgary Jewish Academy, where his children went to school.

His greatest impact, though, has been in the broader community, Fridhandler says, adding, “My engagement isn’t just in, but for, the Jewish community, I believe.”

Most people he has worked with in his business, community and political endeavours know he is Jewish, including members of the Muslim Council, for whom he was legal counsel for seven years.

“The leadership that retained me respected me and liked me, but there were definitely incidents where people said, why do we have a Jewish lawyer? It got even worse than that in a few situations, but … the leadership of the Muslim Council of Calgary through that period had my back,” recalls Fridhandler.

“I probably have more Muslim clients than Jewish clients,” he says, adding that some of them want to speak with him about the situation in Middle East and its impact here.

“I say okay, we can’t have a five minute conversation. If we’re going to talk let’s go for lunch for two hours and hear each other out. I’m not the expert, but let’s talk about it,” Fridhandler said.

“I’ve had a number of these lunches, and we both walk away feeling much better about our relationship afterwards.”

“Most people don’t want to talk,” rues Fridhandler. “Social media is about the worst thing that could have ever happened in terms of technological development. It destroyed people’s ability to dialogue. It’s all in 40 characters and tweets, and these aren’t 40 character issues. These are bigger issues.”

“Antisemitism and Islamophobia are not going to get us any place. It’s bad,” Fridhandler told AJNews. “You can’t broad-brush anybody…. People have to understand that most people are good.”

“We all hope to see a solution. I’m a Zionist….I support the existence of Israel for Jews,” Fridhandler said.

Fridhandler has been to Israel a couple of times and, notably, worked on the first two listings of Israeli companies on Canadian Stock Exchanges.

When AJNews spoke to him last month, he had not yet heard much from Jewish lobby groups. He did receive a Yahrzeit candle from the Israeli embassy, together with the names of the seven Canadians brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023.

“There are a lot of Jewish issues that people don’t agree with the current government on,” said Fridhandler. “These issues are explosive. Everyone wants peace in Israel and how do you get there? There’s give and take for everybody on getting to that goal, and it has to happen.”

“What can one lone senator do? Well, I can be a voice on stuff, eventually,” Fridhandler said, adding, “I have to understand a lot of things more. Even Israelis are very divided at this point.”

“Netanyahu creates a lot of issues,” says Fridhandler, of the Israeli Prime Minister. “He is not a bridge builder. We’ve got West Bank settlers that aren’t doing anybody any good. We’ve got to get a solution. Israel can’t continue on like this.”

“I will engage on it, I am happy to engage on it with people that might want to brief me up with some better perspective on it.”

On these and other issues of concern to Albertans and Canadians, Senator Daryl Fridhandler humbly says:

“I hope to do some good.”

For more information about the Senate of Canada and the Honourable Daryl Fridhandler, Senator, go to https://sencanada.ca/.

Maxine Fischbein is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.