Daryl Fridhandler (born October 9, 1956) is a Canadian

corporate lawyer A corporate lawyer or corporate counsel is a type of lawyer who specializes in corporate law. Corporate lawyers working inside and for corporations are called in-house counsel. Roles and responsibilities The role of a corporate lawyer is to e ...

, arbitrator, businessman, and politician. He was appointed to the

Senate of Canada The Senate of Canada () is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons, they compose the Bicameralism, bicameral le ...

on August 31, 2024. He was nominated by the

Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments The Senate of Canada () is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they compose the bicameral legislature of Canada. The Senate is modelled after the British House of Lords, with its member ...

and appointed by

Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada () is the federal representative of the . The monarch of Canada is also sovereign and head of state of 14 other Commonwealth realms and resides in the United Kingdom. The monarch, on the Advice (constitutional la ...

Mary Simon Mary Jeannie May Simon (born August 21, 1947) is a Canadian civil servant, diplomat, and former broadcaster who has been serving as the 30th governor general of Canada since July 26, 2021. She is Inuit, Inuk on her mother's side, making her th ...

on the recommendation of Prime Minister

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau (born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who served as the 23rd prime minister of Canada from 2015 to 2025. He led the Liberal Party from 2013 until his resignation in 2025 and was the member of Parliament ...

. Fridhandler joined the Alberta bar in 1984. He has been a partner in the Calgary-based law firm of Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP since 1990 and is on the board of directors of

Enmax Enmax Corporation (often styled as ENMAX) is a vertically-integrated utility with operations across Alberta, Canada, and in Maine, US. Through its subsidiaries, ENMAX Power Corporation and Versant Power, ENMAX owns and operates transmission a ...

, an electricity provider. The appointments of Fridhandler and

Kristopher Wells Kristopher Wells (born October 7, 1971) is a Canadian politician and academic serving as a senator from Alberta since 2024. He is also an associate professor at MacEwan University and the editor-in-chief of the international ''Journal of LGBT Y ...

as senators for Alberta were criticized by Alberta Premier

Danielle Smith Marlaina Danielle Smith (born April 1, 1971) is a Canadian politician, former lobbyist, and former columnist and media personality who has been serving as the 19th premier of Alberta and leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) since 20 ...

for ignoring the results of the province's unofficial Senate nominee election. Smith issued a statement saying: "Despite our province's repeated democratic election of senators-in-waiting ready to represent Albertans’ interests, rime Minister Trudeauhas chosen to appoint left-wing partisans who will do whatever he and the Liberals order them to."

Education

He holds a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

(1980) from

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

, a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

(1983) from

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia, Bible Hill, and a second medical school campus ...

, and a

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is a postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in another subject. In many jurisdi ...

(2016) from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

Political career

Fridhandler was the

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (LPC; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. and generally sits at the Centrism, ...

's election co-chair in Alberta from 2004 and 2009 under then-Liberal leaders

Paul Martin Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and retired politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006. Th ...

and

Michael Ignatieff Michael Grant Ignatieff ( ; born May 12, 1947) is a Canadian author, academic and former politician who served as leader of the Liberal Party and leader of the Opposition from 2008 until 2011. Known for his work as a historian, Ignatieff has ...

and has donated at least $30,000 to the Liberal Party between 2004 and 2023, including $1,200 to Justin Trudeau's

2013 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election In 2013, the Liberal Party of Canada held a leadership election to elect a new party leader. The election was triggered by Michael Ignatieff's announcement, on May 3, 2011, of his intention to resign as leader following the party's defeat in t ...

campaign. He has also donated to the

Green Party of Canada The Green Party of Canada () is a federal political party in Canada, founded in 1983 with a focus on green politics. The Green Party is currently the fifth largest party in the House of Commons by seat count. It elected its first member of ...

, the

Liberal Party of Alberta The Alberta Liberal Party () is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1905, it is the oldest active political party in Alberta and was the dominant political party until the 1921 election, with the first three provincial ...

, the

Alberta Party The Alberta Party, formally the Alberta Party Political Association from 1998 to 2004, is a political party in the province of Alberta, Canada. The party describes itself as centrist and pragmatic in that it is not dogmatically ideological in ...

, the

Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta, often referred to as the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta, was a provincial centre-right party in the Canadian province of Alberta that existed from 1905 to 2020. The party formed the ...

, and the

New Democratic Party of Alberta The Alberta New Democratic Party (Alberta NDP; ), is social democracy, social democratic List of political parties in Alberta, political party in Alberta, Canada. The party sits on the Centre-left politics, centre-left to Left-wing politics, left ...

. He was also the campaign chair for former Calgary mayor

Dave Bronconnier David Thomas Bronconnier (born October 7, 1962) is a Canadian politician who served as the 35th Mayor of Calgary, Alberta. Personal life A fourth-generation Calgarian (his great grandmother was born in Calgary in 1895), he grew up in the sou ...

for five municipal campaigns. He served on the finance committee of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party from 2011 to 2015 and worked on

Gary Mar Gary Glen Mar , (; born July 26, 1962) is a Canadian businessman and former politician in Alberta. He is currently the President and CEO of the Canada West Foundation. Mar served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1993 to ...

2011 Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta leadership election The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta leadership election, 2011 was prompted by Ed Stelmach's announcement that he would not be seeking re-election in the 28th general election and therefore would be resigning as leader of the Pro ...

campaign.

Community work

Fridhandler has also been chair of the

Alberta Ballet Alberta Ballet (also known as the Alberta Ballet Company) was founded by Muriel Taylor and Dr. Ruth Carse in 1958 and became a professional company in 1966. The company is a resident company of both the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium in Edmo ...

, Calgary Economic Development, and

Arts Commons Arts Commons (Formerly EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts) is a multi-venue arts centre in downtown Calgary, Alberta, Canada, located in the Olympic Plaza Cultural District. Occupying a full city block, Arts Commons is a multi-level complex m ...

, served as a governor of the

Alberta University of the Arts The Alberta University of the Arts (AUArts) is a public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a differen ...

and

Mount Royal University Mount Royal University (MRU) is a public university in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Originally “Mount Royal College,” Mount Royal University was granted university status in 2009 by the provincial government. The university has an average class s ...

, vice-chair of the Calgary Police Commission and chair of the Calgary Public Library.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fridhandler, Daryl Living people 1956 births Canadian senators from Alberta Independent Canadian senators Canadian King's Counsel Canadian campaign managers Politicians from Calgary McGill University alumni Schulich School of Law alumni New York University School of Law alumni 21st-century members of the Senate of Canada