Paula Simons

Paula Simons (born September 7, 1964) is a Canadian politician and former journalist who has been a senator from Alberta since 2018. Simons was appointed to the Senate of Canada on the advice of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and sits as a member of the Independent Senators Group (ISG) caucus. She is best known for her work with the Edmonton Journal and has also worked for as a producer for CBC Radio.

Early life and education Simons was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, one of two children born to Norman Wolfe and Oli (née Dyck) Simons. Her father, a lawyer, was of Jewish descent; he was raised in Round Hill, Alberta, where his parents had settled after immigrating from Russia. She earned an honours bachelor of arts degree in English literature and minor in French and comparative literature from the University of Alberta in 1986, and a master's degree in journalism from Stanford University, before spending time as a fellow at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. and they have children including a daughter who lives in Vancouver.

Journalism career Simons returned to Canada in the winter of 1988 and secured a position as a part-time weekend copy editor at the Alberta Report, then as a producer for CBC Radio in Toronto and Edmonton from 1989 to 1995.

2015 Alberta general election Simons disclosed in the final days of the run-up to the 2015 Alberta general election that the editorial board of the Edmonton Journal had been under pressure from the paper's parent company Post Media, and namely its CEO Paul Godfrey, to endorse the incumbent Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta and its leader Jim Prentice. While their Alberta coverage was deemed to have "reported quite fairly during the election", Post Media was strongly criticized by Simons and many of her fellow journalists (and some of the public) for presenting the Journal as a neutral, local source without partisan bias when in fact they were facing pressure to advocate for one specific candidate. Traditionally, newspapers are expected to disclose their bias through an endorsement, as the Journal did in the 2019 Alberta election when they endorsed the United Conservative Party (UCP) leader Jason Kenney.

Political career Simons was appointed to the Senate of Canada on October 3, 2018, by Governor General Julie Payette on the advice of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Simons previously criticized the process for Senate appointments. In a column written in 2013, while the Stephen Harper government was still in power, Simons wrote about Senate appointments and entitlement: "These days, the Senate is failing on almost every front. Instead of being appointed on merit, all too often senators get the gig because they're political cronies or party loyalists, bagmen (and women) who have primarily distinguished themselves as rabid partisans or backroom boys, not deep thinkers."