Mr. Speaker, in the transitional phase of the new Senate appointments process, the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments, the advisory board, provided their advice to the Prime Minister in accordance with their terms of reference, OIC 2016-0011. They established one list with a total of 25 recommended candidates, representing five qualified candidates for each of the five vacancies. The list of recommended candidates was broken down by province. As noted in his March 18, 2016 news release, the Prime Minister made his seven recommendations--three from Ontario, two from Manitoba, and two from Quebec--for the transitional process from the list of candidates for these provinces provided by the advisory board.
In the House of Commons on December 12th, 2016. See this statement in context.