Roundup: The problem with sponsoring bills

Posted on by

News that the “Government Representative” in the Senate, Senator Peter Harder, has been asking unaligned senators to sponsor government bills as they arrive from the Commons has me feeling a bit uneasy, and I’m trying to figure out why. This meant a trip through the Senate Procedure in Practice, and I find my concerns only slightly mollified. I will admit that the government’s plan to move a government bill in the Senate – Bill S-2, which deals with motor vehicle recalls – also has me uneasy because while it is being sponsored under Harder’s name, the fact that Harder is not a cabinet minister remains a troubling procedural issue. Government bills should be introduced by cabinet ministers, whether that minister is the Leader of the Government in the Senate or another minister in the Senate (which happens on occasion), and Harder, while sworn into the Privy Council, is not a minister. That the Conservatives did this with Claude Carignan was not a particularly good precedent to create or follow, since Carignan was essentially a minister without being in cabinet for the only reason that Stephen Harper was having a fit of pique over the ClusterDuff Affair, Carignan also having been sworn into Privy Council and being given access to PCO resources to do his job. But while Carignan was at least a part of the government’s caucus, Peter Harder explicitly is not, which is why this decision to have him sponsor government legislation is troubling. I remain of the view that as much as Harder is trying to present himself as non-partisan and independent, you cannot be independent while also representing the government because it is an inherent conflict of interest. That he is being asked to perform the functions of a cabinet minister while still proclaiming himself to be independent is risible. It is a problem that Justin Trudeau’s particular…naivety around his Senate reform project cannot simply gloss over without eroding the fundamental tenets of our Westminster system. That he wants a more independent Senate is not a bad thing, and the appointment of a critical mass of unaligned senators is a laudable goal, but you cannot expect someone who is not a minister to do the functions of a minister and still call themselves independent. As for Harder asking unaligned senators to sponsor bills, it’s not quite as outré as having Harder sponsor government bills that are initiated in the Senate, but I am still uncomfortable as this is typically something done by a member of the government’s party, given that the sponsor’s job is to defend the bill and advocate for its passage. While I don’t buy that every new appointed unaligned senator is really a crypto-Liberal, as many a Conservative senators would have you believe, the fact that Harder is the one doing the asking is still uncomfortable. It would perhaps be better if he were to call for volunteers to sponsor bills on their way from the Commons and then perform a coordinating role rather than an assigning one, if only for the sake of optics. Harder calling up unaligned senators and asking them to act as sponsors looks too much like he is playing caucus management, and if he continues to insist that it’s not the way that the chamber is operating, then perhaps he needs to be more conscious of the optics of the way he is operating.

Good reads:

  • Stephen Harper will step down as an MP before the summer is over, and start speaking engagements. He will address the party convention this weekend. Harper has set up a consulting company, but he will need to follow the ethics rules that he put in place.
  • Each province’s medical regulator has come up with strict guidelines around assisted death, since it looks like Bill C-14 won’t pass before the June 6th deadline.
  • The party’s traditional opposition to same-sex marriage, as well as leadership rules will be discussed at the Conservative convention this weekend.
  • There are more Liberal riding associations vocally pushing back against the party’s proposed new constitution, which will centralise much more power.
  • The federal government has suspended Newfoundland and Labrador’s federal debt repayments until 2022 to help them get through their budget crunch.
  • General Vance talked about the increasing number of deployments being expected of Canada, and how the current peace mission in the Sinai is being threatened.
  • Some women’s groups have added their voices to the calls for proportional representation, apparently oblivious to the inherent tokenism in that system.
  • The Liberals have pledged to introduce a bill to repeal more Conservative laws, this time the ban on public service strikes by defining “essential services.”
  • There are questions about the handling of particular Residential School survivors’ cases from Northern Quebec.
  • Terry Glavin talks about the way the history of the Komagata Maru incident has been glossed over.
  • Over at Loonie Politics, I look at the looming showdown with the Senate over bills like the assisted dying legislation.

Odds and ends:

Apparently Justin Trudeau talking about his day off for his anniversary was about pushing forward the work-life balance conversation.