It looks like the Senate has nearly finished with two of the contentious bills on its plate, and both are headed back to the Commons with amendments. The first is the obvious one, Bill C-14, where the biggest change has been to drop the requirement that a condition must essentially be terminal for the law to grant a medically-assisted death, but other amendments such as allowing for advanced directives failed in part because Senator Murray Sinclair made a compelling case that the language in the amendment was sufficiently unclear. The challenge there is that while the government promises further study in the language of the bill, there is little guarantee that will actually happen, or if it does, that legislation will follow, because MPs are terribly spineless about these sorts of things and they require being “forced” by the courts.

The other bill is C-7, the RCMP unionization bill, where the list of exclusions that the government had put into the bill has been removed, and somewhat inexplicably, a provision that a union certification vote has to be done by secret ballot was inserted (though I suspect the latter was a compromise with the Conservatives to get them to pass the more important amendment of striking down the exclusions). In that case, the government has a hard time justifying those exclusions, particularly as they both make little sense, and perpetuate the problems of the Commissioner’s office already having too much power, while it would continue to give him even more.

So what’s next? Once those bills head back to the Commons, we’ll see how much the government plans to dig in its heels, and how tough senators can talk about insisting that those changes be in the bills, particularly as they have the weight of the Supreme Court of Canada behind them in both cases. The biggest problem the Senate will face is splintering resolve – enough senators are not willing to stand up to the elected Commons even in the face of a bill that is likely not to pass constitutional muster because the Commons is the elected chamber. Never mind that the Senate was created as an appointed body so that it could do just that – stand up to the elected chamber when need be, because their lack of a need for re-election allowed their reflection on bills to be more “sober,” and this is a case where that particular “sobriety” is needed in the face of pressure from religious and disability groups. But, as I maintain, it remains likely that the Commons is looking for an excuse to be “forced” to accept these changes, and the Senate threatening to use their veto would be excuse enough for MPs to make the needed changes in a way that allows them to hide behind the Senate and skirt responsibility, as they did the courts before them. We’ll have to see.

Good reads:

• The Senate released a report on internal trade barriers, and said that if progress isn’t made by next year that the impasse should be referred to the Supreme Court.
• Four Liberals voted for the Conservatives’ ISIS-as-genocide motion. The motion still failed overall.
• The NDP have unveiled their leadership campaign rules, including signature quotas, leadership debates, and a preferential ballot process.
• Mélanie Joly says that there won’t be a “Netflix tax” as she puts all of our CanCon regulations on the table for discussion this fall.
• Apparently Canada is now the second largest arms merchant to the Middle East, and sixth largest in the world. Go us?
• A former memorandum to cabinet under the Conservatives advocated buying the F-35s. Also, the government signed other sole-source contracts with Lockheed Martin.
• Canada is contemplating a request to send hundreds of troops to Eastern Europe for NATO reassurances missions as Russian military activities ramp up.
• The Liberals joined with the NDP in imposing limits on when committees can go in camera.
• The family of murdered hostage Robert Hall says they agree with the government’s no ransom policy.
• Senator Murray Sinclair noted that his own daughter is two-spirit when he spoke about the Orlando shooting.
• Chantal Hébert looks at the aftermath of Orlando as it reflects history of mass violence and LGBT rights in Canada.
• Susan Delacourt look at how the Liberals turned the Conservatives’ attack ads against them.

Odds and ends:

Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at that 150^th anniversary of Parliament Hill photo.

The Conservatives are grumbling because it appears that the Liberals have scrapped plans for a Canada 150 medal.