Roundup: Counting votes is not a measure of the Senate’s health

Posted on by

The National Post did an analysis of the “new, independent” Senate to see just what has changed since the prime minister Justin Trudeau began his bid to reform the Upper Chamber through the appointment process, and lo, the analysis misses the whole gods damned point. You don’t judge the effectiveness of the Senate by counting votes. It has never operated in such a way, and (quantitative) political scientists and journalists can’t get that through their heads. The Senate is not going to vote down government legislation unless it’s a dire circumstance, and usually they will only insist on an amendment once before they will let a bill pass. How many times they vote against the government is not a measure of independence either, because the objective of most senators is to let a bill get to committee where the real work happens, and they will try to amend any flaws (and even then, we’ve had a problem of this particular government needing to sponsor amendments to fix their flaws that they bullied through the Commons, until the more recent and destructive trend of telling them to pass it anyway and that they would fix the flaw in a future piece of legislation).

There are plenty of other measures by which we could talk about why the “new” Senate isn’t working from the fact that they can barely organise a picnic anymore because most of the Independent senators can’t stick to agreements on procedural matters, or the fact that the pandemic has gutted their ability to be useful aside from adding a few speeches to the record because legislation is being bullied through without time for scrutiny, or the fact that they no longer have the interpretation capacity to run many of their committees like they used to thanks to hybrid sittings burning out the interpreters. Those are all very real problems that are hurting the Senate, but it requires journalists (and academics) who know the place and what is going on, and what questions to ask, and those are almost non-existent. But hey, we counted votes, so that means something, right? Nope.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 265:

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the recently liberated city of Kherson to declare it the beginning of the end of Russia’s invasion, but also notes that the city is laced with boobytraps and mines, and that they have a significant challenge ahead in repairing critical infrastructure so that people can get electricity and water.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau announced another $500 million in military aid for Ukraine, along with adding more Russians to the sanctions list, including Magnitsky sanctions.
  • The federal government has reached a deal to import more supplies of children’s Tylenol and Advil until production can compensate domestically.
  • Steven Guilbeault says the federal oil and gas emissions cap will be ready by the end of next year, starting with draft regulations ready by the spring.
  • The federal government has filed the necessary paperwork to formally ban senior Iranian officials from the country.
  • An NSIRA report says that the Canadian Forces aren’t equipped to deal with the threat posed by white nationalism to its ranks and membership.
  • The RCMP have arrested a Hydro-Québec employee on charges of espionage, accusing him of selling secrets to China detrimental to our economic interests.
  • At the public inquiry, we heard that CSIS didn’t believe the occupation to be a national security threat, but diplomats felt it put our reputation at risk.
  • A new report suggests that we have been underestimating methane emissions, which is a problem as we move to start capping them.
  • The Procedure and House Affairs committee will look into the allegations of attempted Chinese interference in elections (but this will mostly be showboating).
  • The Commons’ justice committee will begin a review of our extradition laws.
  • The president of CBSA was back at committee to answer questions about the ArriveCan app, and the mistakes in the data submitted previously.
  • Law professors Carissima Mathen and Keri Froc argue that federal disallowance powers won’t help with the abuse of the Notwithstanding Clause.

Odds and ends:

Want more Routine Proceedings? Become a patron and get exclusive new content.

One thought on “Roundup: Counting votes is not a measure of the Senate’s health”

  1. Dale,

    You might want to add to your criticism of the National Post’s article the following clause in the Constitution Act 1867, Part IV — Legislative Power, Section 55:

    “Royal Assent to Bills, etc.

    55 Where a Bill passed by the Houses of the Parliament is presented to the Governor General for the Queen’s Assent, he shall declare, according to his Discretion, but subject to the Provisions of this Act and to Her Majesty’s Instructions, either that he assents thereto in the Queen’s Name . . . . ”

    In other words, at the end of the day, the Senate must pass legislation in order for it become an Act of Parliament.

    Ronald A. McCallum

    Source: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/

Comments are closed.