Roundup: Another missed opportunity for the Senate

Posted on by

A mere day after the House of Commons rose for the summer, the Senate did the same after a marathon day of passing most of the bills on its Order Paper, but leaving several key pieces of legislation to languish over the summer. As I do every summer, I remind readers that it used to be normal for senators to sit for at least an extra week in the summer to clear their Order Paper, and at this particular juncture, it would make even more sense for them to do so because they no longer have to compete with the House of Commons for resources, and most especially interpreters.

The biggest bill in question is the gun control bill, which they sent to committee, where it will sit over the summer. What they should have done was use the time and resources that they have now in order to hold a week’s worth of committee hearings, and do the job of scrutinizing the bill. And sure, you’ll get a certain cohort of senators insisting that it “doesn’t make sense” for them to sit when the Commons isn’t, in case they need to make amendments, to which I will remind them that it doesn’t matter if the Commons has risen. If the Senate wants to propose amendments, they can do the study now, propose them, and send it to the House for when they get back in September. If the Government House Leader on the Commons side wants to bellyache and moan that the Senate wants the House to recall at so many tens of thousands of dollars a day, well, too bad. They don’t have to recall. They can deal with the Senate amendments in September. And I will reiterate—it would make much more sense for the Senate to deal with a bill this big and contentious now, when they’re not competing for resources, rather than letting it drag out for months in the fall like they did with a couple of other big and contentious bills.

This is a better use of the time and resources available, and it shows that the Senate isn’t afraid to work hard when the MPs have gone home. It’s too bad nobody can see this plain and obvious PR win for the Senate that’s staring them in the face.

Ukraine Dispatch:

There were overnight missile and drone attacks, largely targeted to Odesa and Kryvy Rih, hitting homes in the latter. Ukrainian forces are reporting “partial success” in their southeast and east operations, as fighting continues. An explosion has damaged the bridge between occupied Crimea and Kherson province, which is partially occupied. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that their intelligence services have information that Russia is planning a “terrorist” attack at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and that it will involve the release of radiation, and that Russia is hiding the bodies of those killed by the breach of the Kakhovka dam. Meanwhile, the EU says that Ukraine has completed two of the seven steps necessary for membership, with progress made on other reforms, but tackling corruption remains a concern for Europe.

https://twitter.com/rubrykaeng/status/1671855902830329857

https://twitter.com/defencehq/status/1671756814814265344

Good reads:

  • Canada and the US have agreed to replace their ad hoc approach to helping one another fight forest fires with a formal agreement that will speed things up.
  • David Lametti ordered a new trial for two Indigenous men convicted of murder in 1974 by an all-white jury that didn’t have sufficient evidence.
  • The online news bill has received royal assent, at which point Facebook immediately declared it will block all news content in Canada in the coming months.
  • The federal government has signed a procurement framework agreement with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation around the clean-up of Giant Mine.
  • National security and intelligence advisory Jody Thomas says the person who leaked to the media will be found and punished for risking our Five Eyes relationships.
  • The PBO’s latest report confirms that government transfers are helping low-income households deal with the increasing cost of living.
  • A civil society group that includes Senator Kim Pate will travel to northern Syria this summer to get information about Canadians held in camps there.
  • Peter Julian says he’s “confident” a public inquiry will happen.
  • Alberta is having another “severely normal” one as it turns out Dr. Deena Hinshaw was hired by AHS then fired immediately, and that led to resignations.
  • My Xtra column points out that Poilievre’s conspicuous silence on the harassment of LTBTQ+ people speaks more volumes than whether or not he attends Pride.

Odds and ends:

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