Roundup: The Bloc vs the Senate

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The Bloc Québécois are getting a taste of what the Senate does and why, and they’re not happy. The Senate has been slow-walking Bill C-282, which aims to forbid a government from negotiating any further reductions to Supply Management in trade negotiations, and it’s a bad bill. Nevertheless, it passed the House of Commons, because MPs are sometimes sentimental fools and will vote for things that they think are feel-good without actually thinking through the consequences. This was one such bill, where MPs voted on it nearly unanimously because they fell all over themselves to show how much they all loved Supply Management, neverminded that it’s a bad bill. Now that it’s in the Senate, with some actually knowledgeable former senior civil servants in the Chamber who know what they’re talking about have the bill in their hands, and they’re not giving it an easy ride.

The essential complaint is that the bill constrains the royal prerogative around trade negotiations, which could have serious consequences down the road. I’m not sure it’s quite as serious as that—you can’t really bind future governments and this bill, should it pass, could be easily repealed (say, in the next budget implementation bill), but there won’t be an easy passage on this, and for good reason. The Senate exists to put a check on the populist excesses of the House of Commons, which is why they have an absolute veto (only exercised in extreme circumstances, mind you), and who can say “Hey, you guys didn’t do your due diligence, so now we’re going to.” It is their raison d’être, whether MPs like it or not, and it’s especially important for private members’ bill because they are pre-time allocated under the rules and get very little scrutiny, even when they really need it.

The Bloc, however, are trying blackmail. In Question Period yesterday, they were demanding that the government tell senators to pass the bill, or they’ll topple the government. But the government can’t tell the Senate what to do, and as I mentioned in a previous post, there is no mechanism by which the Government Leader in the Senate could fast-track such a bill, even if they wanted to, because it’s a private member’s bill. Furthermore, with a Chamber of mostly-independent senators who have a job until age 75, they are not bothered if the government falls. The blackmail doesn’t really work on them because their seats aren’t in jeopardy, and I’m not sure what the Bloc thinks they’re doing, particularly in trying to blackmail the government into passing this bill as well as their OAS bill (which remains unvoteable as they are unlikely to get a royal recommendation). In either case, they are learning the hard way that the Senate is not a rubber stamp and they can’t expect to order it around as though it were.

Ukraine Dispatch

Three people were killed in a Russian missile attack on the central city of Kryvyi Riv, and another three were killed in a drone attack on the southern city of Izmail. Nine children taken to Russia during the invasion have now been returned to their families in Ukraine thanks to help from Qatar.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau says that he’ll attend the Francophonie summit in France next week.
  • The Fiscal Monitor shows the federal deficit to be $7.3 billion between April and July (but that is very subject to change).
  • The federal government is block-booking seats on commercial flights leaving Lebanon to help Canadians trying to leave (and offering loans if necessary).
  • Harjit Sajjan says the government is looking at revamping federal disaster assistance and standing up some sort of federal agency after more climate disasters.
  • CSIS suspects that another former parliamentarian may have been doing work on behalf of a foreign government (but won’t give any hints as to who it might be).
  • The FBI has revealed that a Chinese-based hacker network hijacked 10,000 devices in Canada to attack government, universities, and critical infrastructure.
  • Companies that signed onto the AI voluntary code of conduct are happy with the decision, and wonder why the holdouts are so reluctant.
  • Here is a taste of the harassment that the Asshole Brigade on Wellington has been subjecting everyone on Parliament Hill to.
  • Speaker Fergus has referred the matter of production of SDTC documents and the prima facie question of privilege to committee. (This is abuse of privilege!)
  • The Bloc’s only Supply Day this fall is scheduled for Tuesday, well before their October 29th “deadline” for their demands to be met.
  • Ontario’s Darlington nuclear power plant could be the first commercial test of Small Modular Reactors if approved.
  • Philippe Lagassé praises the Royal Canadian Navy’s willingness to go for an off-the-shelf submarine model in order to prioritize speed over Canadian industry.
  • Michael Den Tandt offers his supposition as to why Trudeau is sticking with his current strategy in spite of his poll numbers.
  • My weekend column looks at how the UCP is an object lesson in the crazies taking over a political party because not enough regular Canadians will step up.

Odds and ends:

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