OTTAWA: Major Bills Face Logjam In Senate

[Murray Charters <mcharters@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Major bills face logjam in Senate

By DREW FAGAN
OTTAWA BUREAU CHIEF
Friday, October 31, 2003 - Page A1

Key parts of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's legacy agenda already passed by the 
Commons may not become law because the
Senate is now overloaded with legislation, the Government Leader in the Senate 
says.

"There are people who want 13, or 15, or 17 [bills passed]," Senator Sharon 
Carstairs said in an interview yesterday.
"We can't do it on two weeks notice. It's supposed to be a chamber of sober 
second thought."

The Senate recently moved to five-day-a-week sittings to try to push through 
some of the key bills that the Liberal
government wants to become law.

But Ms. Carstairs said the 17 bills now before the Senate will be too many to 
handle; it normally considers in detail
no more than a few bills at one time.

In particular, she said, two of the pieces of legislation mentioned by Mr. 
Chrétien last summer as being his priorities
before he leaves power are in jeopardy: the reproductive-technology bill and a 
broad public-safety bill.

It would be possible to pass both by mid-December, Ms. Carstairs said, if Mr. 
Chrétien decides not to prorogue
Parliament before the Liberal leadership convention, which will elect Paul 
Martin as the new party leader on Nov. 14.
But Mr. Chrétien's intentions remain unclear.

"I am doing everything I can to deliver as much of the legacy agenda as I can," 
said Ms. Carstairs, who has announced
that she will step down as Senate leader once Mr. Chrétien leaves.

Last night, Senator Jack Austin -- widely touted to lead the Senate in a Paul 
Martin government -- said he opposes
another controversial bill before the Senate that would create an independent 
ethics commissioner.

Ms. Carstairs expressed hope yesterday that this bill will come to a vote next 
week. But the tally is expected to be
close; Mr. Austin is one of numerous Liberal senators who oppose the bill on 
grounds the government-appointed
commissioner would have powers that intrude on the Senate's autonomy.

"We are not against ethics. We are only against one point; that it would set a 
huge precedent . . . involving the
operations of the Senate," said Mr. Austin, who said he is acting strictly on 
his own. "I've never discussed [the
ethics legislation] with Paul Martin."

A spokesman for Mr. Martin noted yesterday that the Liberal leader-in-waiting 
voted for the bill in the Commons. "He's
committed to it, voted for it and it will pass eventually."

The reproductive-technology bill, which passed the House of Commons this week, 
would ban human cloning and allow
limited stem-cell research on human embryos.

The public-safety bill would strengthen the regulation of biological agents and 
toxins that could be used as weapons,
improve pipeline and powerline security, and expand sharing of information on 
international airline passengers.

Senator John Lynch-Staunton, the Progressive Conservative leader in the Senate, 
said last night that those two bills
likely wouldn't get through the Senate even if it continued to sit until close 
to Christmas.

And he added that one other bill, which is of particular importance to the 
Martin camp, is causing controversy in the
Senate. The legislation would accelerate by months the expansion of the Commons 
to 308 seats from 301. Mr. Martin is
widely expected to call an election next spring, and he would risk offending 
Western Canada -- which gains most of the
seats -- if he did so without the redistribution having taken effect.

"I'm against it. It's a bill [to accelerate] the ambitions of one person," Mr. 
Lynch-Staunton said.

Ms. Carstairs said a vote on the bill could take place next Friday.

Last night, the Senate passed one other bill on Mr. Chrétien's legacy agenda -- 
the long-awaited legislation inspired
by the 1992 Westray mine disaster that holds companies criminally responsible 
for negligence that kills or injures
employees.

Don Boudria, the Government House Leader, reiterated yesterday that he expects 
Parliament to continue sitting until
Dec. 12. But many politicians aren't so sure, reasoning that Mr. Chrétien -- 
despite his desire to see key bills passed
before he leaves power -- will prorogue Parliament on Nov. 7 rather than face 
daily questioning in the Commons once Mr.
Martin is officially Liberal leader.

However, rather than prorogue Parliament, he could only adjourn the Commons, 
leaving the Senate to continue its work
into December.

Ms. Carstairs noted that, if Parliament is prorogued, the next government could 
choose to reintroduce those bills that
didn't pass the Senate and bypass the Commons entirely through a simple motion.

But there is no guarantee, political observers say, that Mr. Martin will want 
to make them a priority in the short
sitting he may have before he is likely to call an election.

SOURCE: The Globe and Mail


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