Parliament Shuts down; key bills die
Chretien says legislation can be revived
The Ottawa Citizen, by Bill Curry, Thursday, November 13, 2003
Prime Minister Jean Chretien officially shut down Parliament yesterday, saddling his successor, Paul Martin, with a host of unfinished bills associated with the Chretien "legacy."
Among the most significant bills to die with the prorogation of the second session of the 37th Parliament is Bill C-34, creating an independent ethics commissioner; Bill C-38, decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana; and Bill C-49, which moves up the creation of seven new ridings to April 1, 2004.
The next sitting day of the House of Commons is set for Jan. 12, but the date could be changed at any time by the prime minister. Mr. Chretien continued to dance around the subject of his retirement date, however, saying he will meet with Mr. Martin on Tuesday to discuss transition.
Insiders say Mr. Chretien's choice of Jan. 12 -- two weeks before the first scheduled sitting day of 2004 according to the parliamentary calendar -- is a sign he intends to retire before then.
On the first day back, the prime minister is required to present a speech from the throne for the new session. Presenting such a speech would be a controversial move for Mr. Chretien if he intended to remain prime minister until February, as previously stated.
Mr. Chretien downplayed the fact several bills he had promised to pass in last September's throne speech will now die, pointing out the Commons can revive them when the new session begins.
"They are not in limbo. They are postponed until January," he said. "All the parties voted for all those bills in the House of Commons, so I presume that they will pass them."
Martin spokesman Scott Reid said the announcement means the Martin team will begin preparing a throne speech in the event Mr. Chretien retires before Jan. 12. "We'll have to wait for the fog to clear on Tuesday," he said, in reference to the transition meeting.
Mr. Reid would not commit Mr. Martin to passing all legislation that died yesterday. While he said Mr. Martin will not bring back C-7, the First Nations Governance Act, in its current form, Mr. Reid declined comment on any other bills.
"I'm not going to do the dance of the seven veils. We will have to evaluate this. We just learned the House is going to be prorogued, so we will have to find out on Tuesday what precisely the implications are of that," he said. "And then we will make decisions from there."
Canadian Alliance House leader John Reynolds criticized Mr. Martin and Mr. Chretien for wiping away the remaining four weeks of this year's parliamentary calendar, saying it "shows the basic chaos" of the Liberal government.
"It's a long time to not be sitting," he said. "The Canadian public does not think their members of Parliament deserve a Christmas break from November until January. We know Mr. Martin's going to be prime minister. We've known it for a long time. He knows who his cabinet is going to be. Why do they need three months?"
Government House leader Don Boudria said yesterday he was "disappointed" several bills remain unfinished.
When Parliament prorogues, all bills in both the House of Commons and the Senate die. Traditionally, that would have meant the government in the next Parliament would decide which, if any, of those bills it wishes to reintroduce at first reading.
In the early 1990s under Tory prime minister Brian Mulroney, a new process emerged allowing old bills to return to the same stage in the legislative process that they were before prorogation. For instance, all the unfinished bills in the Senate could be returned to the upper chamber.
Under the process, a motion is passed by the House stating that if a minister introduces a bill that is identical to one from the previous Parliament, it is deemed to be advanced to the stage it was at prior to prorogation.
The parliamentary rule book at the time stated that the process could only be done with the "consent" of the House of Commons, but both the Tory and Liberal governments have not taken this rule to mean unanimous consent.
Over time, the practice has become less controversial in the House, though some Senators have become more critical of the process.
In fact, one of the reasons why the upper chamber refused to pass Bill C-10B, the cruelty to animals legislation, is because of objections to the way it was revived from the previous Parliament.
Normally, the Senate sits the same weeks as the House of Commons, although only from Tuesday through Thursday. MPs in the Commons sit five days a week.
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Bills That Died
- C-7 First Nations Governance Act: Reforms political and financial accountability on First Nations reserves.
- C-10B An act to amend
the Criminal Code: Would sharply increase penalties for those cruel to animals.
- C-13 Assisted Human
Reproduction Act: Would allow stem cell research on human embryos and impose a ban on human cloning.
- C-16 An act to amend certain Acts of Canada, and to enact measures for implementing the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, in order to enhance public safety.
- C-20 An act to amend the Criminal Code and the Canada Evidence Act: Would make it more difficult for Canadians caught with child pornography to argue that it should be legal for reasons of artistic merit. Would also create a new crime of voyeurism to combat electronic-age peeping Toms.
- C-22 An act to amend the Divorce Act, the Family Orders and Agreements Enforcement Assistance Act, the Garnishment, Attachment and Pension Diversion Act and the Judges Act and to amend other acts in consequence.
- C-23 An act respecting the registration of information relating to sex offenders, to amend the Criminal Code and to make consequential amendments to other acts. This bill would create a national sex offender registry.
- C-26 An act to amend the Canada Transportation Act and the Railway Safety Act, to enact the VIA Rail Canada Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts.
- C-34 An act to amend the Parliament of Canada Act: Would create an independent ethics commissioner and Senate ethics officer.
- C-38 An Act to amend the Contraventions Act and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act: Would decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.
- C-46 An act to amend the Criminal Code (capital markets fraud and evidence-gathering).
- C-54 An act to amend the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act and the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Regulations: Would extend the equalization payment deal with the provinces for one year beyond its expiry date of March 31, 2004.
- C-56 An act to amend the Patent Act to allow developing countries to receive cheaper generic drugs.
The Ottawa Citizen 2003
