House of Commons.

• Author: Sokolyk, Gary
• Position: Legislative Reports

The Second Session of the Forty-First Parliament continued through the months of May and June 2015, with the House adjourning on June 19, 2015. This report covers the months of May, June and July 2015.

Legislation

Bill C-51, best known by its short title, the Antiterrorism Act, 2015, was concurred in at report stage on May 4, 2015 and read the third time and passed on May 6, 2015, after defeat of a reasoned amendment proposed by Randall Garrison (Esquimalt--Juan de Fuca). Passed by the Senate on June 9, 2015, it received Royal Assent on June 18, 2015. The Bill was vigorously opposed by the NDP, filibustering in committee to increase the time allocated to expert witness testimony on the Bill, and by the Green Party. Opposition to the Bill reflected concerns that the powers granted by it were excessive and the mechanisms for oversight were insufficient.

In response to the use of time allocation by the Government, the opposition parties (in particular, the Official Opposition) made use of delaying tactics such as dilatory motions and reasoned amendments. Examples of the latter are those proposed in connection with third reading of Bill C-51, the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2015, on May 6, 2015, with third reading of Bill S-6, An Act to amend the Yukon Environmental and Socioeconomic Assessment Act and the Nunavut Waters and Nunavut Surface Rights Tribunal Act, on June 5, 2015, with third reading of Bill C-59, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on April 21, 2015, and other measures, on June 15, 2015, and with third reading of Bill S-4, An Act to amend the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and to make a consequential amendment to another Act, on June 17, 2015.

Financial Procedures

On June 8, 2015, the House debated a motion, -That Vote 1, in the amount of $57,031,359, under THE SENATE--The Senate--Program expenditures, in the Main Estimates for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016, be concurred in. As references to the Senate are ordinarily excluded from debate in the House of Commons, the debate was punctuated by no fewer than 12 points of order and statements by the Acting Speaker, Barry Devolin, on the issues of relevance and the propriety of comments about the Senate.

On June 8, 2015, the Main Estimates and Supplementary Estimates (A) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016, were concurred in.

Bill C-59, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on April 21, 2015 and other measures, contained...