House of Commons/Chambre des communes.
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Legislative Reports/Rapport legislatifs - Canada House of Commons
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House of Commons/Chambre des communes.
The ever-looming possibility of a spring election set the tone for the early months of 2007, with repeated opposition challenges in the form of Supply Motions, Private Members' Bills and Committee Reports rejecting the government's policies and counteracting its legislative proposals. Opposition initiatives were focused mainly on the environment, Afghanistan, law and order, and economic policy.
On the environmental front, the House debated (February 1, 2007) and adopted (on February 5, 2007) a non-binding Supply Motion sponsored by the Leader of the Opposition, Stephane Dion, calling for the government to "honour the principles and targets of the Kyoto Protocol in their entirety". This was followed in short order by the adoption, on February 14, 2007, of the motion for third reading and passage of Bill C-288, a private Member's bill standing in the name of Pablo Rodriguez. Presently under consideration by the Senate, the resulting statute would require the government to table a detailed plan for meeting Canada's Kyoto targets within 60 days and to report annually to Parliament on its progress in this regard. A heavily-amended version of Bill C-30 (Clean Air and Climate-change Act), the government's environmental initiative, was reported back to the House on March 30, 2007, after four months of study by the legislative committee to which it had been referred before second reading. The amendments amounted to a virtual re-draft of the bill and reflected a concerted effort to bring it into compliance with Canada's commitments under the Kyoto Accord. Even the title of the bill had been amended, symbolizing the radical transformation of the "Clean Air Act" into the "Clean Air and Climate-change Act". The bill remains on the Order Paper but has yet to be debated at report stage. Government bills were frequently denied gentle treatment in committee. Typical of these was Bill C-10 (An Act to amend the Criminal Code (Offences Involving Firearms)) whose primary objectives were to increase mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment for individuals who commit serious or repeat firearm offences, and to create the new offences of breaking and entering to steal a firearm and robbery to steal a firearm. Referred to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights after second reading and reported back to the House on February 21, 2007, the bill was amended by the removal of all mandatory minimum penalties. The result was a truncated bill with nine clauses, compared to the original thirty-one. As happened in the case of Bill C-30, the title of the bill ha...See the full content of this document
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