Senate/ Le Senat.

AuthorMussell, Mary
PositionLegislative Reports/Rapport legislatifs - Canadian Senate - Case study

The high profile issues of climate change and Senate reform occupied much of the Senate's time during the winter of 2007. As the chamber of sober second thought, the Senate takes its role seriously and important legislation can expect to be given careful consideration, both on the floor of the Senate and in its committees. Bill C-288, the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act, passed by the House of Commons under Private Members' Business, arrived in the Senate on February 15 and generated significant debate on second reading. Senators opposed to the bill questioned the powers of private members through their bills to influence Government action. The effect of this bill, they argued, would be to force the Government to propose a particular measure that it had resolved not to do. After eight days of debate it was referred to the Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources Committee on March

29. Since the subject-matter of Bill S-4, an amendment to the Constitution Act 1867 (Senate tenure) and a motion to increase western representation in the Senate had been studied and reported in October 2006, the Senate gave its undivided attention to Bill S-4. It imposes a limit of eight years on the tenure of senators appointed after the bill becomes law while preserving the existing retirement age of 75. Many senators took part in debate on second reading, spread over 28 days, before the bill was referred to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee on February 20.

Committee Reports

The wide range of Senate interest and scrutiny is more evident in the reports of its committees, either standing or special. During this period, committees presented reports on five Government bills and one Senate public bill and tabled 19 reports on special studies. Of these, two were submitted by special committees appointed to consider a particular issue. The Special Committee on the Anti-terrorism Act tabled its Main Report entitled Fundamental Justice in Extraordinary Times on February 22 and later on March 1, the Special Committee on Aging tabled its interim report entitled Embracing the Challenge of Aging.

Standing committees also reported on special studies. The Seventh Report of the Foreign Affairs and International Trade Committee outlined a plan of action for improving the standard of living in African countries. Tabled in the Senate on February 15, the report entitled Overcoming 40 Yeas of Failure: A New Road Map for Sub-Saharan Africa recommended a review of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the creation of an Africa Office within the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. The Human Rights Committee recommended ways to tighten the process of hiring visible minorities in the public service in its Seventh Report entitled Employment Equity in the Federal Public Service-Not There Yet, tabled on February 20. Autism was the subject of the Twelfth Report of the Social Affairs, Science and Technology Committee tabled in the Senate on March 29. The committee recommended in its report entitled Pay Now or Pay Later: Autism Families in Crisis that the federal government act now to assist families facing the challenges of autism.

The Social Affairs, Science and Technology Committee also reported on reproductive issues of concern to women; the Fisheries and Oceans Committee on Atlantic fish stocks; the Human Rights Committee on children's rights; the Official Languages Committee on...

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