Senate.

• Author: Moss-Norbury, Vanessa
• Position: Legislative Reports - Legislative bills; legislative committees; retirement of senators

During the fall/winter session of Parliament, the Senate passed several bills of note, including Bill C-46, An Act to amend the Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act, which made changes to Senators' and MPs' pensions; and Bill C-36, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (elder abuse), which involved harsher sentences for those convicted of crimes against the elderly. In total, six government bills, two Senate public bills and two Commons public bills all received Royal Assent during this period.

In December, the Senate Chamber was seized with Bill C-45, A second Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 29, 2012 and other measures. Given the large size of the bill, the Senate decided to send the subject matter of the bill to six different committees for study while the bill was still being examined by the House of Commons. The results of these studies, conducted over four weeks, were automatically referred to the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance. This process facilitated the consideration of the bill which passed the Senate and received Royal Assent on December 14, 2012.

Committees

In addition to the second omnibus budget bill being split up for pre-study by several committees, there were a number of substantive reports tabled or presented in November and December. Amongst them was the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights' report entitled: Cyberbullying Hurts: Respect for Rights in the Digital Age, tabled on December 12, 2012. The committee viewed cyberbullying as a violation of the human rights of children under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The report had six recommendations for the government focussing primarily on improved Federal/Provincial cooperation and partnership on the matter. The report also contained a Guide for Youth and a Guide for Parents which aims to help parents and their children understand and deal with cyberbullying. The Senate has requested an official government response to its report.

Other committees tabled reports including one by the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples, entitled: Additions to Reserve: Expediting the Process, which looked at ways to enhance the federal Additions to Reserve policy. The Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology's interim report on Canada's Clinical Trial Infrastructure: A Prescription for Improved Access to New Medicines included four components: the process to approve...