The Senate.

• Author: Moss-Norbury, Vanessa
• Position: Legislative Reports

Prior to the winter adjournment, debate concluded on a number of bills and the Governor General signified Royal Assent to three of them in a traditional ceremony on December 12, 2013. These bills included the budget implementation bill and a supply bill as well as Bill C-7, An Act to amend the Museums Act in order to establish the Canadian Museum of History and to make consequential amendments to other Acts. Bill C-7 amends the Museums Act to create a new Crown corporation called the Canadian Museum of History to replace the Canadian Museum of Civilization and also sets out the purpose of the new Canadian Museum of History.

In addition to the study of legislation, a significant event occurred on January 29, 2014 with the announcement from the Leader of the Liberal Party that Liberal senators would no longer form part of the Liberal National Parliamentary Caucus. These senators subsequently formed their own distinct caucus, and elected Senator James Cowan as their leader. At the beginning of the sitting of January 29, the Speaker made a statement quoting from the Rules of the Senate, that "A caucus consists of at least five senators who are members of the same party political party. The party must have initially been registered under the Canada Elections Act to qualify for this status and have never fallen subsequently below five senators. Each recognized party has a leader in the Senate." The Speaker went on to assert that Senator Cowan, who was recognized as the head of a party caucus which had the most members other than the government party, would retain the title of Leader of the Opposition in the Senate.

Audio of Senate Proceedings

The Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration made a historic decision to authorize the Clerk to make the audio broadcast of Senate proceedings publicly available. Beginning November 26, 2013, audio proceedings of the Senate Chamber were made publicly available via ParlVU, the Senate's webcasting service that allows users to access live and archived streams of Senate committee proceedings and now, Senate Chamber proceedings.

Committees

There were three substantive reports from committees tabled in the Senate during this period, including two from the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights entitled: Employment Equity in the Federal Public Service: Staying Vigilant for Equality and Recognising Rights: Strengthening Off-Reserve First Nations Communities. The former concluded that...