The Senate.

• Author: Hollins, Max
• Position: Legislative Reports

In the Chamber

Toward the end of the third quarter, Bill S-228, An Act to amend the Food and Drugs Act (prohibiting food and beverage marketing directed at children), was read a third time and sent to the House of Commons for study. In September, the second reading debate began on three government bills, C-23, An Act respecting the preclearance of persons and goods in Canada and the United States, C-25, An Act to amend the Canada Business Corporations Act, the Canada Cooperatives Act, the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act, and the Competition Act, and C-36, An Act to amend the Statistics Act. In addition, Bill C-277, An Act providing for the development of a framework on palliative care in Canada, was read a second time and referred to the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology on September 26, 2017.

Committees

In September, two reports of the Standing Joint Committee on the Scrutiny of Regulations, one dealing with documents incorporated by reference and the other with marginal notes, were adopted along with requests for government responses. The Senate also adopted a report of the Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration designating Jacqueline J. Kuehl as Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel.

In addition, several committee reports were tabled with the Clerk of the Senate over the course of the summer adjournment. These included two reports of the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance (Getting Ready: For a new generation of active seniors and Smarter Planning, Smarter Spending: Ensuring Transparency, Accountability and Predictability in Federal Infrastructure Programs), a report of the Standing Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade on the crisis in Venezuela, and a report of the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce entitled Study on the current and emerging issues of the banking sector and monetary policy of the United States.

Leadership

Late in the second quarter, it was announced that Senator Terry Mercer would become the Deputy Leader of the Senate Liberals, effective June 29, 2017.

As previously reported, many of the independent senators appointed since the beginning of the current session, together with other non-affiliated senators, have created a group called the Independent Senators Group (ISG). The group held its first elections at the end of this quarter. On September 25, Senators Yuen Pau Woo and Raymonde Saint-Germain...