The Senate.

• Author: Simpson, Ferda
• Position: Legislative Reports

Legislation

On the evening of March 12 the Speaker of the Senate issued a memorandum indicating that the public interest required that the Senate meet earlier than, March 24, as had been provided in the order of adjournment adopted earlier that day. The Senate was recalled the following morning.

On March 13, Bills C-4, An Act to implement the Agreement between Canada, the United States of America and the United Mexican States; C-10, An Act for granting to Her Majesty certain sums of money for the federal public administration for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2020; C-11, An Act for granting to Her Majesty certain sums of money for the federal public administration for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021; and C-12, An Act to amend the Financial Administration Act (special warrant), were introduced and read a first time, adopted at second and third reading stages, without being referred to committee, and received Royal Assent by written declaration. The latter was enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to allow for a special warrant, authorizing payments out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund, to be issued while Parliament is not sitting and a payment is urgently required for the public good.

The Speaker recalled the Senate again on March 25 to pass Bill C-13, An Act respecting certain measures in response to COVID-19. Prior to the second and third reading stages of the bill, the Senate resolved into a Committee of the Whole for consideration of the subject matter of the bill and heard from the Minister of Finance. The bill was then passed at second and third reading, and received Royal Assent by written declaration the same day. While awaiting the declaration of Royal Assent, the Senate resolved into a second Committee of the Whole to consider the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This second Committee of Whole allowed the Senate to hear from the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, the Minister of Health, as well as the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada.

Prior to these recalls, the Senate had last been recalled on June 26, 2011, during the First Session of the Forty-First Parliament, in order to pass Bill C-6, An Act to provide for the resumption and continuation of postal services.

A motion permitting senators to speak and vote from a seat other than their own was passed at the start of the sitting on March 13 to accommodate for physical distancing. The same motion was adopted when the Senate was...