By John Paul Tasker
CBC NEWS

While the Senate's transport committee recommended the upper house defeat the bill outright, a coalition of Independent and Liberal senators has cobbled together enough votes to rescue legislation to implement the government's planned ban on oil tankers along B.C.'s northern coast.

The outcome was far from certain after the committee that studied the legislation recommended against passing the Liberal plan. The committee issued a scathing report this week saying that, if passed, the bill would stoke a nascent separatist movement in Western Canada, and accused the government of unfairly targeting Alberta's oilpatch at a time of constrained pipeline capacity and cratering oil prices.

The strongly worded report — penned by the committee's chair, Conservative Saskatchewan Sen. David Tkachuk — prompted a backlash of sorts Wednesday night from other senators who called it overly partisan.

Senators rejected the committee's report by a vote of 38 to 53, with one abstention. Now, senators are expected to make amendments at the third reading phase of the legislative process before sending the bill back to the Commons for approval.

The Senate also voted this evening on Bill C-69, the government's controversial overhaul of the environmental assessment process. The Senate's energy committee passed more than 180 amendments to that bill that would, among other things, limit the environment minister's ability to interfere in the regulatory process and stop and start project timelines.

Having passed the Senate, C-69 now returns to the House of Commons with all 180 amendments. 

While not explicitly written into the Liberal government's 2015 platform, then-third party leader Justin Trudeau vowed to institute a moratorium on oil tankers docking at ports along the northern B.C. coast when unveiling his plan for the environment at a Vancouver-area event in June, 2015.

In describing the legislation, Tkachuk said it is "not as advertised" — that it is not a "moratorium" at all because there is no set timeline, and should be described as a ban. (The Conservative Party recently launched a series of ads with the tagline, "Justin Trudeau, not as advertised.")

In the report, Tkachuk said the legislation was motivated not by a desire to protect the pristine Great Bear rainforest but rather by electoral considerations. He said Trudeau is willing to undermine the Prairie economy to court votes elsewhere.

Tkachuk said Trudeau is "targeting one region, where the political rewards for the government of the day are few, in order to please voters in other regions of Canada — regions where the government of the day has far greater potential to win seats.

"Your committee notes the ruling political party has historically been unable to win a significant number of seats in the region targeted by this bill, and that all credible polls indicate the ruling party will be unable to win a significant number of seats in the upcoming federal election."

Independent Quebec Sen. Andre Pratte said that, while he opposed parts of the tanker ban bill and will offer amendments at the third reading stage, he thought Tkachuk's report did a disservice to the committee's deliberations on the legislation.

While many reports are produced with a degree of consensus — with contributions from members of the committee from different parties — the committee's deputy chair, Independent Quebec Sen. Julie Miville-Dechêne, said there was no such offer from Tkachuk.

"He said no to any steering committee, as usual. We were therefore unable to decide in a collegial manner how to go about writing the report. My only priority then became to ensure that whatever report was prepared would be put before the Senate promptly so that we can all vote on it," the senator told her colleagues.

"I therefore urge you to emphatically reject this 21-page report, which does a disservice to the Senate and does not do justice to the diversity of opinion among the 139 witnesses who appeared before us."

However, while she was critical of the Tkachuk report, Miville-Dechêne and other dissenting senators did not draft a minority report to respond to the Tory-penned document.

Independent Manitoba Sen. Murray Sinclair said the transport committee is clearly "dysfunctional," given how much bickering there was between members at its meetings and in the chamber Wednesday.

"It's appearing to me, from being here, that this committee did not function properly and did not function in a collegial matter. I therefore consider it to be a dysfunctional committee," the former judge said.

"The committee did not appear to be able to get along very well in its work and deliberations, and that causes me concern because now we are being asked to be parties to this report as members of the chamber."

The "dysfunction" label prompted claims of unparliamentary language from the Conservative opposition, with one senator saying the description "defamed" the work of the committee.

Independent Quebec Sen. Rosa Galvez said the mood at the transport committee, of which she is a member, was "extremely unpleasant" under Tkachuk's leadership.

She said the committee's travel, to locations in B.C., Alberta, and Saskatchewan, was essentially a waste of time because dissenting voices were all but excluded from Tkachuk's final report.

"A cost-benefit analysis of this report would be absolutely scandalous," Galvez said.

"Overall, I got the feeling that our work was being undermined and even sabotaged. Rather than conducting an in-depth analysis of Bill C-48, of its weaknesses and limitations, so that we could suggest amendments and make observations that could be effective in improving it, we created a hostile and aggressive atmosphere that prevented the legislation from being studied in the best interests of Canadians."

Galvez said her colleague, Independent Alberta Sen. Paula Simons — who sided with the Tories to vote down Bill C-48 at committee — was "harassed" to vote a certain way.

Tkachuk defended the committee's work and the report it produced.

"This was not a waste of time. This was the Senate at its best," he said of the committee's travels.

• Coastal First Nations slam senators, say upper house doesn't have 'legitimacy' to kill tanker ban

• Jason Kenney now says Alberta can live with amended C-69 environmental assessment bill

• Garneau says he's open to amendments as opposition to B.C. tanker ban bill mounts

He said the bill, which would ban tankers capable of carrying more than 12,500 metric tons of oil from an area that stretches from the northern tip of Vancouver Island to the Alaska border, is "so egregiously bad that it should be stopped in its tracks."

"Your committee has concluded from the varied and quite passionate testimony put before it, from a broad range of witnesses who appeared in Ottawa, British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, that Bill C-48 is both divisive and discriminatory," Tkachuk said.

He said the legislation, which does nothing about oil tanker traffic in Eastern Canada, serves only to bolster a growing Western Canadian separatist movement.

"The feeling of resentment, I can tell you, is palpable and any legislation that pours fuel on that particular fire should not be allowed to proceed," Tkachuk said.

He said the bill will cost "us all," as it imperils the future of Alberta's oilpatch and conventional oil development in Saskatchewan — two major economic drivers for the Canadian economy.

If enacted, the ban would frustrate future pipeline projects like the now-defunct Northern Gateway project, or the proposed Indigenous-led Eagle Spirit pipeline.
​
"Your committee strongly maintains that targeting one region of Canada for economic punishment is unconstitutional and destructive to the fabric of Canadian federalism," Tkachuk said.

By Peter Mazereeuw
THE HILL TIMES

Several high-profile government bills are entering the final stretch of scrutiny by Senators this week, with a decision on whether or not to kill the controversial tanker ban bill, C-48, on the docket, and third reading debate on the government’s sweeping environmental impact assessment bill, C-69, expected to begin early this week.

The government has also continued to introduce new bills in the House of Commons as recently as last week, with just 15 sitting days now left in the House and a handful more than that in the Senate. It’s possible not all of them will pass through both Chambers and into law before Parliament rises for the summer for the election campaign without negotiations and cooperation among groups both in the House and Senate.

The House is scheduled to sit until June 21 and the Senate until June 28. The next election is expected to happen on Oct. 21 and the House will not be back before then, so there’s a legislative push on for the government over the next three weeks.

The government tabled legislation to implement the CUSMCA trade agreement with the United States and Mexico just last week. Bill C-100 is still at second reading in the House, and would have to pass through a committee study and multiple rounds of debate before it arrived in the Senate to begin that process anew.

The New Democrats in the House signalled last week that they won’t make it easy for the government to move the bill along quickly without using time allocation, when they voted against a motion preceding C-100 that authorized government spending to implement that trade deal. The Conservatives and Liberals voted in favour of the motion.

However, should Bill C-100 make it to the Senate, members of the Red Chamber should already be familiar with it, said Independent Senator Raymonde Saint-Germain (De la Vallière, Que.), the deputy facilitator of the Independent Senators Group.

“We’ve been expecting it for a long time, we know what’s in it. We can find [the Foreign Affairs and International Trade Committee] enough time to study it,” she said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Que.) and U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence discussed the implementation of the trade deal during the latter’s visit to Ottawa last week. Mr. Pence said his administration was pushing for U.S. legislators to implement the bill this summer.

Government House Leader Bardish Chagger (Waterloo, Ont.) didn’t include C-100 in her response to the Thursday Question last week, meaning it may not come up for debate this week.

Government House leaders often strike deals with their opposition counterparts to get unanimous consent to advance certain bills through several stages simultaneously late in a legislative session, but the NDP’s vote on the spending motion for C-100 means that is unlikely in this case. The government could also recall the House of Commons in the summer to deal with C-100, if it wants to wait for the U.S. to ratify the trade deal before Canada does the same.

Sen. Saint-Germain said she didn’t know whether the Senate would have enough time to study and vote on other recently-introduced bills before it rises. Bill C-99, to change the citizenship oath to recognize the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and C-98, to create an oversight body for the Canada Border Services Agency, are both still at second reading in the House.

Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen (York South-Weston, Ont.) told reporters last week that “we are very hopeful for a multi-party approach in support” of the citizenship oath bill.

“We are proceeding forward by presenting a bill, but also hoping that with the other parties supporting this, we can move quickly towards passage,” he said.

When asked whether the Senate would have enough time to deal with bills recently introduced into the House once they progressed to the Upper Chamber, Senator Peter Harder (Ottawa, Ont.) the government’s representative in the Senate, said “the Senate will do what the Senate needs to do.”

A spokesperson for Conservative Senate Leader Larry Smith (Saurel, Que.), Karine Leroux, said in an emailed statement that “these last-minute bills show a lack of planning by the Trudeau government. The Official Opposition in the Senate will act responsibly and do its due diligence by reviewing the latest bills proposed by the Trudeau government.”

Senate to vote on killing tanker ban bill

The Senate is expected to vote early this week on a report from its Transport Committee on Bill C-48, a bill that would fulfill a Liberal election promise to ban oil tanker traffic from the northern B.C. coast, making permanent a voluntary moratorium that is already in place there.

The Senate Transport Committee recommended that the Senate kill the bill in its report, finalized late last week. Senators on the committee came to a tie vote on whether to proceed with the bill. Tie votes count as a loss, meaning the vote determined that the committee would recommend that Senators do not allow the bill to go ahead.

If the Senate accepts the committee’s report, Bill C-48 will die, in what would be an exceptionally rare move by the Upper Chamber to defeat a government bill. If the Senate does not accept the committee’s report, the bill would go on to be debated at third reading, where Senators could move amendments to the controversial bill, which Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and others have said would harm the oil and gas industry. 

If Senators do amend the bill at third reading, it could set the stage for a ping-pong battle between the two Chambers. Transport Minister Marc Garneau (Notre-Dame-de-Grâce-Westmount, Que.) has rejected the idea of amending the bill to create exemptions to the moratorium zone, suggesting in front of Senate Transport Committee in May that opening up corridors for shipping oil on the coast would undermine the purpose of the bill, since spilled oil could spread far and wide through the water.

Sen. Saint-Germain, a member of the Transport Committee, said she couldn’t predict how Independent Senators would vote on the committee’s report when it comes before the Chamber at report stage. The report was agreed to on division, meaning that not all committee members agreed with it, but those who opposed did not force a formal vote.

“I anticipate very interesting discussions,” she said.

Independents collectively form a majority in the Chamber, but are not whipped or formally tied to any political party.   

The Senate Conservatives will try to convince Senators to accept the committee’s report and kill Bill C-48, said Conservative Senator David Tkachuk (Saskatchewan), the chair of the Transport Committee. The Conservatives may bring forward amendments to the bill if it makes it to third reading, he said.

Independent Senator Elaine McCoy (Alberta) penned an op-ed in The Globe and Mail late last week, urging her colleagues to kill C-48, and Independent Senator Doug Black (Alberta) said he agreed with her via Twitter. Independent Senator Paula Simons (Alberta) voted against proceeding with the bill at the Transport Committee.

Senators green-light overhaul of C-69

Senators agreed late last week to pass Bill C-69, on reforming the environmental impact assessment process, through report stage, meaning they effectively endorsed the 187 amendments to the bill made by the Senate Environment Committee.

That bill has also been widely criticized by conservative politicians and resource industry groups, among others, for everything from technical errors to potentially causing harm to the resource industry. The Environment Committee’s amendments ranged from minor changes to those that would take discretionary power over assessments away from the federal environment minister, and changes that environmental groups say would make environmental reviews too industry-friendly, for example, putting industry regulators back in charge of review panels conducting assessments, and ensuring the economic impact of a project is taken into account in an assessment.

The Senate agreed to pass the committee’s report on division, meaning some Senators disagreed with the report, but weren’t willing to force a recorded vote on it. Third reading debate on Bill C-69 will likely begin early this week, and the Senate Conservatives are considering putting forward one or more new technical amendments at that stage.

The government fisheries and fish habitat bill, C-68, is also at third reading in the Senate, as is Bill C-77, to reform the the military justice system. Senate leaders agreed hold a third reading vote on C-77 by June 6.

Baylis’ urges PROC to get Members’-rights motion back to House

Liberal MP Frank Baylis (Pierrefonds-Dollard, Que.) is urging MPs on the Procedure and House Affairs Committee to do a short study of his private member’s motion to change the standing orders, M-231, and get it back to the House in time for a vote, before it dies on the order paper with the summer break and dissolution of Parliament for this fall’s election.

Mr. Baylis testified before PROC late last week, as the committee held its first hearing on the motion, which would establish a second debating Chamber for the House to deal with private member’s business, and would change the standing orders in several ways to take power out of the hands of party officers like the whips, and put it into the hands of backbench MPs—including doing away with speaking lists, through which the whips decide who gets to speak in the House and when.

Mr. Baylis’ motion had also been before the House of Commons as a whole for consideration, but he missed the first hour of debate on the motion in the House last week after making a mistake with his scheduling, he said. Because he missed the debate, the motion died, making PROC Mr. Baylis’ last chance to revive it.

Mr. Baylis told the committee members that many of the ideas proposed in the motion have been examined by MPs before, and noted that PROC had already done a separate study on establishing a second Chamber for the House. He told The Hill Times that he had received positive feedback from the Conservatives, NDP, and Liberal whip Mark Holland (Ajax, Ont.) about the motion. He said there was nonetheless some “timidity” about making big changes to the way the House does its business, and that he wanted PROC to complete a study on the motion so that all MPs would have a chance to vote on it in the Chamber before the summer.

peter@hilltimes.com

Status of government bills

​House of Commons

Second reading:

• C-5, An Act to Repeal Division 20 of Part 3 of the Economic Action Plan 2015 Act, No. 1
• C-12, An Act to amend the Canadian Forces Members and Veterans Re-establishment and Compensation Act
• C-27, An Act to amend the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985
• C-28, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (victim surcharge)
• C-32, An Act related to the repeal of Section 159 of the Criminal Code
• C-33, An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act
• C-34, An Act to amend the Public Service Labour Relations Act
• C-38, An Act to amend an Act to amend the Criminal Code (exploitation and trafficking in persons)
• C-39, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (unconstitutional provisions)
• C-42, Veterans Well-being Act
• C-43, An Act respecting a payment to be made out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund to support a pan-Canadian artificial intelligence strategy
• C-52, Supporting Vested Rights Under Access to Information Act
• C-56, An Act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act and the Abolition of Early Parole Act
• C-87, Poverty Reduction Act
• C-94, An Act respecting certain payments to be made out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund
• C-98, An Act to amend the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act and the Canada Border Services Agency Act
• C-99, An Act to amend the Citizenship Act
• C-100, An Act to implement the Agreement between Canada, the United States of America, and the United Mexican States

Report stage:

• C-88, An Act to amend the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act and the Canada Petroleum Resources Act
• C-92, An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children, youth, and families
• C-93, An Act to provide no-cost, expedited record suspensions for simple possession of cannabis
• C-97, Budget Implementation Act, 2019, No. 1

Consideration of amendments made by the Senate:

• C-58, An Act to amend the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts
• C-59, An Act respecting national security matters

Senate

Senate pre-study:

• C-92, An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children, youth, and families
• C-97, Budget Implementation Act, 2019, No. 1

Committee:

• C-48, Oil Tanker Moratorium Act
• C-75, An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Youth Criminal Justice Act, and other Acts
• C-78, An Act to amend the Divorce Act, the Family Orders and Agreements Enforcement Assistance Act, and the Garnishment, Attachment, and Pension Diversion Act
• C-82, Multilateral Instrument in Respect of Tax Conventions Act
• C-84, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (bestiality and animal fighting)
• C-91, Indigenous Languages Act

Report stage:

• C-83, An Act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act and another Act

Third reading

• C-68, An Act to amend the Fisheries Act
• C-69, An Act to enact the Impact Assessment Act and the Canadian Energy Regulator Act, to amend the Navigation Protection Act
• C-77, An Act to amend the National Defence Act to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts

Awaiting Royal Assent

• C-71, An Act to amend certain Acts and Regulations in relation to firearms
• C-81, Accessible Canada Act

READ MORE: https://www.hilltimes.com/2019/06/03/senate-to-decide-on-fate-of-tanker-ban-liberals-leaving-u-s-mexico-trade-bill-until-last-minute/202345

By Jolson Lim
iPOLITICS

​The Senate is pushing forward with efforts to change the Liberal government’s controversial environmental assessment bill, passing this afternoon a package of energy sector-friendly amendments to Bill C-69.

The Senate environment committee had submitted a report to the full Senate with 188 total amendments that tilt heavily in favour of the interests of Canada’s oil and gas industry, which believes the bill will hurt prospects for future energy projects if passed as originally envisioned by the Trudeau government.

The Senate passed today, on division, the report and its recommendations. A formal recorded vote was not held.

Bill C-69, which alters how large energy projects are regulated, will now be brought to third reading during the Senate’s next sitting day on Monday, where members of the Upper Chamber can propose additional amendments.

The Liberal majority in the House of Commons will then have a chance to vote on whether or not to support the Senate’s version of the bill.

Environment groups have slammed some Senators, who are unelected appointees, for proposing amendments to a government bill and throwing the likeliness of its passage into uncertainty, with four sitting weeks left.

BACKGROUNDER: Environment groups blast Senate committee for amendments to Bill C-69

The amendments from the Senate committee include reducing cabinet power to intervene in energy assessments and altering the way climate change impacts are considered in the regulatory process. Many of the proposals are word-for-word what oil and gas groups have proposed.

Before the report was passed, Conservative Senators Michael MacDonald and Dennis Patterson spoke at length in opposition of the bill, saying the piece of legislation entered the Senate in a form requiring major changes.

READ MORE: Kenney vows ‘immediate’ constitutional challenge if Bill C-69 is passed

SOURCE ARTICLE: https://ipolitics.ca/2019/05/30/senate-passes-amendments-to-bill-c-69-moves-to-third-reading/

By David Moscrop
MACLEAN'S

With Parliament set to rise on June 21, MPs are preparing for a summer filled with pre-election groundwork. But the government will be making the dash to sunny days with its briefcase full of legislation that has yet to be passed. Prime Minister Trudeau and his team will be under pressure to deliver on these commitments. That task will be made difficult by emboldened Independent senators and obstructionist Tory senators, as well as opposition members of Parliament who have concerns with the substance of pending legislation, wish to see the government embarrassed ahead of the election in October, or both.

After being elected in 2015, Trudeau publicly shared the mandate letters he delivered to each of his members of cabinet, outlining what was expected of them and anchored by the “12 top priorities” of the government. As a means of accountability, the Privy Council Office (PCO) created a mandate-letter tracker and published it online. When last updated on March 22, the website indicated that only four of 432 commitments were “Not met” and were “Not being pursued”—electoral reform; a balanced budget; an employment insurance break for firms that hire young folks permanently; and the removal of GST on capital investments in new, affordable rental housing. The PCO states that there has been “Progress made” on 267 promises and that 161 have been “Completed/Met.”

But there is some serious unfinished business in that “Progress made” section. Filed under it is Canada’s response to the opioid crisis, which has been slow and insufficient. Ditto fixing ensuring public servant pay—as the Phoenix pay system debacle remains unresolved. Ditto once more Indigenous housing and the implementation of recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

As the dissolution of Parliament and the federal election approach, the fate of a few key pieces of legislation hang in the balance—and that’s important. The remaining bills cover efforts to tackle the climate emergency and to address the ongoing colonial relationship between the state and Indigenous peoples. Their fates will reflect the priorities and capacities of the government, what it cares about and what it cares enough about to get something real done. The same is true of the Senate. So, the next few weeks will be decisive—both a test of the Trudeau government and the (semi-) independent Senate. At the time of this writing, there were eight bills under consideration in the House of Commons and 11 in the Senate. And the latter is where things get interesting.

While the government has control of the agenda in the House, and the capacity to control the calendar, with Trudeau’s changes to the Senate after his election 2015, he has had less ability to direct affairs in the Red Chamber—which is now experiencing some growing pains. Today, the Independent Senators Group (ISG), a caucus of non-partisan senators, has an absolute majority in the upper house. The Senate Conservatives (who did not respond to a request for an interview), however, remain partisan and obstructionist, their apparent interest in stalling the government’s agenda increasing as the election draws nearer.

Candice Bergen, the Conservative House leader in the Commons, blames the government. “I think they have realized that they haven’t accomplished a lot and are trying to get some things done. For sure they have really failed on their promises to Indigenous people.” But some government legislation, including the contentious environmental assessment review legislation, Bill C-69, has been in front of the Senate since the summer of 2018—and has been stalled by partisan temporizing. Sen. Yuen Pao Woo, facilitator of the ISG, sees such political games as an old problem, indicative of the reality that, while the Senate is changing, it’s not fully reformed. “It’s the old way, which is that partisan caucuses use the rules to extend and to obstruct and to delay,” he says. “It is the status quo that is holding back the Senate rather than the new approach.”

Of the dozen bills currently before the Senate, a few stand out as particularly important to the government—and the country. Bill C-92, a bill designed to address serious flaws in the Indigenous child welfare system, is one. So is Bill C-91, an Indigenous languages bill to fund and protect Indigenous languages. The budget implementation act, Bill C-97, is also in front of the Senate, but given that it’s a money bill, the chamber is unlikely to tie it up for too long. There’s also Bill C-59, a national security bill. Bill C-71, a firearms regulation bill, was just passed.

The most contentious bills, however, seem to be concerned with the environment. Bill C-48, which would institute an oil tanker moratorium along the northern coast of B.C., has been scrutinized by the Senate for ages, and was recently defeated at committee—though not killed. Its fate will be decided on the floor of the upper chamber. Bill C-68, which is concerned with the sustainability of fish stocks, has been making its way through Parliament for years. Coastal First Nations are demanding the Senate assent to the bill.

And then there’s Bill C-69, the granddaddy-showdown of them all. The environmental assessment bill has been controversial from the get-go. While supporters see it as an essential update to the review process for major resource projects, opponents regard it as a threat to, among other things, the green-lighting of pipelines. Alberta premier Jason Kenney has been stumping against it for months, making the bill a feature of his recent, successful election campaign. Unsurprisingly, the oil and gas lobby has been aggressively opposed to it, too. The Senate (and not just Conservative senators) has offered 187 amendments to the bill, which doesn’t surprise Bergen. “The outcry against C-69 has been massive,” she says. “It is a terrible bill that will do massive damage to our economy.”

For a government keen to tout its achievements, especially on the environment, this situation is far from optimal. In October, voters will be asking “What have you done for me lately?” as well as “What are you going to do for me next?” Currently, the Liberals trail the Conservatives in the aggregate polls by six points. They’re likely to remind Canadians of their success lifting children out of poverty with the Canada Child Benefit--which is increasing. They’ll also be sure to trumpet their renegotiation of NAFTA, though the new deal has yet to be ratified by Parliament or the U.S Congress and may not receive approval from the latter.

The legalisation of marijuana will be another feather in their cap. And Trudeau has himself said that he would happily make the election about the carbon tax. Yet his team will also have to answer to shortcomings on big files, including letting down Indigenous peoples, failing to balance the budget, breaking their promise on electoral reform and—to the dismay of progressives—purchasing the Trans Mountain pipeline.

The government is confident it will get its legislation passed, and members are prepared to use the parliamentary tools at their disposal to make that happen, such as longer sitting hours for the House of Commons. “We’ll most likely be entertaining extended hours,” says government House Leader Bardish Chagger. “I believe it’s important for us to be able to not only having meaningful debate but to call legislation to a vote—and also to have time to consider amendments that might come back from the Senate.”

Another tool: asking the House to sit past its scheduled adjournment on June 21. “I would hope that if we continue working in a productive manner, we shouldn’t have to do that,” says Chagger. “But if there are important pieces of legislation that are not completed, of course. We are here to serve Canadians and their best interests.”

With an election coming, Parliamentarians will amplify the high-notes of the legislative process—getting the remaining bills passed will be political, partisan and acrimonious. The fate of each piece of government business in the next few weeks will then offer voters a way to assess their government of the last four years; to decide whether the country is walking on sunshine or down a boulevard of broken Liberal dreams.

READ MORE: ​https://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/the-final-mad-scramble-to-deliver-on-team-trudeaus-big-promises/

John Paul Tasker 
CBC News

The federal Liberal government will ask MPs to extend sitting hours in the House of Commons for the rest of the parliamentary session — the last before a fall election — to give them more time to pass a lengthy list of bills in relatively short order.

The motion, which will be debated Monday, calls on MPs to sit until midnight on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings until the end of June to allow for more debate time in the chamber.

With just four sitting weeks left in the House of Commons, the window of opportunity to pass key pieces of legislation — including the budget and the pot pardons bill — is closing quickly.

"We'd like to see everything pass," said a government source, speaking on background to CBC News. "You never want to say, 'No, we're willing to let that die on the order paper.' Right now, we hope with good, constructive debate on all sides we can get a lot done."

There's an added complication: the Liberal government could still introduce enabling legislation for the new NAFTA trade agreement, which would also have to be debated, studied and passed through the two chambers of Parliament in under a month's time.

That's a constrained timeline that even the most innocuous and non-partisan bills often fail to meet. (A bill making changes to the Girl Guides of Canada's articles of incorporation has been stalled in the Senate for months, for example.)

While a final decision on when to introduce the NAFTA bill has not been made, the government source said that, after the steel and aluminum tariffs deal with the U.S. and Mexico, "we are going to move ahead with ratification. It's not on the notice paper, but keep an eye on it."

So it's possible that some parliamentarians will have to stay in Ottawa beyond the end of June to pass that legislation before hitting the summer BBQ circuit ahead of October's expected vote.

While cabinet ultimately ratifies trade deals, legislative changes are often necessary to implement parts of an agreement.

A newly constituted post-election Parliament is not likely to return until December at the earliest — a distant date that could delay implementation of the trilateral trade agreement.

• Jason Kenney now says Alberta can live with amended C-69 environmental assessment bill

The 12 or so government bills currently in the Senate — plus two others in the midst of "pre-study" at committee — have the best shot of securing royal assent and passage before summer. That's largely because the leadership of the four major groups in the Senate — the government representative's office, the Senate Liberals, the Conservatives and the Independent Senators Group — have all agreed to hit a series of scheduling targets to advance legislation through the upper house in a timely manner.

Some of the bills still 'active' and before the House of Commons:

• Bill C-58, changes to the Access to Information Act regime (as amended by the Senate)
• Bill C-81, reforms to laws that protect people with disabilities, "An act to ensure a barrier-free Canada."
• Bill C-88, changes to the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act
• Bill C-92, major reforms to Indigenous child welfare systems
• Bill C-93, the pot pardons bill, "An Act to provide no-cost, expedited record suspensions for simple possession of cannabis."
• Bill C-97, the budget
• Bill C-98, which establishes a public complaints and review commission for the RCMP and the Canadian Border Services Agency

However, two major legislative initiatives — Bill C-69, the government's controversial overhaul of the environmental assessment act, and Bill C-48, the northern B.C. oil tanker ban — face less than certain futures.

The Tories would not agree to a date for a final, third reading vote on those two bills to signal their overwhelming opposition to legislation they've described as an affront to Alberta's oilpatch.

While the Liberal Party promised major environmental changes in its last election platform, opposition in the Senate from Conservative and some Independent members has been fierce.

The Senate's energy committee made more than 187 amendments — including amendments long demanded by oil and gas lobbyists — to C-69, while the transport committee recommended the Senate not proceed with C-48 at all.

Peter Harder, the government's representative in the Senate, has said the Senate should pass Bill C-69 as amended by committee and send it back to the Commons. That would leave the government to decide what to do with the mixed bag of changes that strip out some crucial aspects of the draft bill — aspects that the government has defended as necessary to reform a broken assessments process.

Independent Alberta Sen. Paula Simons, who was appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last fall and opposed C-69 as it was initially written, said that while the package of amendments isn't perfect — "It's kind of a Subaru package rather than a Maserati one," she said — she believes it does make it more palatable for her home province.

"We've got the package out of committee, which is a victory. The House will have to decide which of the amendments we've put on the menu they wish to order," she said in an interview.

"It's a very big bill and it had some areas where the government would concede they made mistakes, where they left things out, where they didn't think through the consequences of a thing. I'm happy to see the government acknowledging that. I hope we can get a bill back from the Commons that I can support."

• Senators propose sweeping rewrite of controversial environmental assessment bill

• Garneau says he's open to amendments as opposition to B.C. tanker ban bill mounts

After the bill clears the Senate, as it is expected to do next week, the government will have to set aside precious debating time for MPs to consider a bill that has been radically reformed since it was first passed through the lower house in June 2018.

The Liberal government is on track to pass fewer bills in its four-year mandate than the previous Conservative government did in the four years it held a majority government — and the newly independent Senate is partly responsible.

"We have respect for the Senate, and it's been amending legislation. It's a totally new world. This Parliament is entirely different than any other Parliament before this, so it just means bills are amended and it takes a little longer. It all just takes more time," the government source said.
​
So far, the Senate has successfully amended 19 out of the 68 government bills that have become law (three of those bills will receive royal assent tomorrow), or roughly 28 per cent of all bills that have passed.

READ MORE: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/tasker-extend-commons-hours-pass-bills-1.5148943

Rachel Aiello
CTV NEWS

OTTAWA – MPs return to Parliament Hill Monday, giving them four weeks until the House of Commons likely adjourns for the final time before the election campaign begins.

After members of Parliament decamp to their ridings for the summer BBQ circuit and pre-election campaigning, senators are scheduled to stay in town an extra week to wrap up whatever legislation they can. All of this timing of course, is pending any unforeseen need to reconvene Parliament, -- say, over needing to ratify CUSMA.

All told, this leaves just 24 sitting days to pass whatever legislation remains. Any bills not passed will die when Parliament adjourns and would have to be re-tabled if a future government wanted to still pursue them.

Here's where all active outstanding pieces of government legislation stand. Given the flow of bills, those in the Senate are closest to passage, as are the bills that have been sent back to the House with Senate amendments.

​In the House:

Bills at second reading

• Bill C-87, the Poverty Reduction Act. This was tabled by Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Jean-Yves Duclos in November 2018.
• Bill C-98, which amends the RCMP Act and CBSA Act to set up a new oversight body for the two agencies. It was tabled by Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale in May.

Bills being studied at committee

• Bill C-88, which makes changes related to regional resource protections in the Mackenzie Valley in the Northwest Territories. It was tabled by Intergovernmental and Northern Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc in November 2018 and is currently before the House Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee.
• Bill C-92, which seeks to assert that Indigenous people have jurisdiction over child and family services in their communities. It was tabled by Indigenous Services Minister Seamus O'Regan in May and has been fast-tracked and is currently also before the House Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee. It is being pre-studied in the Senate as well, so expect this bill to keep moving quickly.
• Bill C-93, the pot pardons legislation. Tabled by Goodale in May, it is currently before the House Public Safety and National Security Committee. Its first meeting on the legislation is scheduled for next week.
• Bill C-97, the Budget Implementation Act, 2019. This omnibus bill makes all sorts of changes tied into the federal budget, and also makes immigration law and housing rights changes. It was tabled by Finance Minister Bill Morneau in April and is being studied by the House Finance Committee, as well as the Senate National Finance Committee. It's expected to pass, as all budget bills do.

Bills awaiting consideration of Senate amendments

• Bill C-58, the legislation that changes Canada's Access to Information Law in several ways, including giving the new information commissioner new authorities. Though it has largely been panned as a bad bill that will not improve an already troubled freedom of information system. It was first ushered in under the Treasury Board portfolio in June 2017. The Senate amended it considerably and has sent it back to the House.
• Bill C-81, the Accessible Canada Act, from Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Accessibility Minister Carla Qualtrough. It makes sweeping accessibility law changesand was tabled in 2018. The minister tweeted this week that she’ll be accepting all Senate changes, meaning it is set to pass soon.

What about bills at first reading?

There are 14 other government bills still in the House, but they all are at first reading. All but one of them have been stalled since 2017. Some of this legislation was folded into other bills that have since advanced, so don’t expect to see these bills move.

The one exception is the recently tabled Bill C-94, which allows for payments from federal coffers to be made in relation to infrastructure, the Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service, and to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. This was tabled by Finance Minister Bill Morneau in March, and still has a chance to move forward as it doesn't appear to be a contentious or dense proposal. The bill is six pages long.

There are also no bills currently at report stage or third reading in the House, though expect that to change as soon as the aforementioned bills get moving next week.

In the Senate:

Bills at second reading:

• Bill C-84, which mends the Criminal Code to crack down on bestiality and animal fighting offences. It was tabled by then-justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould in 2018 and just passed into the Senate earlier this month.
• Bill C-91, the Indigenous Languages Act, which is aimed at reviving Indigenous languages and would create a new Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages. It was tabled in February by Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism Minister Pablo Rodriguez and also just passed into the upper chamber recently.

Bills being studied at committee:

• Bill C-48, the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act would introduce a federal ban on tanker traffic off of the B.C. north coast. The Senate Committee on Transport and Communications just recommended it not be proceeded with at all. Now it'll be on the Senate as a whole to decide whether to take that advice and kill the government bill, which was first tabled by Transport Minister Marc Garneau in 2017.
• Bill C-77, which introduces a victims' bill of rights for the military justice system. From Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, it was tabled in 2018 and is currently before the Senate National Security and Defence Committee, though the committee has only held one meeting on it so far.
• Bill C-68, the legislation that makes changes to the Fisheries Act related to make clear the minister’s authority and strengthen the powers for enforcement of the law. It was tabled under the Fisheries, Oceans, and Canadian Coast Guard portfolio in February 2018, and has been studied the last two months in the Senate Fisheries and Oceans Committee. 
• Bill C-78, which updates family and divorce laws, in an attempt to have more disputes settled out of court, and amends the language related to custody. It’s a justice proposal first tabled in 2018, and it’s currently before the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee. The committee has just come out of back-to-back studies of other government bills, so its look into this one has yet to begin.
• Bill C-69, which makes a number of considerable changes to environmental assessments and regulations. The Senate Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources Committee has suggested dozens of amendments and it will now be on the whole Senate to determine how it wants to handle the contentious proposal that was first tabled in February 2018.
• Bill C-82, the Multilateral Instrument in Respect of Tax Conventions Act. It's a Morneau initiative first tabled in June 2018. The Senate Foreign Affairs and International Trade Committee has yet to begin studying it.
• Bill C-75, an omnibus piece of legislation that aims to reform a number of areas of Canada's criminal justice system and address court backlogs. It was tabled in March 2018 and has been studied intensely at the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee over this month. This study could wrap soon, and it is yet to be seen whether it'll be amended as it was in the House.
• Bill C-83, which proposes to overhaul how federal inmates are separated from the general prison population, eliminating solitary confinement as it is known. It was tabled in October 2018 and is currently getting studied by the Senate Social Affairs, Science and Technology Committee.

Bills at report stage:

• Bill C-59, the National Security Act, which is a wide-spanning piece of legislation that proposes national security and oversight reforms. The Senate National Security and Defence Committee has reported it back with amendments. The Senate will now deliberate if it will accept the proposed changes.

Bills at third reading:

• Bill C-71, the gun control bill that includes various measures that tightens the rules around gun ownership. It was amended considerably by the Senate National Security and Defence Committee but the Senate as a whole rejected those amendments so the bill as it was, is now poised to pass and move on to Royal Assent.

Bills passed so far:Since forming government, the Liberals have managed to pass 68 pieces of government legislation, including major changes to Canada's physician-assisted dying regime, cannabis legalization, an anti-harassment policy for federal workers, and six budget implementation bills. They’ve been able to do this in part with the use of time allocation, a procedural tool that limits debates. It’s a tactic that is commonly used, but is always railed against by the opposition.
​
On top of these bills, there are dozens of other private member’s bills left on the agenda, including a proposal to end the captivity of whales and dolphins, legislation to create a new statutory holiday focused on reconciliation with Indigenous Canadians, and a bill that would require comprehensive training for judges on sexual assault. Here’s our latest rundown of the private member’s bills to watch.

READ MORE: https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/with-a-few-weeks-left-in-the-session-here-s-what-s-left-to-pass-1.4434812

John Paul Tasker 
CBC News

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and the leaders of the three other provincial parties are offering an olive branch to the Trudeau government on C-69, saying they're now prepared to accept the controversial overhaul of Canada's environmental assessment process — as long as the Senate's amendments are part of it.

In a joint letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's point man in the Senate, Peter Harder, the multipartisan group asks the government to accept the changes to Bill C-69 — including amendments long demanded by oil and gas lobbyists — to avoid a constitutional fight over federal-provincial jurisdiction in natural resources.

"While we remain concerned about the overall spirit of Bill C-69, we believe that with the inclusion of all these amendments, that the bill would be acceptable to the interests of Albertans," reads the letter, signed by Kenney, NDP Leader Rachel Notley, Alberta Party Leader Stephen Mandel and David Khan, the leader of the Alberta Liberal Party.

The Senate's energy committee last week passed more than 180 amendments that would, among other things, limit the environment minister's ability to interfere in the regulatory process and stop and start project timelines.

The committee also passed amendments to curb public participation in the project review process to ensure more timely decisions, and backed changes that would solidify the role of the offshore petroleum boards in the approvals process.

"We call upon the entire Senate to likewise respect the deliberations of the standing committee ... and vote in favour of the entirety of this amendment package," the leaders said.

The letter signals a tonal shift for Alberta's leaders. Kenney has long called for the Senate to kill the bill outright, while Notley described the Liberal proposals as a "stampede of stupid."

The letter, obtained by CBC News, says Bill C-69 "in its unamended form would seriously threaten Alberta's exclusive provincial jurisdiction over the regulation of the production of non-renewable natural resources."

The leaders also asked Harder to accept the Senate transport committee's deadlock over C-48, the northern B.C. oil tanker ban bill. The committee's vote on whether to recommend the bill for passage last week ended in a tie, meaning the recommendation failed.

Reached by phone Thursday, Harder told CBC News that he believes the Senate should pass the bill as amended by the committee and send it back to the House of Commons, where the government can decide which amendments it's willing to accept.

That's a change in approach for Harder; his lieutenant, government liaison Sen. Grant Mitchell, pushed back against a number of proposed amendments during the committee process, saying they do not square with the government's goal of dramatically reworking the assessments process.

"I always say I'm not just the government's representative in the Senate. I'm the Senate's representative to the government," Harder said.

"Where we're at now, after the Senate committee deliberations, is a large number of amendments, some of which are not necessarily in harmony with others. My view is it would be best for us, as a Senate, to act reasonably quickly and send the bill back to the House of Commons for the government to put forward which of the amendments it would agree to. And then that would come back to the Senate."

(After legislation is amended by the Senate, the amended version must also pass the Commons before it becomes law.)

Environmental groups have slammed the Senate's amendments as a cut-and-paste job lifted from material submitted by oil industry lobbyists. In fact, the wording of many of the amendments is identical to what was asked for by energy lobby groups, including the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

Regarding C-48, Harder said Trudeau promised a similar tanker ban during the last federal election and a campaign promise should be respected by the unelected upper house.

"We are a revising chamber, not a defeating chamber," Harder said.

Only days after he was elected premier in Alberta's April election, Kenney appeared before the Senate's energy committee, where he urged senators to make major changes to Bill C-69. He said Ottawa's attempt to rewrite existing assessment legislation, do away with the National Energy Board and bolster Indigenous participation in the approvals process — among many other changes to the natural resources regime — would create uncertainty for an industry that is facing constrained pipeline capacity and cratering commodity prices.

"There is a growing crisis of national unity in Alberta which would be exacerbated by the adoption of this bill and other policies like it," Kenney said. "If this bill proceeds, it will be a message to the people of Alberta that their federal government doesn't care about a devastating period of economic adversity in our province."
​
Kenney also said he was prepared to launch a constitutional legal challenge against the legislation if it was passed by the Senate as written, saying Ottawa is unfairly intruding on an area of provincial jurisdiction.

READ MORE: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/tasker-kenney-bill-c69-amendments-1.5147516

THE CANADIAN PRESS

A Senate committee has approved dozens of amendments — primarily aimed at mollifying the energy industry — to the Liberal government's controversial environmental assessment legislation.

Bill C-69 is supposed to improve the way the environmental impact of major energy and transportation projects are evaluated, making the assessments more stringent so that they are less likely to fail court challenges.

But the oil industry, backed by Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, has launched ferocious opposition to the bill, which it claims will sow uncertainty and prevent major projects, such as pipelines, from ever getting built.

Kenney, who has labelled the bill the "No More Pipelines Act," has gone so far as to warn of a national-unity crisis if the legislation were to pass unchanged. In one of this first acts as a new premier, he headed to Ottawa to fight it.

"I made it clear in both official languages that, if passed, that bill would jeopardize national unity and undermine our shared prosperity as Canadians by creating massive additional investor uncertainty, that would scare away job-creating investment and would make it impossible for companies to come forward with future potential pipelines," he said in Calgary Thursday.

The amendments approved by the Senate's energy, environment and natural resources committee would reduce cabinet discretion to intervene in the assessment process, make it harder for anyone to initiate court challenges to decisions on projects and change how climate-change impacts are considered; some are word-for-word what was proposed by energy lobby groups.

Kenney pronounced himself pleased with the changes but said he wants to see what happens with the final law: The Senate as a whole must now decide whether to accept or reject the amendments, which environmentalists say would gut the bill.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has indicated the government is open to amending the bill but he and Environment Minister Catherine McKenna have refused to comment on amendments proposed by senators until the upper house makes a final decision on them.

Conservative senators, who proposed 90 amendments, hailed the committee's acceptance of them as a win for Canada's regions and for energy-industry workers.

The amendments to C-69 come less than 24 hours after another Senate committee voted to kill the Trudeau government's proposed ban on oil tankers on the coast of northern British Columbia. The ban was promised by Trudeau during the 2015 election campaign.
​
The full Senate must still weigh in on that decision.

Any amendments to government bills approved by the Senate must go back to the House of Commons, where the government decides whether to accept, reject or modify them and sends the bill back to the upper house. So far during Trudeau's mandate, appointed senators have not insisted on any of their amendments after they've been rejected by the elected chamber.
​

By Senate GRO (Government Representative Office)
https://senate-gro.ca/news/government-bills-in-the-senate-now/

Bills are proposed laws. They vary in size, effect and the public interest they receive. Typically, Government bills are introduced by a Cabinet Minister in the House of Commons, but this type of legislation can also originate in the Senate if it does not initiate spending or impose a tax.

Here’s a list of government bills currently before the Senate.

The Bill: C-68, An Act to amend the Fisheries Act and other Acts in consequence
Status: Third reading.
Senate Sponsor: Senator Dan Christmas, independent Senator representing Nova Scotia.
Summary: This bill aims to fulfill the Government’s commitment to better protect Canada’s freshwater and marine fisheries, helping to ensure their long-term economic and environmental sustainability. Changes include the restoration of protections removed for fish and fish habitats in 2012, as well as the introduction of new ecological safeguards. C-68 also seeks to better recognize the rights of Indigenous peoples with respect to fisheries.

The Bill: C-77, An Act to amend the National Defence Act and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts
Status: Third reading.
Senate Sponsor: Senator Marc Gold, independent Senator representing Quebec.
Summary: Bill C-77 seeks to make substantial amendments to the National Defence Act through the addition of the
Declaration of Victims Rights to the Code of Service Discipline, in order to harmonize the military justice system with the wider Canadian civilian criminal justice system. Changes also include a requirement that particular attention should be given to the circumstances of Indigenous offenders at sentencing.

The Bill: C-69, An Act to enact the Impact Assessment Act and the Canadian Energy Regulator Act, to amend the Navigation Protection Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts
Status: Third reading.
Senate Sponsor: Senator Grant Mitchell, Government Liaison.
Summary: The objective of the bill is to improve the rules for the assessment of major projects to protect the environment and waterways, to rebuild public trust in how decisions about resource projects are made, and to provide certainty and predictable timelines to industry and investors. It also ensures that Indigenous knowledge be formally regarded and integrated into review processes.

The Bill: C-83, An Act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act and another Act
Status: Report stage.
Senate Sponsor: Senator Marty Klyne, independent Senator representing Saskatchewan.
Summary: Bill C-83 replaces Canada’s current system of administrative segregation with a much more progressive system of structured intervention units. Under the proposed new system, the Correctional Service of Canada will be required to provide inmates who must be separated from the general population with at least four hours daily out of the cell and at least two hours daily of meaningful human interaction.

The Bill: C-48, Oil Tanker Moratorium Act
Status: At the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications.
Senate Sponsor: Senator Mobina Jaffer, independent Liberal Senator representing British Columbia.
Summary: The bill formalizes a crude oil tanker moratorium on the north coast of British Columbia and sets penalties for contravention of this moratorium.

The Bill: C-75, An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Youth Criminal Justice Act and other Acts and to make consequential amendments to other Acts
Status: At the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs.
Senate Sponsor: Senator Murray Sinclair, independent Senator representing Manitoba.
Summary: This bill is intended to make the criminal justice system more modern and efficient, and to reduce delays in criminal proceedings.

The Bill: C-78, An Act to amend the Divorce Act, the Family Orders and Agreements Enforcement Assistance Act and the Garnishment, Attachment and Pension Diversion Act and to make consequential amendments to another Act
Status: At the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs.
Senate Sponsor: Senator Pierre Dalphond, independent Senator representing Quebec.
Summary:  This new law will make federal family laws more responsive to Canadian families’ needs — and will put children first.

The Bill: C-82, Multilateral Instrument in Respect of Tax Conventions Act
Status: At the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
Senate Sponsor: Senator Mary Coyle, independent Senator representing Nova Scotia.
Summary: This bill enacts implements a multilateral instrument in respect of conventions for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income. The multilateral instrument is an international treaty developed as part of the G20 and OECD’s project to tackle base erosion and profit shifting.

The Bill: C-84, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (bestiality and animal fighting)
Status: At the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology.
Senate Sponsor: Senator Yvonne Boyer, independent Senator representing Ontario.
Summary: This legislation broadens the scope of three criminal offences in order to prohibit certain activities related to bestiality and animal fighting.

The Bill: C-91, Indigenous Languages Act
Status: At the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples.
Senate Sponsor: Senator Murray Sinclair, independent Senator representing Manitoba.
Summary: Bill C-91 provides, among other things, that the Government of Canada recognizes that the rights of Indigenous peoples recognized and affirmed by section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 include rights related to Indigenous languages.

READ MORE: https://senate-gro.ca/news/government-bills-in-the-senate-now/

About the Government Representative Office (GRO)
Government representation consists of three Senators who are responsible for both shepherding the Government’s legislation through the Senate in a timely manner and championing renewal in the changing institution. Although the three Senators represent the Government to the Senate, they do not sit in a partisan caucus and do not lead a caucus. Because of this, the Government representative team has no power to direct the votes of Senate members. The team promotes a vision for the Senate that is less partisan, and more independent, accountable and transparent, along with a strong focus on the role of the Senate as a complementary body to the House of Commons.

Formed in the spring of 2016, the GRO is a departure from previous Senate practice in which the Government Leader in the Senate was part of the same caucus as the Government. While the old model was characterized by top-down partisan control manifested through whipped party votes, the new model relies on Senators’ exercise of judgment within the framework of the institution’s complementary role.

​READ MORE ABOUT GRO: https://senate-gro.ca/about/

More than 130 amendments to C-69 are on table — most requested by energy groupsBy Mia Rabson 
THE CANADIAN PRESS

Environment advocates say Canadian senators are bowing to pressure from the energy industry to gut new environmental-assessment legislation and they fear the Liberal government is going to do the same.

Bill C-69 is meant to be an effort to improve the way major energy and transportation projects are evaluated for their environmental impact, making the assessments more stringent so they're less likely to be challenged in court.

The Liberals, who introduced it, say lax assessments are why so few big projects, and no new oil pipelines, have been approved in Canada in years — they've been tied up in challenges.

The Conservatives, backed by provincial politicians such as Alberta's Premier Jason Kenney, say the process laid out in Bill C-69 would keep important projects from getting past the assessment stage.

More than 130 amendments are on the table at a Senate committee that could dramatically alter much of the bill, including moves to reduce cabinet discretion to intervene in the assessment process, to make it harder for anyone to challenge a project approval — or denial — in court, and to change how climate-change impacts are considered.

Many of the amendments are word-for-word what was asked for by energy lobby groups, including the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

Kenney warned the Senate committee on May 2 that if the amendments suggested by Alberta's former NDP government, as well as those coming from the energy industry, were not adopted as a whole, it would stoke fires of Alberta separation result in a constitutional challenge on the grounds that the law intrudes on provincial rights.

'Running amok'Ecojustice lawyer Joshua Ginsberg says Bill C-69 as originally written struck a delicate balance on the need for Canada to build major new energy and transportation projects without harming the environment or contributing further to climate change.

"Now it's going to swing way over to the industry side," he said.

"The oil and gas industry is running amok in a Senate process and that is scary because they are only one stakeholder."

Oil-industry advocates launched a full-court press on the Senate, sending more than 50,000 letters and emails to individual senators, as well as publishing senators' phone numbers and flooding them with calls.

Environment advocates also made a strong push to support the bill, but Ginsberg said very few of the proposed amendments are the suggestions made by his side.

A spokeswoman for the Conservatives in the Senate said last week the amendments from the Conservatives were "based on" evidence and proposals from municipalities, provincial governments, the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) and the Mining Association of Canada.

• Ottawa will exempt some oilsands projects from environmental assessments — if Alberta keeps its emissions cap

• Senators propose sweeping rewrite of controversial environmental assessment bill

A CAPP official declined comment on the amendments process and the concerns raised by environment groups Monday, saying the organization was still reviewing the many proposed changes.

Any changes have to be accepted first by the committee, then the Senate as a whole and finally the government before being incorporated into the bill. Environment Minister Catherine McKenna has said she is open to amendments to the bill but won't say what changes she will accept until the bill has finished its journey in the Senate.

Julia Levin, the climate and energy program manager at Environmental Defence, said she thinks there has been a shift in language from the government.

On Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in Edmonton, where he said he is open to making changes to the bill recommended by a "broad range of voices," including business, Indigenous Peoples and community groups.

But he said repeatedly in that news conference that the existing system doesn't allow big projects to get built and he wants to overcome that obstacle while still protecting the interests of the environment and Indigenous communities.

Levin and Ginsberg both say if the Senate tries to rework the whole bill, the government would be better off to let it die and try again after this fall's election.

"With these amendments, it won't be better than what we have now," said Levin.

She thinks the Senate's major surgery is really a poorly disguised attempt to kill the bill by delaying its passage.

If the bill doesn't get passed before the election, it will die. There are just five sitting weeks left this spring for that to happen.