Senate.(Report)

The Senate was occupied during the early days of the Second Session of the Thirty-ninth Parliament with the customary duties of a new session. Debate on the Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne, the formal response from the Senate to the Governor General's recitation of the Government's agenda for the session, began immediately and continued until its adoption on November 27. Twenty-three senators spoke, including Senator Bert Brown, a new senator who took the occasion to make his maiden speech in the Senate.

There is also business that must be completed at the beginning of a new session so that committees can begin their work. On November 1, the Senate confirmed the appointments of senators nominated by the Committee of Selection to serve on standing committees for the session. Each committee subsequently reported on expenses incurred during the previous session, in accordance with the Rules of the Senate. Several committees also received their mandates from orders of reference adopted by the Senate and approval for new budgets to carry out their special studies.

Legislation

At times it becomes necessary to expedite the passage of legislation, especially when a lengthy adjournment is imminent. This occurred in December when three important Government bills arrived during the final week before the Senate adjourned for the holidays.

Due to the urgency of these bills, the Senate considered two of them in Committee of the Whole. Bill C-38, to mandate the re-opening of the Chalk River nuclear plant, impacted on the health and safety of Canadians and for this reason was perhaps the more critical. The legislation was created to end the medical emergency caused by the shutdown of the nuclear facility which resulted in a shortage of medical isotopes. On December 12, the Minister of Health, Tony Clement, and the Minister of Natural Resources, Gary Lunn, in addition to officials from Atomic Energy of Canada Limited and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, appeared as witnesses to answer questions about the bill. Twenty-one senators took part during the course of the meeting which lasted over three hours before reporting the bill to the Senate without amendment. Third reading and Royal Assent by written declaration, signified by Governor General Michaelle Jean, proceeded immediately afterwards.

All voters are required by the Canada Elections Act to demonstrate their identity and residence before they vote. This was a problem, in particular, for electors living in rural and northern communities who lost their right to vote because they did not have identification containing a residential address. On December 14, the Senate met once again in Committee of the Whole, this time to examine an amendment to the Canada Elections Act which corrected the problem of verifying the residency of voters. Bill C-18 meant that voters who have identification containing an address with a rural route number, for example, can establish their residence before they vote if this mailing address is consistent with information on the list of electors. More broadly, Bill C-18 was about protecting the Charter and ensuring that legitimate voters are able to exercise their constitutional right to vote in the next federal election. Called as witnesses, the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Democratic Reform, Peter Van Loan, and Marc Mayrand, Chief Electoral Officer, responded to 14 Senators who asked questions. Bill C-18 was also reported without amendment.

The Senate revived a method it had not used since 1993 to deal with the third piece of urgent legislation, Bill C-28, the Budget and Economic Statement Implementation Act. It was important to pass this bill before January 1, 2008 when a reduction in the goods and service tax was to take effect. The Rules of the Senate allow for the pre-study of bills that have been introduced in the Commons but not read the first time in the Senate. It is a way to move a bill more swiftly when it formally arrives in the Senate without forfeiting a thorough and proper review of the bill. The subject-matter of Bill C-28 was therefore studied by the National Finance Committee on December 12 while the bill was still before the Commons. Approximately 32 witnesses appeared before the committee during its hearings and approval of the bill in general was reported to the Senate on December 13. With the pre-study completed, the Senate was then able to pass all stages of ...