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SENATE WATCH — You can't hurry the Senate.
Ottawa learns that lesson every few months: Senators don't like to take direction from the elected politicians in the House of Commons. See: Bill C-234, a carbon tax carveout for farmers who use natural gas and propane that caused a ruckus last year amid an industry backlash over wintertime fuel prices. And so it is with a Bloc Québécois private member's bill that would forbid trade negotiators from making concessions on supply management. — Status report: Bill C-282 is on the desk of the Senate foreign affairs and international trade committee. They met on it twice last week. But the next two meetings on the books, slated for today and tomorrow, will take up a study on Canada’s interests and engagement in Africa. Senators have concerns with the Bloc proposal. Take PETER HARDER, who spelled out his opposition in April and urged senators to vote against the bill to prevent it from getting to committee. Harder is vice-chair of the committee now overseeing the bill. — The GRO view: Sen. MARC GOLD, the government rep in the Senate, wants the chamber to move more expeditiously. "Bill C-282 is a matter of trade policy that has been overwhelmingly supported by MPs of all political parties in the lower chamber,” Gold said in a statement sent to Playbook. “We hope the Senate will respect that expression of democratic will." Gold wants the committee to prioritize the study "and return it to the chamber for third reading debate in a timely fashion." Said the senator: "The notion that Senate committees should prioritize PMBs duly passed by the House of Commons really should not be up for debate." — Back story: A week ago, Government House Leader KARINA GOULD got senators' attention when she spoke with DAVID COCHRANE on CBC's “Power & Politics.” The Bloc had just laid down an ultimatum. The Liberals would lose Bloc support on confidence votes if they failed to force through a pair of Bloc-sponsored private members' bills by Oct. 29 — one to increase Old Age Security payments, another to protect supply management in future trade negotiations. Suddenly, those two bills really, really mattered. Gould reminded Cochrane that the House unanimously passed Bill C-282. And she said she expected senators to respect the will of the elected House. The legislation had been "sitting in the Senate for some time now," she said. Senators took notice. — Playbook fact check: C-282 didn't pass unanimously at third reading in the House. Conservatives split down the middle — 56 in favor, 49 opposed. Even a pair of Liberals, CHANDRA ARYA and NATE ERSKINE-SMITH, voted against it. The bill saw first reading in the Senate on June 21, 2023, and cleared second reading on April 16. The Senate committee took up its study last week. That's where Bloc MP YVES PERRON ran into a brick wall of sober second thought. — 15 sitting days, including today: The countdown is on to the Bloc-imposed deadline. THE OTHER BILL — MPs will vote today on a Bloc opposition motion that calls for a “royal recommendation” for Bill C-319, which would increase Old Age Security payments for seniors aged 65-74. The price tag would run the feds approximately C$16 billion over five years. The bill has reached third reading in the Commons, where it was most recently debated on Sept. 25. — Flashback: A year ago, opposition parties united to pass C-319 at second reading. Liberals opposed it. The legislation cleared committee without amendment. — Odds are low: "Liberals cool to key Bloc demand to increase seniors benefits," the Globe's BILL CURRY reported Tuesday. — Up next: Even if the Commons gives its final approval to the bill, C-319's next stop is the Senate. And, well, see above.
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