Like its own particular kind of time machine, the House of Commons managed to squeeze 58 hours of debate into a single day. Or at least, a single sitting day, which meant that while time outside flowed, the calendar on the clerk’s table remained firmly rooted on Thursday, June 23. And while the NDP talked out the clock on the first hoist motion, eventually, during the filibuster during second reading, the debate collapsed. After the Canadian Union of Postal Workers gave the NDP the go-ahead to move on to try and bring amendments to the bill, the MPs filed back in to the Chamber, voted on second reading, and one after another, amendments in committee of the whole were defeated. By 8pm Saturday in the sidereal universe, the bill had passed, and time inside the chamber readjusted itself. The House now stands adjourned until Sept 19, and the bill moves over to the Senate for a special Sunday session.
Elsewhere, Susan Delacourt looks at how much it would cost taxpayers in severance if we did abolish the Senate (perish the thought). I would add to that the spike in the cost of court challenges for all the flawed legislation that the Senate would normally catch. And the added cost of the House of Commons doing the regulatory oversight work that the Senate is doing. Really, the Senate does a lot more work than people realize.
And the former clerk of the privy council, Alex Himelfarb, looks at the failure of the “war on crime” in the US, and how that bodes ill for the Conservative plan to increase “tough on crime” measures.
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