House of Commons is set to rise on June 23, 2023. With one week planned as a constituency week, that leaves only 9 expected sitting weeks until the summer break on Parliament Hill. When I say summer break, I don't mean the Members are going to take the summer off. I am sure there will be some vacation plans with family but summertime is spent in their respective constituencies.
With 25 government bills currently before the House of Commons and 6 before the Senate and the possibility that more bills will be presented, we are sure to see a prioritizing of certain bills. We will highlight 2 that we think the government would like to see move quickly to acceptance by the House.
Bill C:11, also known as the online streaming act is one the government would like to see pass quickly. However, it is out of their hands at the moment as it is one of the pieces of government legislation before the Senate.
A Senate committee led by Sen. Leo Housakos, began a systematic inspection of this bill back in June of 2020. In February, the Senate passed the bill with dozens of amendments, which was then sent back to the House of Commons.
On March 30, the House of Commons responded by sending the Bill back to the Senate accepting some of the amendments and rejecting some. The Senate will now need to decide if they will accept the bill as it stands. If they do, Bill C-11 will receive royal assent and will become law shortly thereafter.
However, if the Senate insists on bringing back their rejected amendments in any form, the bill will have to go back to the House of Commons for reconsideration or they may call a joint conference between both chambers in hopes of finding middle ground.
The second is the budget. This one has not been tabled yet but it will be top priority. We can expect this first week back to be given to debate over this bill.
Pray for our Senators that they will be the second sober voice in our Parliamentary system. Pray that they will not succumb to pressure to push this bill through as it is but will have the tenacity to stay the course until they get the best results for Canadians.
Pray for our Members of Parliament that they will consider Canadians present and future as they debate over the budget. Pray for wisdom and revelation to guide their thought processes. Pray that they would not be short-sighted but that they would be planning in terms of legacy not just the voters needs for today.