PARLIAMENTARY REPORT
CANADA
BUDGET ANNOUNCEMENTS AND CABINET RESHUFFLE IN CANADIAN PARLIAMENT
Budget
On 21 April, Finance Minister Hon. Joe Oliver MP tabled the budget, the last one before the general election scheduled for October. Usually tabled in February or March, the budget was delayed because of the drop in oil prices. The budget was the first
since 2007 to show a surplus, and the government projected it to grow from $1.4 billion in 2015-2016 to nearly $5 billion in 2019-2020.
At the same time, the budget
introduced measures such as increasing tax cuts aimed at families, increasing the annual amount Canadians may put in tax-free savings accounts, and reducing the tax rate for small businesses. Minister Oliver also pledged $1 billion per year for major public transit projects and regular annual increases to the military budget. Both the Official Opposition New Democratic Party and the Liberal Party said the budget did not benefit the middle class.
Death of the Senate Speaker
On 23 April, the Speaker of the Senate, Senator Hon. Pierre Claude Nolin, passed away at the age of 64 after a lengthy battle with cancer. Speaker Nolin was appointed to the Senate in 1993 and was appointed Speaker in November 2014.
Speaker Nolin was an eloquent advocate for the Senate as an independent chamber of sober second
thought. He had spent time reflecting on the Senate’s role of reviewing legislation, investigating public issues, representing Canada’s regions, protecting linguistic and other minorities and conducting parliamentary diplomacy. He had also urged all Senators, regardless of party affiliation, to work together in order to fulfil the Senate’s constitutional mandate.
On 4 May, Prime Minister Harper named Senator Hon. Leo Housakos, the Speaker pro tempore, as the next Speaker of the Senate. Senator Housakos, a Montreal-born businessman and community activist, was appointed to the Senate in 2008.
Motion to extend mission against ISIL As reported in 2014: Issue Four of The Parliamentarian, in October 2014 the House of Commons approved a motion on contributing military assets to the fight against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) for a period of up to six months. Canada sent six fighter
aircraft, several support aircraft and 69 soldiers to act as advisors in northern Iraq. The aircraft took part in a number of bombing missions against ISIL targets and one of the soldiers died in a friendly fire incident. On 24 March 2015, Prime
Minister Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper MP announced he would seek the House of Commons’ support for the Government’s decision to extend the mission by a year
126 | The Parliamentarian | 2015: Issue Two
and to expand its mandate to attacking ISIL targets in Syria. Both the leader of the official opposition, Hon. Thomas Mulcair MP and the leader of the Liberal Party, Justin Trudeau MP said their parties would oppose the motion. On 30 March, the motion of support passed by a vote of 142 to 129.
Legislation In March, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security held 10 meetings on Bill C-51, the Anti- Terrorism Act 2015. The Bill was introduced in the aftermath of the attacks in Ottawa and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec. It includes a number of measures to counter terrorism, including criminalizing the advocacy or promotion of terrorism offences, providing for the removal of terrorist propaganda from the Internet and giving law enforcement agencies the power to disrupt terrorist activity. The Bill was criticized by
academics and legal experts, who argued that it would give the state too much power and threaten Canadians’ privacy rights. The Committee reported the Bill with amendments. These addressed concerns that lawful demonstrations could be included under the new measures, clarified that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service does not have the power to arrest people, established limits on
the sharing of information between government agencies, and revised a provision that would have seen air carriers being directed to do “anything” to prevent a terrorist act. Meanwhile, the Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence undertook a pre-study of the bill. It heard from a number of witnesses that did not appear before the House committee. Opposition Leader Hon. Thomas Mulcair MP came out strongly against the bill. Liberal Leader Trudeau, on the other hand, said that while he thought the bill could be improved, the Liberal Party would support it. Also in March, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Hon. Peter MacKay MP introduced Bill C-53, the Life Means Life Act. This Bill would remove the chance of parole for people convicted of murders involving kidnapping, sexual assault, terrorism or the killing of police and correctional officers. People convicted of first-degree murder are not eligible for parole for 25 years. Another bill addressing the issue of criminals was introduced by the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Hon. Steven Blaney MP. Bill C-56, the Statutory Release Reform Act, would end statutory release for repeat violent offenders. Under statutory release, convicted offenders can serve the last one-third of their sentence in the community under supervision. In late March, the Minister
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