at the provincial level. Other candidates for the NDP leadership race are: Ms Niki Ashton, MP; Mr Robert Chisholm, MP; Mr Nathan Cullen, MP; Mr Paul Dewar, MP; Ms Peggy Nash, MP; Mr Romeo Saganash, MP, and Mr Martin Singh.
Legislation revived Over the past five years, the Conservative minority government of Rt Hon. Stephen Harperhad been unsuccessful in having some of
CANADA
while promoting the interests and the role of victims in the correctional process. It would also amend the Youth Criminal Justice Act in a number of ways, namely by emphasizing the importance of protecting society and facilitating the detention of young persons who reoffend or who pose a threat to public safety. During the 2011 election campaign, the Conservative Party had pledged, if re-elected with a majority government, to have this Bill adopted within the first 100 sitting days of the new session.
Another controversial
proposal is Bill C-19, the Ending the Long-Gun Registry Act. The Long-Gun Registry has been increasingly unpopular in Western and rural Canada, and previous attempts made by the Conservative government to eliminate it had failed. Bill C-19 would remove the
Rt Hon. Stephen Harper
its legislative reforms adopted as it did not have the support of the opposition. Now, with a majority of seats in the House of Commons, the Harper government has reintroduced most of these legislative proposals knowing that they will be adopted by Parliament. Bill C-10, the Safe Streets and Communities Act, is among the most contested government proposals. This omnibus Bill groups together nine former Bills that had been introduced by the government in the previous Parliament and proposes numerous amendments to the criminal justice system.
It would, among other things, increase the accountability of federal offenders and tighten the rules governing conditional release,
requirement to register firearms that are not prohibited or restricted. It would, in addition, call for the destruction of all existing data on these types of firearms currently included in the registry.
On the democratic reform
front, the government introduced Bill C-21, the Political Loans Accountability Act, for the fourth time. This Bill would establish more stringent rules on loans to political
Hon. Gerry Ritz, MP 346 | The Parliamentarian | 2011: Issue Four
entities and would put in place new reporting requirements. Another proposal reintroduced by the government is Bill C-20, the Fair Representation Act. On 27 October 2007, the day Bill C- 20 was first introduced, Hon. Tim Uppal, MP, Minister of State (Democratic Reform) declared in the House of Commons: “The Bill would deliver a principled and reasonable update to our seat allocation formula, providing fair representation for Canadians living in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta. It delivers on our commitment to maintain the seat counts of smaller provinces and ensure that Québec is proportionately represented. Canadians rightly expect fair and principled representation in their democratic institutions. The Fair Representation Act would deliver on this expectation.” The Bill would give additional seats to fast- growing provinces Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia while ensuring that Québec maintains its proportional representation in the House. Other legislative proposals reintroduced from previous sessions include the Copyright Modernization Act, and the Safeguarding Canadians' Personal Information Act. Previous attempts made by the Harper government to end the monopoly of the Canadian Wheat Board (a government agency) on the marketing of wheat and barley have failed in the past. In 2008, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled that the monopoly could not be ended through regulations as the government had then intended to do, but stated that an Act of Parliament was instead required. In the
autumn of 2008, a Bill respecting the Canadian Wheat Board died on the Oder Paper with the dissolution of
Hon. Tim Uppal, MP
Parliament. On 18 October 2011, Hon. Gerry Ritz, MP, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board, reintroduced Bill C-18, the Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act. On that day, he said: "The Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act will give Western Canadian grain farmers the right to choose how they sell their wheat and barley. Our government is delivering on our long-standing promise to give Western Canadian grain farmers marketing freedom, just as they have when selling their canola or pulses." While the Opposition cannot
block the adoption of these Bills given its minority status, it has on occasion used all of its available debate time in the House as well as other parliamentary tactics to delay their passage. The Conservative
government has, however, become proactive in using what is referred to in Canadian parliamentary politics as “a motion to allocate time” whereby the House is imposed a limited time to debate a legislative proposal at any given stage.