Despite the NDP’s best efforts, the government’s contentious, massive and sweeping budget bill is right on schedule, slated to be voted this evening in the House of Commons.
Once it passes, which the Conservative majority all but guarantees, Bill C-38 will head to the finance committee, with certain parts — the bits dealing with environmental policy — to be scrutinized by a subcommittee of finance.
Last week, the opposition was trying to get the government to split the bill into seven pieces of legislation, which would allow for specific committees to go through the policy aspects normally under their jurisdiction (environment policy to the environment committee, fisheries to fisheries, immigration to immigration, etc.).
In the chamber:
Before MPs get to that vote, however, there’s a full legislative agenda planned for the day, kicking off with Conservative MP Harold Albrecht’s private member’s bill that, if passed, would require the government to establish federal framework for suicide prevention.
Later, MPs will turn their attention to Bill C-11, which will change Canada’s copyright laws. The bill, first introduced in September, is at report stage.
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Other bills that could be debated today include C-25 on the Conservative’s proposed Pooled Registered Pension Plans; C-23 on the trade agreement between Canada and Jordan; and C-15, which is Defence Minister Peter MacKay’s bid t strengthen military justice in the Defence Act.
In committee:
The agriculture committee is studying the animal products supply chain, focusing on red meat, and will hear today from Maple Leaf Foods Inc. and XL Foods Inc.
The status of women committee, meanwhile, will be continuing looking for ways to improve economic prospects for Canadian girls. Today, the committee members will hear from Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada, Linamar Corporation, the Ontario Movement from Francophone Immigrant Women and, via videoconference from Montreal, Action travail des femmes.
Human Resources is still plugging away at its research into labour shortages in high-demand jobs and barriers to filling low-skilled jobs. On hand today are representatives from the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum, Canadian Automotive Repair and Service and Mining Industry Human Resources Council.
Officials from the Treasury Board and Finance Canada will be taking questions from members of the government operations committee, who have been looking into how parliamentarians scrutinize and approve the government’s annual requests for hundreds of billions of dollars in spending.
Over on the Senate side, the national security and defence committee is continuing its pre-study of the omnibus budget bill, hearing today from Public Safety and RCMP officials.
Members of the Senate human resources committee, meanwhile, will be hearing from many groups today in its ongoing cyberbullying study, including the Canadian Teachers’ Federation, the Canadian School Board Association, the Centre for Suicide Prevention and Kids Help Phone.
For a full list of House committees, click here.
For a full list of Senate committees, click here.
The rest:
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney will be hosting a reception this evening in Ottawa to mark the anniversary of the repeal of the Chinese Immigration Act.
Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver is scheduled to be at Quebec City’s convention centre all day, discussing energy regulation and Canadian leadership in Geomatics.
And finally, Oliver’s parliamentary secretary David Anderson is scheduled to speak at the Westin hotel in Ottawa, about responsible energy development and Canada’s economic growth.
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