When Parliament returns on March 3 the Harper government could introduce a motion to restart its legislative agenda right where it left off, but the Liberals say they won't necessarily support it.

The government introduced 70 bills in the last session of Parliament, and passed 34, meaning 36 bills, including much of the Tories' much touted crime and justice legislation, died on the order paper when Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) decided to prorogue Parliament until March 3.

"Because it's a minority government we need to negotiate, we need to work with the opposition parties, but it's our focus and our intent to ensure that our justice legislation moves forward expeditiously," Conservative MP Rick Dykstra (St. Catharines, Ont.) told The Hill Times last week.

But Liberal MP Bob Rae (Toronto Centre, Ont.) said the Tories have made their legislative bed, so to speak, and they shouldn't bet on the opposition making it any more comfortable for them.

"The price the government has to pay is that all of the other aspects of the legislation that's in the House goes back to square one. There's an awful lot of wasted time and wasted ground they're going to have to deal with. ... Given what's happened, I'm not sure why they think they would get that kind of cooperation," he said.

The government has indicated it plans to reintroduce the bulk of its legislation, which if it starts at square one could require hundreds of hours of debate in the House of Commons, committees, and in the Senate. And while an estimate of the costs of this was not available, some of the expenses could include the time MPs and their staff must put in dealing with legislation, as well as travel and accommodation expenses if witnesses have to be flown in to testify at committees. It costs about $277-million to keep Parliament running annually.

"If they have to do some of the debates over again it will be more expensive. It's a duplication of work," said Thomas Hall, a former House of Commons procedural clerk.

One of the Conservative government's given reasons for proroguing was to obtain a majority on Senate committees, which can only be reconstituted by resetting Parliament. But Mr. Hall said the timing of the Prime Minister's decision doesn't necessarily fit with that objective.

"If they wanted to reset the Senate committees, if that's their excuse, all they had to do was prorogue just before Parliament comes back and then start the new session a day or two later. It would have still killed all the legislation, but if their excuse was well we had to do this because of the Senate, well you don't have to do it for two months," he said.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) is expected to appoint five new Senators before Parliament returns, and in addition to approving legislation supported by the Conservative caucus in the House of Commons, the government is also hoping that having a majority in the Upper Chamber will help bring about Senate reform.

Alberta Conservative Senator Bert Brown told The Hill Times last week that two Senate reform bills will be introduced in the spring, one on limiting Senators' terms to eight years, and the other to put in place a process for electing Senators.

The current standings in the Senate are 49 Liberals, 46 Conservatives, two Progressive Conservatives, two Independents, and non-aligned Senator Anne Cools. The five appointments Mr. Harper is expected to make will give the Tories a plurality, but not a majority, but Quebec Liberal Senator Raymond Lavigne is currently facing charges for misuse of Senate funds and has not sat in the Upper Chamber since 2007, and Ind. Senator Michael Pitfield is struggling with health issues and may retire soon. So although the PC and Independent Senators often vote with the Liberals, the possibility of another vacancy in the near future and Sen. Lavigne's absence would effectively give the Conservatives control of the Senate.

Liberal Senator Colin Kenny said the Senate has become more partisan, and ultimately less effective since the Harper government came to power in 2006. He is currently the chair of the Senate Defence Committee, but it's uncertain whether he will retain that position when the committees are reconstituted when Parliament returns. Historically, the leaders of both caucuses in the Senate negotiate to divvy up chairs of committees, and in the past the minority caucus has retained some of the chairs.

"The Senate used to have relatively little partisanship and now it's become poisoned with the level of partisanship. I attribute it to the Harper government and lack of respect for institutions," he said.

Sen. Kenny said the Liberals would oppose the Senate reform bills, which he said are unconstitutional, but ultimately even if the Conservatives are able to get them through the Senate they would be halted by the provinces and the Supreme Court.

"It's pretty straight forward. These people are trying to put an amendment to the constitution through without following the rules of amending the constitution and we'll oppose that. The Parliament of Canada is only one element in determining the makeup of Parliament and the other elements are the provinces. This government knows it cannot succeed if it goes about it in the appropriate way. And so they're trying to do it in a way that's challenged in the Supreme Court. If you want to change the constitution we have a formula to do that, and they are choosing not to follow that formula."—With files from Tim Naumetz

hmacleod@hilltimes.com

The Hill Times

STATUS OF GOVERNMENT BUSINESS AT PROROGATION ON DEC. 30:

House of Commons

• C-6 Safety of Consumer Products Bill (concurrence of Senate amendments)

• C-8 Family Homes on Reserves and Matrimonial Interests or Rights Bill (second reading)

• S-8 Avoidance of Double Taxation and Prevention of Fiscal Evasion on Income Taxes between Canada and Colombia, Greece and Turkey Bill (second reading)

• C-13 Canada Grain Act Amendments Bill (second reading)

• C-15 Serious Drug Offences Bill (concurrence of Senate amendments)

• C-19 Investigative Hearing and Recognizance With Conditions Bill (second reading)

• C-20 Civil Liability and Compensation for Nuclear Damage (report)

• C-23 Columbia-Canada Free Trade Agreement (second reading)

• C-30 Senate Ethics Bill (second reading)

• C-31 Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Bill (committee)

• C-34 Protecting Victims From Sex Offenders (report)

• C-35 Deterring Terrorism and State Immunity Bill (second reading)

• C-37 An Action Plan for the National Capital Commission Bill (committee)

• C-40 Advance Polling Days Bill (second reading)

• C-42 Ending Conditional Sentences for Property and Other Serious Crimes (committee)

• C-43 Corrections and Conditional Release Bill (committee)

• C-44 Canada Post Corporation Bill (second reading)

• C-45 Foreign Nationals Working in Canada (second reading)

• C-46 Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Bill (committee)

• C-47 Regulating Telecommunications Facilities to Support Investigations Bill (committee)

• C-52 Sentencing for Fraud Bill (committee)

• C-53 Accelerated Parole Review Bill (second reading)

• C-54 Parole Inadmissibility Period for Offenders Convicted of Multiple Murders Bill (second reading)

• C-55 Drug and Alcohol Relate Probation Compliance Bill (second reading)

• C-57 Canada-Jordan Free Trade Agreement Bill (second reading)

• C-58 Mandatory Reporting of Internet Child Pornography Bill (second reading)

• C-59 Amending the International Transfer of Offenders Act (second reading)

• C-60 Canada-U.S. Integrated Cross-Border Maritime Law Enforcement Operations Bill (second reading)

• C-61 Back to Work For Railway Operations Bill (second reading)

• C-63 First Nations Commercial and Industrial Development Act (second reading)

Senate

• S-5 Long-Gun Registry Repeal Bill (second reading)

• S-6 Accountability With Respect to Political Loans (second reading)

• S-7 Senate Term Limits Bill (second reading)

• C-26 Auto Theft and Trafficking in Property Obtained by Crime (second reading)

• C-27 Antispam Bill (committee)

• C-36 Early Parole Bill (second reading)

Adopted/Royal Assent

• C-2 Canada-European Union Free Trade Bill

• S-2 Customs Bill

• S-3 Energy Efficiency Bill

• C-3 Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Bill

• C-4 Not-for-profit Corporations Bill

• S-4 Identity Theft Bill

• C-5 Indian Oil and Gas Bill

• C-7 Marine Liability Amendments Bill

• C-9 Transportation of Dangerous Goods Bill

• C-10 Budget Implementation Bill

• C-11 Human Pathogens and Toxins Safety Bill

• C-12 2008-2009 Supplementary Estimates (B) Implementation Bill

• C-14 Organized Crime and Protection of Justice System Participants

• C-16 Environmental Enforcement Bill

• C-17 Beechwood Cemetery Bill

• C-18 Amendments to RCMP Superannuation Bill

• C-21 2008-2009 Supplementary Estimates (C) Implementation Bill

• C-22 2009-2010 Main Estimates Implementation Bill

• C-24 Peru-Canada Free Trade Agreement

• C-25 Limiting Credit for Time Spent in Pre-sentencing Custody Bill

• C-28 Cree-Naskapi (of Quebec) Bill

• C-29 Availability of Agricultural Loans Bill

• C-32 Flavoured Tobacco Bill

• C-38 Nahanni National Park Reserve Bill

• C-33 War Veterans Allowance Bill

• C-39 Amending the Judges Act Bill

• C-41 Maanulth First Nations Final Agreement Bill

• C-48 2009-2010 Main Estimates Bill

• C-49 2009-2010 Supplementary Estimates Bill

• C-50 Employment Insurance Benefit Increases Bill

• C-51 Second Budget Implementation Bill

• C-56 Funding EI Changes Bill

• C-62 An Act to amend the Excise Tax Act

• C-64 2009-2010 Supplementary Estimates B Bill