The political showdown over the government's sweeping 900-page omnibus budget bill will come to a Senate vote Monday or Tuesday and depending on the outcome, the House could be recalled to get the minority governing Conservatives' controversial bill through Parliament.

Critics say the bill will strip Canada's environmental assessments, sell off nuclear reactors, and privatize parts of Canada Post, and opposition Senators say whether they're able to win a vote this week at report stage to amend Bill C-9, they will have made their point that cramming unrelated budget issues into a budget implementation bill is not the way to conduct the public's business, say opposition Senators.

"I'm quite used to losing on a vote. And, it doesn't bother me. It really doesn't bother me. What bothers me is when I don't do the right thing or what I feel to be the right thing," Alberta Progressive Conservative Senator Elaine McCoy, who doesn't sit in a caucus, said last week. It's important that the point of view is put forward and if the majority doesn't follow along with it, fine, at least it's on the record and someday it may be very useful in shaping opinions going forward."

The Senate National Finance Committee reported the omnibus bill back to the Senate last Thursday and amended the bill to delete four sections—the sale of Atomic Energy Canada Ltd., the weakening of environmental assessments, the privatization of overseas mail delivery and the inclusion of taxing financial services—Thanks to a rule in Senate committees which states that on any tie vote, the motion automatically fails. The National Finance Committee is made up of six Conservative Senators, five Liberals and one Independent, Ontario PC Senator Lowell Murray who voted with the Liberals to defeat those parts of the bill.

Sen. Murray had tried to split the bill into five parts after second reading, but the motion failed in a vote of 51 to 42 because not enough Liberals showed up to vote.

Liberal Senate Leader James Cowan, who represents Nova Scotia, told The Hill Times last week that there was no deliberate attempt to keep Senators away for that vote, and there will be a whipped vote at report stage and third reading to try to send the bill back to the House of Commons amended.

"This is a serious venture. As I said, we're making a statement that this is the wrong way to do a budget bill," Sen. Cowan said. "We think that what we've done here is the right thing to do. We're going to encourage all of our members to be there. We do the best we can. I'm not sure what's going to happen. But we do intend to put the whip on, and we'll get as many as we can."

There are 105 seats in the Senate, including 52 Conservatives, 49 Liberals, four independents. There are two Liberal Senators who will most likely not be there to vote when the bill comes up for report stage on Monday—Colin Kenny and Terry Mercer, who are both ill. On the Conservative side, Quebec Senator Jacques Demers recently suffered a heart attack and will also not be there to vote, and Ontario Senator Hugh Segal has recused himself from voting on the budget implementation bill. If all other Liberals and Independents show up to vote, the combined opposition is still able to keep the bill amended.

Although the Senate does not normally sit on Mondays, it will sit this Monday to deal with the National Finance Committee's report. Last week, Nova Scotia Senator Gerald Comeau moved a motion to limit debate to six hours for both report stage and third reading, and it's expected the last vote on the bill will be either late Monday or on Tuesday.

Sen. Murray said if the report's recommendations are not passed, he will be disappointed but will not try to split the bill again at third reading. "I will not think anymore of it. The fact that it passed Parliament, I will not be any happier. Royal assent covers a multitude of sins and I think governments of the future will have to get back and fixed some of the flaws that are in some of those parts," he said.

If the committee's report is passed, and the bill is passed at third reading as amended, the bill will be sent back to the House of Commons for its concurrence. The House adjourned on June 17, and it's unclear if the government will move to recall MPs to the House or wait until the fall to deal with it. When asked, PMO communications director Dimitri Soudas said in an email: "Speculative. Ignatieff Liberals should stop blocking vital economic legislation."

Last Friday, NDP Leader Jack Layton (Toronto-Danforth, Ont.) said he would like to see the House recalled to deal with Bill C-9 if it's passed as amended.

Sen. Cowan said last week however that the Senate is "within its right" to amend or defeat legislation and is in no way "delaying" the bill. "The fact that the government didn't send the bill to the Senate until very late and then adjourned the House of Commons, that's not our fault. We're here working," he said. "There's nothing in this bill that is so time sensitive that it has to be passed this week or next week, or last week. The estimates were passed by the end of June as it was supposed to, and the government has the money it needs to do business. All of this posturing ... is just that, just posturing and saber rattling."

The National Finance Committee had 24 meetings between June 6 and July 8 which lasted almost 61 hours. Sen. Murray said while the bill did not receive as much scrutiny as it would have if it were split among five different committee, he said that the committee did the best it could. "We really went at it, if I do say so myself, in a very commendable way. And it was a process that while there are very, very strong divergence of opinions on some matters between Liberals and Conservatives and Independents, still, everybody participated fully and conscientiously in the exercise, studying the bill.

Sen. McCoy said she could not predict the outcome of this week's votes, but said even if the opposition loses, the Senate was successful in being a chamber of sober second thought. "That's part of why it's so important, even if we lose votes here, it's so important for us to express what we believe she said. "We've been around long enough that we can continue to build on them as well. That becomes a bit of a brains trust over the years. So that role never stops."

Canadians not thinking about elected Senate: Neufeld

Canadians have bigger issues to think about, for example, the economy and health care, than having an elected Senate, says recently appointed B.C. Conservative Senator Richard Neufeld, who said on the floor of the Senate last week that he doesn't think the Senate is ineffective or unequal and disagrees with an elected Upper Chamber.

"If you polled Canadians and asked what six things are on their minds, I do not think any of them—or maybe one or two—out of the millions polled would say that the most important thing would be an elected Senate," he said.

Prior to being appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.), Sen. Neufeld spent 18 years as a member of the B.C. legislative assembly, and served in three different parties: the Social Credit, the Reform and the Liberal.

"When I go back to my community, honourable senators, not one person has said to me, 'I like you, but I would have liked to have elected you.' Not one," he said in his speech during debate on S-8, the Senate Selection Bill.

Sen. Neufeld also noted that the bill states the costs of Senate elections will be the responsibility of provinces. The Senate is a federal institution, Sen. Neufeld said, and as such, the cost of holding the election should be a federal responsibility. He said if he were still an MLA, he would argue that B.C. residents should not pay for it.

"All Canadian taxpayers should share those costs," he said.

Sen. Neufeld said appointments are important for sober second thought in the Senate because an elected Senate would make the chamber too partisan and they would not necessarily be independent. He said while he believes in term limits, elections for Senators is not the way to go. "I am a firm believer that the appointment process is quick and cheap. You can have regional representation and do all kinds of things. You can get a cross-section of the people that you want in this place to be those involved in the sober second thought process," he said.

"It is important to realize that we are not here in the Senate as Conservatives or Liberals first. Being a Senator transcends party lines, and I am testimony to that... We are here together, representing all of Canada."

The Hill Times

STATUS OF GOVERNMENT BUSINESS

HOUSE OF COMMONS

• S-2 Protecting Victims From Sex Offenders Bill (second reading)

• C-3 Gender Equity in Indian Registration Bill (report)

• S-3 Tax Conventions Implementation Bill (second reading)

• C-4 Youth Criminal Justice Act Amendments Bill (committee)

• C-5 International Transfer of Offenders Bill (second reading)

• S-5 Ensuring Safe Vehicles Imported from Mexico for Canadians Bill (second reading)

• C-8 Canada-Jordan Free Trade Agreement Bill (second reading)

• S-9 Auto Theft and Trafficking in Property Obtained by Crime Bill (secand reading)

• C-10 Senate Term Limits (second reading)

• C-12 Increasing Seats in the House of Commons Bill (second reading)

• C-14 Fairness at the Pumps Bill (committee)

• C-15 Civil Liability and Compensation for Damage in Case of a Nuclear Incident (second reading)

• C-16 Restricting Conditional Sentences Bill (committee)

• C-17 Investigative Hearing and Recognizance with Conditions Bill (second reading)

• C-18 Increasing Voter Participation Bill (second reading)

• C-19 Accountability with Respect to Political Loans Bill (second reading)

• C-20 An Action Plan for the National Capital Commission Bill (committee)

• C-21 Sentencing for Fraud Bill (second reading)

• C-22 Mandatory Reporting of Internet Child Pornography by ISPs Bill (second reading)

• C-25 Nunavut Planning and Project Assessment Act Bill (second reading)

• C-26 Amendments to the International Boundary Waters Treaty Act and the International River Improvements Act (second reading)

• C-27 Canadian Wheat Board Bill (second reading)

• C-28 Fighting Internet and Wireless Spam Bill (second reading)

• C-29 Safeguarding Canadians' Personal Information Bill (second reading)

• C-30 Response to the Supreme Court of Canada Decision in R. v. Shoker Bill (second reading)

• C-31 Eliminating Old Age Entitlements for Prisoners Bill (second reading)

• C-32 Copyright Bill (second reading)

• C-33 Railway Safety Amendments Bill (second reading)

• C-35 Crooked Immigration Consultants Bill (second reading)

• C-36 Consumer Products Safety Bill (second reading)

• C-37 Citizenship Act Amendments Bill (second reading)

• C-38 RCMP Civilian Review Body Bill (second reading)

• C-39 New Parole Rules Bill (second reading)

• C-41 Military Justice Bill (second reading)

• C-42 International Flight Information Bill (second reading)

• C-43 RCMP Labour Relations Bill (second reading)

SENATE

• S-7 Deterring Terrorism Bill (committee)

• S-8 Selection of Senators Bill (second reading)

• C-9 2010-2011 Budget Implementation Bill (report)

• S-10 Penalties for Organized Drug Crime Bill (second reading)

• S-11 Safety of Drinking Water on First Nation Lands (second reading)

• C-23B Reforming the Pardon System Bill (second reading)

• C-40 National Seniors Day Bill (second reading)

ADOPTED/ROYAL ASSENT

• C-2 Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Bill

• S-4 First Nations Matrimonial Rights Bill

• C-6 2009-2010 Supplementary Estimates C Implementation Bill

• S-6 Serious Time for the Most Serious Crime Bill

• C-7 2010-2011 Interim Supply Implementation Bill

• C-11 Immigration and Refugee Protection Act Amendments Bill

• C-13 Fairness for Military Families on Employment Insurance Bill

• C-23A Limiting Pardons for Serious Crimes Bill

• C-24 First Nations Certainty of Land Title Bill

• C-34 Museums Act Amendments Bill

• C-44 2010-2011 Main Estimates Bill

• C-45 2010-2011 Supplementary Estimates A Bill

—Updated to July 8