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.

Continue reading full article via Massive omnibus budget bill shakes up Parliament | The Hill Times – Canada’s Politics and Government Newsweekly.