QUESTION PERIOD — Public Safety
Committee Amendments to Bill C-71
April 9, 2019
Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate.
Senator Harder, in response to Senator Pratte’s question about the amendments that passed yesterday at Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence on Bill C-71, you, Senator Pratte and others made it very clear yesterday — Senator Pratte made it clear — that he didn’t support, all of a sudden, for some reason, amendments. You seem to indicate here that you don’t support amendments.
Yet, Senator Harder, when we spoke about Bill C-68 at second reading, you clearly indicated you would support some amendments.
Senator Harder, is it this government’s idea and your idea and your position that you support only amendments that agree with you and no other amendments should be brought forward?
We, yesterday, amended the most egregious parts of the bill. We had votes, Senator Harder, that supported amendments from all groups in this chamber. All groups at that committee voted at one point or another in favour of certain amendments, and here you stand. And Senator Pratte says, “They’re not the amendments that we or the government want, so you shouldn’t have the right to make them.” Is that your position?
Senator, I suggest that you might need a bit wider band. That is not my position at all. Over the last three-plus years, I’ve articulated a view that the government is willing to hear from the Senate and to hear improvements to the legislation that it considers. And the government has taken those amendments, where they have been brought forward by the majority in this chamber, to the Parliament of Canada. In a good deal of those cases, they have accepted amendments.
All that I have said with respect to the decisions that have thus far been made in the committee is that we will have to see how this chamber itself reflects its views in dealing with the report at third reading.
I, for one, thought it was a little premature to take out clause 18, for example, because that is the so-called greater clarity clause where it says:
For greater certainty, nothing in this Act shall be construed so as to permit or require the registration of non‑restricted firearms.
I would think that this Senate may want to re-establish that in the bill when it considers it. But let’s get to the bill when we have the report and have that debate in this chamber.
Well, that, Senator Harder, would be the normal procedure and has been for 152 years. And yet for some reason we were led to believe yesterday by the sponsor of this bill that we had in some way done something wrong by coming there and presenting reasonable arguments from witness testimony that wanted certain parts of it changed. Yet now we seem to believe again, a typical Liberal philosophy, we know better.
Similar to your comment about when it’s President Trump saying something, you aren’t going to take anything from President Trump. He was elected as your government has been elected. Is that not the democratic process, and is it not the democratic process for us to amend legislation as we deem fit?
There is a lot to unpack in that. My reference to President Trump is only that the Government of Canada will not be dictated to by President Trump. Obviously, he was elected and has the effect that he has in the United States.
I infer from what the honourable senator is asking that he’s inspired by President Trump. I’m not.
Now, with respect to the democratic process, absolutely, senator; it’s entirely in the gift of the committee that is sponsoring this bill to consider amendments. It is entirely in the competence of this chamber to deal with the report when it comes and to ensure that the end product of our deliberation, our democratic process, reflects the majority in this house. Then that bill, amended or otherwise, will go to the other place and they will have the opportunity to either say “yea” or “nay” and send us a message, and we will have the opportunity to engage in that message.
Honourable senators, the time for Question Period has expired.
The vote will take place at 4:55. The bells will resume ringing.
