RE: Separate Navigable Waters Protection Act changes from Bill C-10- ‏ - 1

Thank you for your message.

The present Bill C-10 is in my view an affront to Parliament. It is ostensibly a Budget Implementation Bill; but it includes amendments to more than forty Acts of Parliament, some of which have little or nothing to do with budget implementation.

This Bill seeks to amend The Navigable Waters Protection Act; but it also seeks to change the rules about foreign ownership in transportation, and foreign ownership of the shares of Air Canada, among many other non-budget-implementation intentions. It abrogates the means by which women can obtain pay equity. These and many other legislative provisions in C-10 do not belong in a Budget Implementation Bill.

Many of us in the Senate are determined to try to split the Bill into at least two parts – to separate those matters that actually have to do with budget implementation (which can and should be considered and dealt with quickly), so that proper consideration can be given to the other legislative proposals contained in the Bill. The House of Commons has now passed the Bill without changes, so it falls to us in the Senate to try to give these elements the scrutiny they deserve.

To expect the Senate to consider, within a matter of days, all of the non-budgetary matters contained in the Bill is ridiculous. I don’t know whether we will succeed in convincing the Senate to split the Bill, but some of us will try.

You can be certain that the government will express outrage at any attempt by the Senate to do its job. Most of us have learned that this is just the normal course of events.

I hope that you will continue to follow the progress of Bill C-10, and I thank you again for your message.

Tommy Banks, Senator for Alberta