Senators significantly alter supply management bill

Photo: Spencer Colby The Canadian Press “We have rarely seen such a bad message from two fantasists who presented themselves in the supply management file claiming to be great negotiators. They have just proven the opposite,” lamented Yves-François Blanchet, targeting Senator Boehm in particular.

A handful of senators took the initiative to amend the bill adopted by all parties in the House of Commons and intended to protect the agricultural supply management model during trade negotiations.

“Let’s remember that these are people who were not elected by anyone,” complained Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet on Thursday.

Mr. Blanchet once again attacked the legitimacy of the senators sitting on the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, who voted in majority on Wednesday to amend private member’s bill C-282. His party had it adopted in the Commons in 2023 with the support of elected officials from all the other political parties.

The original text aims to protect supply management of milk, poultry and eggs during future trade negotiations. This fall, even Trudeau government ministers joined a protest to urge the Senate to pass it more quickly.

However, a little less than a year and a half after the bill was sent to the Senate, a paragraph written by Senator Peter Harder takes away some of its substance by specifying that this law would not apply to ongoing trade agreement negotiations or renegotiations of existing treaties.

Read also

• Bloc accuses senators of blocking Bill C-282
• Senators increase risk of election by derailing Bloc ultimatum
• The Bloc would still support the Trudeau government if it accedes to its demands

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His idea brought together 10 senators around the committee table, while only three senators from Quebec opposed the amendment: Senator Amina Gerba, the bill's sponsor, Conservative Senator Leo Housakos and Marc Gold, the government representative in the Senate.

Second regard

Peter Harder is a member of the Senate Progressive Group. A former deputy minister of Foreign Affairs, he was appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He began his speech Wednesday by reiterating that he opposes C-282 “in principle,” while agreeing that discussions on the bill had turned into a debate on “the appropriate role of the Senate” and its legitimacy in changing the will of elected officials.

Along with the committee chair, former diplomat and now senator Peter Boehm, who is also opposed to the bill, he was taken to task by the Bloc leader on Thursday. “We have rarely seen such a bad message from two fantasists who presented themselves in the supply management file claiming to be great negotiators. They have just proven the opposite,” lamented Yves-François Blanchet.

The sovereignist leader is hopeful that all senators will cancel the changes made to the bill in committee. The text must indeed return to the Upper House to receive the approval of a majority of senators, and could be amended again at that stage.

For a text to become a law of Canada, it must be adopted identically by both houses of Parliament, the House of Commons and the Senate. A difference of opinion can cause a bill to be passed back and forth between the two houses, often compared to a game of legislative ping-pong.

Condition for Bloc support

The Bloc Québécois had made the adoption of C-282 a condition for giving its support to Justin Trudeau's minority government, currently mired in parliamentary paralysis. The party is still willing to collaborate on this issue, even though its ultimatum of October 29 has been exceeded and it will now vote to trigger a new election.

In the House on Wednesday, the Prime Minister of Canada reiterated his support for the idea of ​​protecting supply management from any future trade negotiations.

“We are making sure that it passes the Senate. We need to show firmness on supply management, which we have always defended,” Justin Trudeau chanted during question period.

Last year, 262 elected members voted in favour of C-282. Only 49 Conservative members and two Liberal members opposed it. The Senate has been examining the text since June 21, 2023, for more than 500 days. The Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade has held nine meetings on it to date.