On second thought

Bill C-31 managed to pass in the House of Commons with the support of the Cons, Libs and Bloc despite a massive set of readily-noticeable problems. But the Citizen reports that in the Senate, Libs and Cons alike are giving the bill the serious look that was sorely lacking in the lower house - and so far the consensus seems to be that the bill should be sent back to the drawing board:

A bill proposing to put the birth dates of all federal electors on copies of the permanent voter registry given to political parties could cause an explosion of identity theft and invasion of privacy, Liberal and Conservative senators warned yesterday.

In a rare departure from the wrangling that has recently enveloped the Senate, senators from both sides questioned Government House Leader Peter Van Loan over the proposal to release vital personal information so broadly.

"With the passage of this bill, everybody's date of birth is going to be known to everybody in Canada," said Liberal Senator George Baker, noting Elections Canada gives the political parties electronic copies of the permanent voters list three times a year as it is updated with new data on citizens.

Mr. Baker, who cited court rulings saying compulsory release of birth information violates the Charter of Rights in certain circumstances, found support from Conservative Senator Pierre-Claude Nolin, who also raised concerns about rights violations...

Liberal Senator Lorna Milne...noted parties swell their ranks during election campaigns with volunteers who may be unfamiliar to party organizers: "People just walk in off the streets and volunteer."

While the Senate may suffer from serious problems from a legitimacy standpoint, in this case it's providing at least some counterbalance to the party-over-public viewpoint that managed to push the bill through the House of Commons. And it'll be interesting to see what happens if the seeming position on both sides of the aisle in the Senate holds up.

Will Harper be as eager to accuse his own party of Senate obstruction as he seems to be with the Libs? Will the Senate grudgingly pass the bill with or without prodding? Or will the bill be sent back for serious changes which either the Cons alone or the Libs and Bloc together will be forced into accepting in the public interest?

One way or another, it's for the best that C-31 is coming under more scrutiny. And hopefully today's questions are merely the first step in a process to make sure the worst parts of the bill get cut out before it passes into law.