On roadblocks

I've mentioned before that the greatest hurdles for the NDP's Climate Change Accountability Act figured to lie in the Senate rather than the House of Commons. So it isn't much surprise to learn that the Cons are indeed doing what they can to override the will of Canada's democratically-elected representatives.

But should it really be this easy for a single Senator to hold up a bill that's already managed to make it through two readings?

Bill C-311, drafted by NDP MP Bruce Hyer, would require the government to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 25 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050. It was supported in the Senate by Liberal Senator Grant Mitchell and has been read twice but has since been adjourned in the name of Conservative Senator Richard Neufeld. The legislation cannot move forward until he speaks to it.
...
Mr. Neufeld said on Wednesday that there has been no organized effort to keep the bill from being passed into law. If it is not addressed before the Senate rises, probably next week, it can always be raised in the fall, he said. “Our chamber has been pretty busy,” said Mr. Neufeld.

But the Liberals say they fear that the Conservatives are stalling until they obtain an absolute majority of Senate seats and can unilaterally kill the legislation - something that is likely to occur in November.

Now, this is far from the first time that the Cons have made use of procedural shenanigans to control the flow of legislation originating with other parties. But it seems downright absurd that a single Canadian Senator would hold the ability to single-handedly stop the progress of a bill simply by refusing to continue an adjourned debate on it - combining the worst of the U.S. Senate's stifling conventions on comity which allow a single member to hold up action with the inherently undemocratic nature of Canada's upper chamber.

But then, that power would also seem to give rise to an opportunity to do the same to Con bills to make sure that C-311 actually receives due consideration before the Cons have had a chance to fully stack the deck. And it'll be worth watching whether anybody uses the same trick to put pressure on the Cons to allow climate change accountability to become the law of the land.