OTTAWA -- The Senate is set to adjourn for its summer break Tuesday, and it is still deliberating on key priority pieces of government legislation, prompting the federal government to ask senators to “do what is necessary” to see these bills pass.
The Senate passed Bill C-6 into the committee study phase on Monday after sitting late into the night, though the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee has yet to schedule meetings to begin studying it. In this scenario the entire Senate would still need to be recalled following the committee study in order to vote on the bills at the final legislative stages.
Senators have been signaling for some time that they want to dive deeply into the contentious broadcasting bill to be able to propose amendments of their own, and rejected any suggestion they’d “rubber stamp” it, setting up the expectation that it could stall out over the summer. “Senators, 30 meetings and over four months at committee stage might be unheard of, but I stand here today to say that this legislation still needs further study,” she said.
However, as Progressive Senate Group Sen. Jane Cordy noted during her remarks in support of Bill C-6 on Monday, the legislation explicitly states that the definition of conversion therapy within the bill “does not include a practice, treatment or service that relates to the exploration and development of an integrated personal identity without favouring any particular sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.