The government’s controversial cruelty-to-animals legislation will lie
in limbo over summer after senators decided not to proceed with the
bill.
With persistent rumours that this parliamentary session may be ended by
the government in September to allow a new session, the bill could die
as unfinished business.
“I would not shed a tear if that happened,” Liberal rural caucus chair
and Ontario MP Murray Calder said June 14.
He is at the centre of a dispute over government intentions.
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When the Liberal majority forced the bill through the House of Commons
June 4 by cutting off debate, Calder successfully urged reluctant rural
Liberals to vote for it because justice minister Martin Cauchon had
promised an amendment in the Senate guaranteeing that normal farm
animal practices would not be at risk.
Once in the Senate, that promise disappeared.
Montreal Liberal senator Joan Fraser was designated to shepherd the
legislation through the Senate and she said there was no such deal.
Opposition senators had complained that Calder’s statement was an
affront to the independence of the Upper Chamber. Canadian Alliance
senator Gerry St. Germain argued it violated the privileges of the
Senate and its independence from the Commons.
The incident left Calder fuming because he had assured other skeptical
rural Liberals that there was a deal.
“I’ll be honest with you, I’m disappointed,” he said. “I will be
speaking to the minister about it.”
