Parliament’s attempt to modernize cruelty-to-animal laws has hit another roadblock as the Senate and the House of Commons continue their long-running stalemate over details of the bill.
On June 19 before adjourning for the summer, the Senate sent back to the Commons an amended version of the bill that MPs had already rejected.
“We want to make sure we are not stopping farmers or First Nations people from killing animals or handling animals in the way they always have,” said Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative senator and agriculture committee chair Donald Oliver. “I have heard from a lot of farmers and ranchers on this.”
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Defenders of the bill, including the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies, insist the senators are condemning animals to cruelty just so they can flex their political muscle. The bill would increase penalties significantly.
“Canadian senators will have animal blood on their hands” the humane societies said in an angry News release
news June 19. “The bill, which has already spent four years in Parliament, is delayed at least until fall and could even die on the shelf if Parliament is prorogued for a federal election.”
Federation program director Shelagh MacDonald said in a June 20 interview there is a good chance the legislation will die, sideswiped by the Liberal leadership race set to end in November.
