Canadian Wheat Board minister Ralph Goodale wears a watch set to Saskatchewan time, so he knows what hour of the day it is back home.
He might want to consider adding a pocket watch, set to the parliamentary calendar. Goodale’s sense of timing has been one of the government’s problems during the three years it has been trying to get the thorny issue of wheat board reform behind it.
Goodale’s caution and consultative ways delayed the emergence of the CWB legislation until 1996. To make it through Parliament before the last election, it would have required co-operation from the Opposition and the Senate. The bill died.
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Then he reintroduced it in the early days of this Parliament but it was not immediately called for debate, despite Goodale’s hope that it would be law by December in time to organize spring 1998 board of director elections.
Time ran out and it was not approved before Parliament’s Christmas break.
Elections were promised for autumn to meet the Dec. 31, 1998, deadline.
For that to happen, the bill must be through Parliament before it rises for a 12-week break in late June.
As Bill C-4 continues its slow journey through the Senate, the clock is ticking.
The minister had hoped senators would move quickly, accepting the bill as the best compromise possible.
Instead, senators got independent, went west, heard tonnes of opposition and now are taking time deciding what to do.
Amendments are almost a certainty.
While it is far too early for Goodale’s office to panic over another missed deadline, there is reason for the minister’s pulse rate to quicken a bit as he looks at the calendar.
The Senate agriculture committee wants a last session with him April 30.
Then, they debate the issues behind closed doors. There are no guarantees the committee will report to the Senate by May 15, when Parliament rises for a week.
Assume it does. Will the full Senate set aside time the week of May 25 to debate the bill, approve it with amendments and send it back to the House of Commons? Perhaps, but once again, Goodale is counting on the co-operation of others.
Assume it does. The Commons is now into June, there are effectively three weeks left and the agenda is jammed. Goodale would have to negotiate with other ministers for time to debate the Senate amendments.
Reform, if they wanted, could try to extend debate. Again, Opposition co-operation is required.
Assume it is forthcoming and the bill is sent back to the Senate during the week of June 1. Now, there are just two weeks left and the Senate is being asked by the Commons to rubber-stamp a rush of last-minute legislation.
That can make senators grumpy. They sometimes run out of time on one or two bills, just to make a point that they should not be taken for granted.
Will C-4 be one of those symbolic bills?
Goodale can only hope not. If it is not approved before the June recess, fall elections cannot be organized and CWB reform is into 1999.
