Please keep reading, even though the next few paragraphs will be filled with numbers and parliamentary jargon.
They also will offer 22 of the reasons why Canadian Wheat Board reform is not likely to make it through this Parliament before an election, if it is called as expected for June.
Last week, before the Commons adjourned for a two week Easter break, Liberal Alfonso Gagliano outlined priorities the governnment has for what likely will be a three- or four-week session before an election is called.
The time back will be busy, he told MPs. First priority will be debate and approval of three or four pieces of legislation flowing from the budget.
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Then followed a list of other government “priorities.”
Assuming they clear the Commons, all these bills still would have to make it through the Senate to become law:
“Bill C-82, the financial institutions legislation; Bill C-44, the courts bill; Bill C-17, C-27 and C-46, which amend the criminal code; Bill C-5, representing bankruptcy; Bill C-65, the environment bill; Bill C-79; Bill C-55, the high risk offenders legislation; Bill C-66, the Canada Labor Code amendments; Bill C-38, the foreign debt bill; Bill C-39 and C-40, which relate to floating agreements; Bill C-49, the administrative tribunal bill; Bill C-67, the competition legislation; Bill C-72, the Canadian Wheat Board Act amendments; Bill C-84 respecting citizenship; Bill C-86 respecting transportation; Bill C-89 regarding powers of customs officers.”
Of course, some of these bills will not be called, others are not high priority and some are minor enough to pass with little debate. Nonetheless, it’s a heavy workload, as Gagliano acknowledged.
“There is a lot of work to be done when we come back so I wish everybody a happy Easter so that we can come back in health to work hard.”
Combine that long work list with the reality that the wheat board bill will spend up to two weeks in committee once it gets back and the prospect for board reform becomes even more remote.
And of course, last week’s hearings on the prairies produced evidence that the legislation is accepted by few and opposed by most.
Those hearings should give the election-bound Liberals cause for pause. They may not want to rush a clearly flawed bill into law.
All of which leads to legitimate speculation about why the government and agriculture minister Ralph Goodale got it so wrong and waited so long.
The most likely explanation seems to be that Goodale’s natural caution and consultative style delayed the initiative well past the time when it could be thoroughly debated and improved if necessary.
It may be that he waited until the last moment, hoping all sides would embrace it as the way to end the endless debate.
If that was his judgment, it was seriously flawed. The next government, and maybe a new minister, will face the divisive debate anew.
Prairie voters, after all the debate, controversy and promise, will judge it one of the Liberal government’s great failures.
