Petersen grabbed wrong speech on way to Senate - Opinion

PRIME minister Stephen Harper ended the spring session of Parliament last week grumpy as always, raging at the Senate because it is Liberal dominated, obstructionist (in his view), unelected and generally disgraceful in a democracy.

But Harper, if he followed Senate debates, read the transcripts and lightened up a bit, might find Senate proceedings a source of humour. Lord knows, this angry-young-man persona needs a good laugh.

He would get one if he read the Senate debate transcript for June 21, a day when Saskatchewan Liberal senator Bob Peterson rose to speak to a bill he had seconded, a bill that if approved would undo a Conservative initiative and take the Canadian Wheat Board out of the jurisdiction of the access-to-information law.

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Peterson, 67, had been a long-time Liberal and business player in Saskatchewan before being appointed to the Senate by Paul Martin. He is a member of the Senate agriculture committee.

It was no surprise, then, when he seconded a private members’ bill, S-224, proposed by former Alberta Liberal leader Grant Mitchell and aimed at reversing an earlier Senate decision to accept a Conservative government move to force a reluctant CWB under the prying eyes of the access-to-information law.

Nor was it a surprise when Peterson rose June 21 to speak to the bill. Mitchell thinks that with the Liberal majority in the Senate, the bill will pass if this Parliament lasts long enough.

But in an astounding speech, Peterson denounced the bill he was sponsoring.

“I rise to speak on Bill S-224, the legislation that would subject the Canadian Wheat Board to access-to-information legislation just as though it were a government entity entirely within the federal system,” he began.

It was a dastardly Conservative plot to “weaken the board by stealth rather than by frontal attack,” he said.

And ironically, the federal Accountability Act under which the change in the CWB was being enacted had not yet come into force, Peterson said. So why were the Conservatives rampaging ahead on this minor change that had major implications for the wheat board when the sponsoring legislation had not been enacted?

Umm, where to begin?

Peterson was speaking on a Liberal bill aimed at undoing Conservative policy. It would do the opposite of what he was alleging. And the federal Accountability Act became law months ago.

Did he grab the wrong speech? Wasn’t he paying attention? Why did none of his colleagues slip him a note telling him he was embarrassing himself?

Senators earn $125,800 per year. They receive an office budget that includes research. So how to explain this climax to Peterson’s speech last week:

“Honourable senators, I urge you to see this legislation for what it is,” he said. “It is not designed to improve access to information, it is designed to undermine a fine Canadian institution, the Canadian Wheat Board.”

The New Democratic Party is wrong to argue in favour of Senate abolition. The House of Commons, usually dominated by a party with minority public support, needs a check as envisioned by the Fathers of Confederation.

Peterson did little to advance the argument last week.