After a long, cold winter, the nation's capital is starting to thaw and that means the push to the end of the spring sitting of Parliament is upon us. MPs and senators will return to their respective chambers next week, for the first of two long stretches of sitting before the summer hiatus.
Top priority for the Liberal minority government will be passing bills. With 25 government bills before the House of Commons and six pieces of government legislation currently before the Senate, choices are going to have to be made about which bills will take precedence.
CTVNews.ca takes a look at five bills to keep an eye on, either because they're likely to become priority focuses, or because of the contention surrounding them.
Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act
Current stage: Senate, consideration of messages from the House of Commons
Of all of the pieces of legislation before Parliament, Bill C-11 is the closest to passing, but reaching this stage was a very long time coming.
All that's left before this contentious commitment—aimed at compelling web giants to abide by Canadian content requirements and regulations comparable to traditional broadcasters— reaches the finish line, is for the Senate to decide if it can live with Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez's take-some-and-leave-some approach to a series of amendments made by the upper chamber.
Expected to be a priority bill on senators' agendas next week, stakeholders both for and against this legislation are anxiously awaiting to see whether the Senate plans to push back or pass Bill C-11 as it stands.
If you're interested in more of a deep dive into this legislation, check out this comprehensive explainer.
Bill C-21, the Act that amends a bunch of Acts, re: firearms
Current stage: House of Commons, being studied by the Public Safety and National Security Committee
After this legislation—aimed at tightening gun laws to include “red flag” provisions and restrict legal access to handguns— faced wide-spanning resistance over a later-retracted amendment package that sought to enshrine in law a definition for "assault-style" weapons that would've prohibited a long list of gun models, Bill C-21 has taken a bit of a legislative backseat.
Recently, the committee has pivoted from studying the bill itself to hearing from stakeholders on the impacts of the now-withdrawn amendments.
However, the bill may be getting renewed focus from the Liberals, buoyed by the series of calls contained in the recently released Nova Scotia Mass Casualty Commission final report.
The commissioners want Ottawa to move ahead with measures including revoking firearms licences for anyone convicted of gender-based, intimate partner or family violence. And they want to see the federal government prohibit all semi-automatic handguns and all semi-automatic rifles and shotguns that discharge centre-fire ammunition and that are designed to accept detachable magazines with capacities of more than five rounds.
Bill C-22, the Canada Disability Benefit Act
Current stage: Senate, being studied by the Social Affairs, Science and Technology Committee
Perhaps this bill has been chugging along under the radar of most Hill watchers, but for a piece of legislation that has all-party backing, it's taken two attempts to get it here. Bill C-22 proposes to create a federal income supplement for low-income, working-age people with disabilities, modelled after the Guaranteed Income Supplement.
It's the second time this benefit has been caught up in the legislative cycle, after a first iteration died in the House when the 2021 election was called. The NDP and advocates have been pushing the Liberals to follow through on this promise, or in the interim, offer comparable financial assistance until this benefit is up and running.
It was the first bill debated at the start of the fall sitting, and since has made it into the Senate.
Since beginning its study, the Senate committee has been holding twice-weekly meetings, with that pace scheduled to continue when sitting resumes next week.
Bill C-46, the Cost of Living Relief Act, No. 3
Current stage: House of Commons, second reading
This is a freshly tabled piece of legislation you likely missed in the post-budget flurry of political news, but it is one that's likely to come to the forefront in the coming days.
Billed as the Liberals' third "cost of living relief" bill, following last fall's unanimously supported GST rebate and NDP-backed housing benefit initiative, this bill pulls out two specific elements of the 2023 federal budget the Liberals want to see pass in short order.
Bill C-46 amends the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act to see the provinces and territories receive their one-time cash injection into their health-care systems. As part of the overall funding deals, this federal offer will see an immediate national and "unconditional" $2-billion top-up to the Canada Health Transfer (CHT). This money is to address urgent pressures being experienced at pediatric hospitals, emergency rooms and surgical centres.
It also looks to implement the one-time $2.5 billion "grocery rebate" for 11 million low- and modest-income Canadians. Not required to be spent at the grocery store, the rebate is being offered through the GST tax credit system and would see eligible couples with two children receive a payment of up to $467. A senior would receive $225, while a single person would receive $234.
The government has opted to break off these two policy changes likely in hopes that it can get all-party support and see Bill C-46 passed quickly. The NDP is already on board, and the Conservatives have previously said they'd uphold the health funding deals and joined the other parties in passing the GST rebate last time, so we'll see if that translates to voting "yea" this time.
Bill C-TBD, the incoming budget implementation legislation
Current stage: Yet to be tabled
While this bill has yet to be introduced—or even put on notice—as soon as it drops it is set to be a top, if not the top, priority piece of legislation for the Liberals.
That's because beyond the two measures pulled out into Bill C-46, in order to enact the array of spending commitments in the 2023 federal budget that require related legislative tinkering, this bill needs to become law.
While it has yet to be presented, parsing the "proposed legislative action" annex of the budget—largely non-fiscal measures the Liberals will be stuff into the coming budget implementation bill, or BIA—indicates a host of grab-bag law changes.
From moving ahead with an electronic citizenship program and changes for natural health products, to amending an act regarding royal titles and imposing new privacy requirements on political parties, here's a rundown of some of the odds and ends in Budget 2023.
