Gesetzentwürfe, die in letzter Minute durch das Unterhaus gebracht wurden, werden vom Senat erst im Februar geprüft

While I support C-12 and think it responds to very serious and pressing issues (particularly our broken asylum system), in truth it is fairly heavy-handed legislation that deserves substantive study rather than be rushed through. That said, the Senate taking January off rather than get it done in a timely manner is a reflection of their unwillingness to put the needs of Canada above their self-interest in a prolonged holiday break. With that said, I fully expect the courts will strike down the legislation the first time it gets used and Carney will be forced back to the drawing room.

For C-4, while it would be nice in principle for changes to tax law to become law prior to tax season to avoid any needless uncertainty, the delay has no practical effect because the CRA operates under the assumption the bill is already law and so taxpayers are fully unaffected.

My view is the Senate can have a substantive role to play in our system in theory, but this is one of many examples in practice where the Senate does itself no favours by making it seem like a useless drag on effective government: its delay to C-12 is not because the Senate will do anything to resolve the Charter issues in the legislation — they don’t dare try to tell the government „no“ on such important legislation — but simply because the senators don’t want to spend January in horrid Ottawa weather.