A closer look: private members’ bills inching their way to the finish line

By DG Stringer 

With just a week left in the spring parliamentary session, a number of private members’ bills (PMBs) that have made it through the House are under consideration by the Senate. 

PMBs that haven’t made it to the upper chamber by now have no chance of becoming law before the House rises.

A slim chance

The chance that an MP’s bill becomes law is very low. It requires excellent procedural timing, can take multiple attempts, and usually needs to be on an issue that is supported across party lines. 

Consider that in the 42nd Parliament (2015-2019), only 10 of the 269 PMBs tabled by MPs received royal assent. That’s compared to the 83 government bills over the same period. 

A closer look at the PMBs we’re watching

Five bills went through committee study and have been reported back to the Senate without amendments. They are now waiting to proceed through the report stage, which gives the Senate a chance to examine, and further amend, the bill. 

They will then be debated at third reading, which is the final step of the legislative process before becoming law.

Here are the PMBs we’re closely tracking:

C-218 (Kevin Waugh, Conservative) - This bill aims to make single event sports betting legal in Canada. MPs have tried for a decade to pass various iterations of this bill, without success. However, this may be the right time. Earlier in the parliamentary session, the government introduced its own version — Bill C-13. The bill did essentially the same thing as C-218, but as a result of parliamentary rules, the government had to drop its bill in favour of C-218. The bill has made it all the way to third reading in the Senate with support from all parties.

C-208 (Larry Maguire, Conservative) - The bill would make it easier to transfer a small business, family farm or fishing corporation to other family members. The bill passed through the House, despite government MPs primarily voting against it at second and third reading. 

C-228 (Richard Bragdon, Conservative) - This bill tasks the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness to establish a federal framework on how to reduce convicted criminals from reoffending.  

C-220 (Matt Jeneroux, Conservative) - The bill aims to amend the Canada Labour Code to extend the period of bereavement leave for employees by five additional unpaid days, to a total of 10.

C-237 (Sonia Sidhu, Liberal) - The Minister of Health would be required to develop a national framework for diabetes. The framework would be designed to support improved access to diabetes prevention and treatment in an effort to ensure better health outcomes. 

With the exception of C-208, all of these bills managed to pass through the House with significant — if not unanimous — support. 

One additional PMB still needs to pass second reading and be studied at committee, so the window for getting passed is closing:

C-204 (Scot Davidson, Conservative) - This bill aims to amend the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 to ban 32 different kinds of plastic waste from being exported for final disposal. This bill was also opposed by Liberal MPs in the House because the government has its own plan to deal with plastics, which it feels is more comprehensive. 

What’s next?

Though half a dozen PMBs are close to becoming law, their passage could be derailed by up to four government bills headed to the Senate in the span of a week. 

Debating government bills will take precedence over other work. True to their function of providing sober second thought, deliberation over these bills will take time. 

And there is very little time left.