Members of the Canadian Parliament are returning home to their districts after the House of Commons agreed to rise for the summer on Thursday afternoon.
While recent sessions have sent a number of recently passed bills to the Senate for review, a number of government pledges remain on hold until the fall.
Unlike the last two summers, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau extended Parliament in 2020 and when he called elections in 2021, legislation that failed to reach the target will probably not have to start from scratch and run again. when deputies return in September.
This is due to the fact that there are currently no elections on the horizon following a confidence and supply agreement between the Liberals and the NPD reached earlier this year which is expected to see them work together to keep the Liberals in power. government until 2025.
Now, as is often the case in politics, no one can predict the future. But as it stands now, there is no sign that there is another extension or another federal election.
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So this is where things stand when the House of Commons takes a summer break. This is not a conclusive list of the dozens of bills captured in the middle of the process, but rather a bigger picture of the big promises.
Last month, the federal government introduced a new bill that they say will increase the safety of firearms.
Bill C-21 seeks to freeze gun sales nationwide and withdraw firearms licenses from anyone involved in domestic violence or harassment.
Read more: National firearms “freeze” on new gun regulations proposed by Ottawa
In addition, the bill promises to introduce what is known as a “red flag” law, effectively a law that would allow courts to force someone who is believed to be a danger to them or others to hand over their weapons. fire at the police.
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The bill is in second reading in the House of Commons right now, which means it still has to go through the committee’s study and third reading before it can go to the Senate.
Prohibition of sanctioned Russians
Canada has sanctioned about 1,000 Russians and Belarusians in connection with the invasion of Ukraine, a sovereign democracy that now withstands more than 100 days of invasion.
In May, the Minister of Public Security, Marco Mendicino, announced that the government was presenting a bill to the Senate – effectively putting the legislation in reverse order in Parliament – to ban the entry into the country of any sanctioned person.
The bill passed in the Red House, but has to go through the legislative process again in the House of Commons.
The bill was expected to go first in the Senate to help speed up that step, an official said.
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Snooping from the edge of the cell phone
He will also return to MPs a controversial bill that has so far received little attention, but which is likely to be ready for heated debate once it reaches the House of Commons.
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S-7, filed in March, is titled A Law to Amend the Customs Act and the Pre-Authorization Act.
These amendments, however, propose to loosen restrictions on when border guards can search for the “personal digital devices” of anyone entering Canada if the guard has a “reasonable general concern” about controlled goods or substances.
The government has described the bill as an attempt to create “clear and strict standards” for when personal digital devices can be searched at the border, as a result of a court order in 2020 that considered the current lack of any standards in the Customs Act be unconstitutional.
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But privacy advocates have raised alarms at the potential for misuse.
A particular concern for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association is the “reasonable general concern” threshold, which is a rule that does not exist in Canadian law as it currently stands and is very different from the typical threshold used in similar laws, which it is “reasonable.” reasons to suspect ”.
“The introduction of such a low standard not only does not protect individual privacy, but also does not offer protections against racial and religious profiles that may derive from the excessive discretion that such a minimalist standard will provide, and may even aggravate this profile, “the CCLA said. warned.
The Senate amended this section of the bill to set the standard for seeking “reasonable grounds for suspicion,” but it is not yet clear whether the government will accept this amendment.
Expect lots of questions as this returns to the House of Commons.
Cybersecurity and secret orders
The Minister of Public Security, Marco Mendicino, presented the C-26 earlier this month.
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The bill seeks to give new powers to the federal government to direct critical infrastructure operators to their cybersecurity plans and protection efforts. It will also create the powers the government says it needs to implement the promised ban on Huawei and ZTE.
But cybersecurity experts say that while the bill has “good bones,” the provisions that allow it to run private-sector companies in secret must be changed, especially in light of the fact that such repairs or changes to companies ’cyber operations could be costly.
Read more: Ottawa’s cybersecurity bill has “good bones,” but secrecy rules need to work, experts say
The bill comes at a time when critical infrastructure protection and cybersecurity are taking on renewed roles at the center of talks on Canadian national security.
Mendicino recently warned that the government is on “high alert” for Russian cyberattacks.
Late last year, Justice Minister David Lametti introduced the C-9, which seeks to amend the Judges Act.
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The bill would replace the Canadian Judicial Council process to review the conduct of federally appointed judges. It would also establish a new process for handling allegations of misconduct that “are not serious enough to justify the removal of a judge from office.”
It sets out a requirement for the judge in question to receive advice, continuing education or a reprimand in cases where his conduct does not reach the threshold of removal.
In addition, the legislation would change the way recommendations are made for the removal of judges from office to the Minister of Justice and set out an additional set of steps for the removal of public officials other than judges who were appointed to hold office. workplace during “good” behavior ”.
Notable: NDP Algorithm Reform Bill
Private members bills are always a difficult issue in the House of Commons, especially when this bill comes from a member of the opposition party.
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And while it may have little plausible path to passage, it will be worth watching a NPD private members bill, Peter Julian, amid growing awareness in Western democracies about how social media algorithms are driving the spread of hateful and extremist content. on line.
As reported by Global News, it may take just four clicks to find extremist content online in Canada.
C-292 proposes that it be a requirement for social media companies to disclose how they collect personal information about users and how that personal information is used by their algorithms “to make predictions, recommendations or decisions about a user and to retain content. this user or amplify or promote their content “.
It would require these companies to ensure that their content moderation algorithms “do not use algorithms that use personal information in a way that results in adverse differential treatment of any individual or group of individuals based on one or more prohibited grounds. of discrimination “.
The bill, like all private member bills, will face a difficult battle and an unlikely path to approval.
But when Parliament returns in the autumn, the debate over its proposals could provide an interesting insight into whether the Liberal government plans to propose serious measures aimed at algorithms.
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