In this Issue
Senate Business Highlights
The work of the first session of the 37th Parliament continues at the Senate.
Among the many legislative activities that have been undertaken has been the presentation of important committee reports, the culmination of months of hearings, review and analysis into a range of public policy issues.
Since January, the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology has presented three volumes of its interim reports on the federal government’s role in the health of Canadians. The reports were, respectively,
Current Trends and Future Challenges and Health Care Systems in Other
Countries. On April 18, the Committee presented Principles and Recommendations for Reform Part I, which outlines 20 fundamental principles for reforming the national health care system. The Committee Chair is Senator
Michael Kirby; Deputy- Chair is Marjory LeBreton. |
|
|
Senate Speaker Dan Hays, accompanied by the new parliamentary guides |
The Standing Senate Committee on Fisheries has presented its report, Selected Themes on Canada’s Freshwater and Northern
Fisheries. The Committee Chair is Senator Gerald J. Comeau; Joan Cook is Deputy-Chair. The study is intended to provide a better understanding of the fisheries in the North and to demonstrate its significance to household economies and to help promote sustainable development.
The Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence issued Canadian Security and Military
Preparedness, which covers, among other subjects, military funding and staffing issues and national security lapses at domestics airports, maritime ports and border crossings. Chair Senator Colin Kenny, and Deputy-Chair J. Michael Forrestall, presided over hearings in which 202 witnesses provided over 175 hours of testimony in hearings in Canada and the United States.
The Standing Senate Committee on National Finance, chaired by Senator Lowell Murray, has presented its fourteenth report,
On the Effectiveness of and Possible Improvements to the Present Equalization
Policy. The Committee recommended changes that will make the policy more consistent with the intent of equalization. The report notes that while the modifications “… will enrich the Equalization program, the increases while significant for the recipient provinces are in our opinion affordable for the federal treasury and appropriate for a program that is one of the pillars of Canadian federalism.”
Senator’s Forum
The Honourable Marie-P. Poulin (Charette), Senator
Since being appointed to the Senate in 1995, I have been privileged to serve on more than seven committees. I have never ceased to be in awe at the complexity of issues that come before them, and I often marvel at the knowledge and intellect brought to committee hearings by witnesses. Their input underscores one of the principal purposes behind the Upper Chamber. In a word, it is relevancy.
Witnesses - ordinary Canadians and experts alike - can bring forth their views and concerns, and directly impact upon the legislative and investigative processes of our parliamentary system.
Too often, it is only when people experience first-hand the Senate’s committee work that they come to realize and appreciate its value, and the contributions the institution makes to Canadian society through quality research and debate.
Whenever I am asked about the relevancy of the Senate, I recall a woman whose evidence to a Senate committee resulted in an important change to a piece of healthcare legislation. “Thank God for the Senate,” she said.
As the former chair of a committee that studied communications and telecommunications industries, I am acutely aware of the power of the Internet and the influence of a highly competitive mass media on public opinion. All of this puts a tremendous burden on Members of the House of Commons to produce quick solutions to complicated situations.
In a time of rapid global change, the Senate’s parliamentary function is needed as much today than ever before.
|
