Senate amendment to Bill C-282 could render it useless

A Senate committee amendment to Bill C-282 means it will be vulnerable to an opposition filibuster if it makes it back to the House of Commons.

Sen. Peter Harder moved the amendment during clause-by-clause consideration by the foreign affairs and international trade committee Nov. 6 and it passed 10-3.

As amended, the bill that aimed to protect supply management in trade negotiations wouldn’t apply to existing trade agreements, the renegotiation of existing agreements, or those that are currently in negotiation.

“It’s unfortunate that the atmosphere surrounding this bill has turned from one of policy to one of politics,” Harder said. “I believe that we need to de-risk this bill while engaging in a respectful dialogue between the Senate and the elected chamber.”

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The committee heard from numerous witnesses that the bill was bad policy because it tied the hands of Canadian negotiators before they ever got to the table.

An observation filed along with the committee report noted members believed the bill was about trade and “is not, despite testimony provided by supporters of the legislation, a bill on the policy of supply management itself.”

“Your committee wishes to make clear that it has taken no view on supply management in Canada and has focused on this legislation’s impact on Canada’s crucial trade relationships as an export-oriented nation reliant on trade.”

Sen. Amina Gerba from Quebec was in favour of the original bill and said Trump’s election makes it clear supply management will be targeted.

“That’s why we must clearly take a position in order to protect it,” Gerba said.

The U.S. dairy sector has long complained about Canada’s system. Some market access to the Canadian market was granted through CUSMA and two other agreements with Europe and the TransPacific Partnership. The Bloc Quebecois private member’s bill aimed to end the giveaway. CUSMA is up for review next year, and Trump has suggested he will move to renegotiate the deal.

The bill had other implications for the governing Liberal party. BQ leader Yves-Francois Blanchet had made its passage by Oct. 29 a condition for his party’s support of the minority government. That deadline wasn’t met and he has since said he will work to defeat the Liberals.

The bill still has to go through third reading in the Senate before it could be passed and returned to the House of Commons.

Government business in that chamber has been stalled this fall over a Conservative privilege motion. There hasn’t yet been a vote on Bill C-234, the bill to extend carbon pricing exemptions on natural gas and propane used to dry grain and it seems unlikely C-282 would move ahead of other priorities.

A federal election is scheduled for next October but if the government falls it will be sooner.

The supply managed industries in Canada have not yet commented on the amendment.