By Canadian Press

Senate joins House of Commons in extending suspension until mid-June

May 29, 2020 | 3:04 PM

OTTAWA — The Senate is staying closed for two more weeks, not planning to sit again until June 16.

The upper chamber is following the lead of the House of Commons, which doesn’t have a scheduled sitting until the day after that.

The House of Commons has MPs meeting regularly through a special committee on COVID-19 but without the authority to pass laws or use many of the Commons’ other usual powers.

Senate Speaker George Furey says he consulted all the leaders of the Senate’s various factions and groups before concluding it’s not in the public interest to convene as scheduled next week.

But the Conservative leader in the Senate, Don Plett, is dissenting from the consensus.

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Plett says the Senate is abdicating a fundamental obligation to hold the Liberal government to account.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 29, 2020.

The Canadian Press