Tory senators stalling laws for political advantage, Independents say
OTTAWA — Conservative senators are being accused of deliberately stalling Liberal government legislation to keep it in the public eye for political benefit.
That’s particularly true of Bill C-69, new rules for environmental assessments of energy projects, which has drawn the wrath of Alberta, Saskatchewan and other provincial governments that fear it will scare off investment in projects like pipelines by setting up too many regulatory hurdles.
“This is a bill that could generate a lot of political attention and it is in the interests of some senators to use the bill as political hay,” Sen. Yuen Pau Woo, leader of the Independent Senators’ Group, said in an interview.
The argument over getting bills through the Senate broke into the open in the red chamber Thursday, just hours before MPs and senators ended their last sitting in Parliament’s iconic Centre Block for at least 10 years. Both chambers were slated to resume work on Jan. 28, housed in temporary new quarters while Centre Block undergoes a massive restoration.