The Canadian Parliament is back to work on September 15 after a three-month summer recess. The federal government has a list of priority legislation on tap, but two things not on that list will make things confusing for Canadian members of parliament this fall.
Liberal Leadership
The first is the leadership of the Liberal Party. Prime Minister Chretien isn't officially scheduled to retire until February 2004, and it has become increasingly clear that Paul Martin will succeed him. Delegates for the Liberal leadership convention will be selected on the weekend of September 21, 2003 and the Liberal leadership convention itself will be held November 12-15, 2003. Most members of parliament, and Canadians, are going to be more interested in Mr. Martin's intentions than Mr. Chretien's views. It will be difficult to pin Paul Martin down while he is still a member of parliament and not prime minister.
Issue of Same-Sex Marriages
The second distracting issue will continue to be same-sex marriages. The draft bill on same-sex marriages has been referred to the Supreme Court of Canada which will not be dealing with it until their spring session. As it stands now, the bill won't get to a vote in the House of Commons until after Mr. Chretien has retired, and possibly not until after a federal election sometime in 2004.Legislative Priorities
Bills currently considered on the government's list of top priorities are:
- Bill on reproductive technology
- Bill creating independent ethics commissioners
- Westray bill - tightening rules for corporate responsibility
- Bill on market fraud
- Bill on public safety
- Bill on family law
- Bill modernizing possession of small amounts of marijuana
- Bill adding more seats to the House of Commons
