Articles by Peter Mazereeuw

Jun 17 2019 — Peter Mazereeuw — Hill Times — With nearly 100 amendments from the Senate—on top of about 100 from the House—the government’s environmental assessment reform legislation is entering its final stretch in the Senate, with debate on the government’s message on the amendments rejected and accepted expected to begin as early as this evening. The Senate had returned 188 amendments to the […]

Jun 12 2019 — Peter Mazereeuw — Hill Times — A group of Independent Senators is getting ready to propose two amendments to the government’s controversial ban on oil tankers docking on the B.C. coast to allow pipeline and tanker access to the Nisga’a First Nation, says Independent Alberta Senator Paula Simons. The Nisga’a Nation is made up of four communities in northern B.C. located […]

Jun 10 2019 — Peter Mazereeuw — Hill Times — Independent and Conservative Senators are working on amendments to the government’s controversial bill to ban oil tankers from ports along most of the B.C. coast, despite Transport Minister Marc Garneau’s signal to the Senate in May that the government didn’t want to compromise on the core elements of the bill.

Jun 4 2019 — Peter Mazereeuw — Hill Times — The Senate Transport Committee slammed the government’s bill to ban oil tankers from the northern B.C. coast in a report issued Monday night, calling it “economically irresponsible” and “an affront to common sense” to ban tankers out West while allowing commercial ship traffic on the east coast. The committee tabled the 5,300-word report in the […]

Jun 3 2019 — Peter Mazereeuw — Hill Times — Several high-profile government bills are entering the final stretch of scrutiny by Senators this week, with a decision on whether or not to kill the controversial tanker ban bill, C-48, on the docket, and third reading debate on the government’s sweeping environmental impact assessment bill, C-69, expected to begin early this week. The government has […]

May 27 2019 — Peter Mazereeuw — Hill Times — With just four weeks left before the House of Commons is scheduled to rise for the last time before the fall election, time allocation motions are stacking up in the House, the government is moving to make MPs work until midnight, and the government and Conservative House leaders each say a lack of information from […]

May 20 2019 — Peter Mazereeuw — Hill Times — The Conservatives are banking on Vice-Admiral Mark Norman to further embarrass the Liberal government over its role in his abandoned criminal prosecution, and hope to meet with the former second-in-command of the Canadian Armed Forces “at the appropriate time,” says Conservative MP Erin O’Toole. “When he decides to speak, I’m quite confident that there will […]

May 13 2019 — Peter Mazereeuw — Hill Times — Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer is using the same strategy employed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prior to the last election, say pollsters and politicos, by rolling out policy speeches on key topics well in advance of the election campaign. Mr. Scheer (Regina-Qu’Appelle, Sask.) kicked off a series of planned speeches on policy with an […]

Apr 29 2019 — Peter Mazereeuw — Hill Times — The Liberal government’s new watchdog for corporate ethics is “disappointing” and “not in line” with what it has promised, says the chair of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights. The new office of the ombudsperson for responsible enterprise, as it is currently organized, essentially duplicates Canada’s OECD National Contact Point, which is […]

Apr 22 2019 — Peter Mazereeuw — Hill Times — The Liberal government’s move to toughen up the refugee system is a signal to voters that fairness is the party’s priority when it comes to foreigners entering the country, says a former Liberal insider, and it could be part of an attempt to outmanoeuvre the Bloc Québécois, or win over ex-Liberal voters who don’t want […]

Apr 12 2019 — Peter Mazereeuw — Hill Times — The Liberal base of committed, core supporters may be smaller than the well from which the rival Conservative Party is drawing, a recent poll suggests, and the Grits also lag the Tories by a nose when soft support is accounted for. One quarter of adult Canadians who took part in the Campaign Research survey said […]

Apr 9 2019 — Peter Mazereeuw — Hill Times — Trade Minister Jim Carr unveiled the government’s choice on Monday to fill the corporate-ethics watchdog job announced more than a year ago, but the details of how independent and powerful the new Corporate Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise were left up in the air, drawing fierce criticism from a human-rights advocacy network closely following the file. […]

Apr 5 2019 — Peter Mazereeuw — Hill Times — Senate leaders agreed April 4 on firm dates for the final vote on 10 government bills currently in the Upper Chamber, including several key government bills, but not the two that have drawn the staunchest opposition from the Conservatives, C-69 and C-48. The deal sets dates for the progression through one, two, or three stages—depending […]

Apr 3 2019 — Peter Mazereeuw — Hill Times — The government’s representative in the Senate is proposing to put deadlines for Senators to finish their debate, study, and voting on 11 bills now in the Senate, a move that opposition Conservatives say violates committee independence and amounts to a massive time-allocation motion. Senator Peter Harder (Ottawa, Ont.) gave notice of a motion to impose […]

Apr 1 2019 — Peter Mazereeuw — Hill Times — The Conservatives have a handful of procedural tactics at their disposal as they try to pressure the governing Liberals to free two former ministers to speak out about the PMO and SNC-Lavalin scandal, including a chance on Monday to start a filibuster of the government’s budget, and an opportunity to force another marathon, overnight voting […]