Election clock ticking down on private members' business

Next week, Conservative MP Michael Chong finally gets the chance to bring his bill to rebalance the power dynamic between MPs and party leaders to a full vote in the House of Commons.

It won't be precisely the bill he first envisioned — it has already undergone one revision, with more substantive changes expected at committee — but it still has his name on it, and is expected to make it through second reading to win approval-in-principle from his Commons colleagues.

• Where do current private members' bills stand? Read our progress report
• Taxes, economy are centre stage as Parliament resumes
• Analysis: Liberal polling lead more than a Justin Trudeau honeymoon
• Video: Kady O'Malley previews Parliament's return

Meanwhile, fellow Conservative backbencher Mark Adler will soon learn the fate of his bid to impose political disclosure requirements on staff who work for the independent agents of Parliament. That bill faces a final House vote before being sent to the Senate.

Like Chong's Reform Act, Adler's bill is expected to garner the necessary support, but only after it, too, underwent a major rewrite in which several of the more contentious provisions were removed, with Adler's support.

While both Chong and Adler seem resigned to watering down their bills, they can at least comfort themselves that their amended bills have a good chance of making it to the Senate floor.

But even that may not be enough to ensure they become law.

Unlike the Commons, the Senate has no separate legislative track to ferry private members' bills through on a set timeline — no automatic limits on hours, or even days, of debate and no 60-day deadline to report back from committee.

Chong and Adler both have to find like-minded senators to sponsor their bills, and even that may not be enough to guarantee a spot near the top of the relevant committee's to-do list.

The Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee, for instance, currently has four private members' bills in the queue. One — Conservative caucus chair Guy Lauzon's proposal to give victims first crack at money awarded to an offender who takes legal action against the government — has been waiting for its moment in the spotlight since February.

Procedural limbo

Not all Senate committees have such a long list, but without a procedural conveyor belt to whisk private members bills, even those that make it through committee can end up stalled at third reading for months — or, in some cases, years.

Take, for instance, New Democrat MP Joe Comartin's efforts to legalize sports betting, which first arrived in the Senate in March 2012, made it one stage short of Royal Assent by June 2013, but is now marooned at second reading after being sent back to the Senate starting point by prorogation last fall.

Conservative MP Russ Hiebert's union spending disclosure bill is stuck in the same procedural limbo.

Even if Chong or Adler don't get their bills to the finish line before the 2015 election, they'll still have come closer than the hundred-odd MPs waiting for their number to come up on the priority list.  

At any given time, no more than 30 private members' bills or motions are allowed on the House agenda, with the order determined by lottery.

Among those at the front of the current queue for a second-reading speaking slot is Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, whose proposal to open up the all-party Board of Internal Economy that oversees MP and House spending will be one of 15 items added to the rotation just before Thanksgiving. 

Depending on how swiftly the House moves through the current batch, Trudeau and his fellow MPs could theoretically shepherd their bills through to third reading in the House — but the hope of making it much further before the 41st Parliament is dissolved is remote at best.

Why bother?

Despite the dismal odds of success, it's a good bet even the lowest MP on the list will go through the motions and introduce at least one bill or motion between now and next spring.

Why? First and perhaps foremost, because there's nothing preventing them from kickstarting discussion of their pet project before it makes it to the House floor.

Chong, for instance, released the text of his Reform Act months before it came up for debate, and spent the interim consulting caucus colleagues, opposition MPs and Canadians at large on the pros and cons of his proposal, which led to those pre-second-reading amendments.

The Liberals, meanwhile, have cited Trudeau's bid to bring transparency to the Board of Internal Economy every time the New Democrats denounce them for failing to back their call for the board to meet in public.

It may not be quite as satisfying as seeing the Governor General sign off on a bill bearing your name, but it's hard to see how that is more frustrating than manoeuvring a bill all the way through the Commons only to have it get lost in the Senate shuffle.

Plus, presuming an MP is re-elected, there's nothing stopping them from putting it right back on the Order Paper.