Senators accused of shutting down debate on carbon tax carve-out bill

Conservative Sen. David Wells is accusing Senate Speaker Raymonde Gagné and the leadership of the Independent Senators Group of acting in concert to shut down debate on a private member's bill to secure a carbon tax exemption for natural gas and propane used by farmers.

On Thursday night, the Senate was in the midst of third reading debate on Bill C-234, which passed in the House of Commons in March, when Sen. Bernadette Clement suddenly moved to adjourn debate, effectively delaying a final vote on the private member's bill until at least Nov. 21, when the Senate is scheduled to sit next.

Twenty-nine senators voted in favour of adjourning debate, while 24 senators voted against. Notably, 37 senators did not vote. No abstentions were recorded.

The latest fight over Bill C-234 comes one week after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, facing Conservative attacks over his government's decision to temporarily suspend the carbon tax from home heating oil, stated "there will absolutely not be any other carve-outs or suspensions of the price on pollution."

"Friends, the fix is in," tweeted Wells, who is sponsoring the bill in the Senate, after the vote was called. "The Speaker ... of the Senate in concert with the ISG leadership has shut down debate on the critical piece of legislation."

"In my eleven years in the Senate, I have never seen a Speaker shut down debate when speakers were ready and willing and asking to speak. A shameful day for our chamber and the practice of sober second thought."

Clement, who serves as deputy facilitator for the Independent Senators Group, said her move to adjourn debate on third reading was not an attempt to shut down debate.

"Rather the opposite. I adjourned last night to ensure everyone has a chance to speak," Clement said in a statement provided to CBC News. "It's my job to adjourn items in the Chamber when our group still has members who want to speak."

Clement says adjourning ensures that debate has a chance to continue when the Senate returns on Nov. 21.

CBC News has reached out to Senate Speaker Gagné.

Bill C-234, an act to amend the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, was tabled in the House of Commons by Conservative MP Ben Lobb in February 2022.

The private member's bill seeks to extend a carbon tax exemption farmers receive on gasoline and diesel to natural gas and propane used in such activities as irrigation, grain drying, feed preparation and heating and cooling barns and greenhouses.