Legislative backlog prompts move to midnight sittings of Commons
OTTAWA — Members of Parliament will be burning the midnight oil next month as the Trudeau government rushes to pass a sheaf of bills before the summer break.
Government House leader Bardish Chagger served notice Thursday of a motion to extend daily sitting hours for the House of Commons until midnight, starting the week of May 29, when Parliament resumes after a one-week break, and continuing until June 23.
The move comes amid criticism that, as of Thursday, the Liberals have passed only 19 government bills since taking power in November 2015 — a skimpy legislative record compared to the 42 bills passed into law during the first 19 months of Stephen Harper’s majority Conservative regime.
Of the 53 bills Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals have introduced, 15 of them have languished for months — up to a year or more in a couple of cases — without proceeding beyond the formality of first reading.