http://www.liberalsenateforum.ca Blog of the Liberal Caucus in the Senate of Canada en-CA Juntos CMS marc.gendron@juntos.ca marc.gendron@juntos.ca Tue, 27 Jul 2010 09:45:58 GMT The recent BP offshore drilling disaster has raised the proverbial red flag on Canadian offshore drilling operations. It has raised the question as to whether our offshore drilling policies, procedures, regulatory regime and technologies are sufficiently better than those in the US. Are the risks of a similar disaster in Canadian waters really less than they are in the US? http://www.liberalsenateforum.ca/blog/10332_rss http://www.liberalsenateforum.ca/blog/10332_rss Tue, 20 Jul 2010 09:08:34 GMT I am honored to be the Senate sponsor of Bill C-311 which is designed to compel climate change action from the government. The bill passed several months ago in the House of Commons and has come to the Senate and begun the second stage of the legislative process. Bruce Hyer, an NDP MP from Ontario who sponsored the bill in the House, asked me to sponsor the legislation. I am very concerned about the inaction of the government on climate change and jumped at the chance to be the bill’s sponsor. http://www.liberalsenateforum.ca/blog/10316_rss http://www.liberalsenateforum.ca/blog/10316_rss Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:02:05 GMT Or, to put it another way, how did a Liberal minority on the Finance Committee manage to defeat 4 parts of a government bill? The Senate Finance Committee has spent several weeks reviewing the government’s budget implementation bill, Bill C-9. All bills that come from the House of Commons have to pass through three readings and committee stage in the Senate. Many senators were very concerned that the bill had serious flaws that required examination. http://www.liberalsenateforum.ca/blog/10254_rss http://www.liberalsenateforum.ca/blog/10254_rss Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:29:02 GMT The Senate Standing Committee on Transport and Communication, which I am honoured to Chair, has just published its latest report entitled, Plan for a Digital Canada.ca. The Committee and I are very proud of the work that was accomplished through this report. It sheds light on such subjects as Canada’s fall from grace as a leader in wireless and Internet technology. http://www.liberalsenateforum.ca/blog/10100_rss http://www.liberalsenateforum.ca/blog/10100_rss Thu, 03 Jun 2010 13:54:00 GMT Yesterday, an article in La Presse quoted the Prime Minister’s spokesperson accusing the Senate of not having passed any bills since the beginning of this session, including the budget bill. This is clearly incorrect as the budget bill is not yet before us, having not passed the House of Commons, and we have passed six bills this session. http://www.liberalsenateforum.ca/blog/9815_rss http://www.liberalsenateforum.ca/blog/9815_rss Fri, 07 May 2010 12:25:55 GMT On March 30, Conservative Senator Doug Finley, the National Campaign Director for the Conservative Party of Canada, launched a debate in the Senate on the erosion of freedom of speech in Canada. In view of how secretive this government has become, it was a surprising initiative. http://www.liberalsenateforum.ca/blog/9535_rss http://www.liberalsenateforum.ca/blog/9535_rss Wed, 05 May 2010 16:02:51 GMT Recently, Senator Sharon Carstairs invited me to speak on human rights and the environment at a conference she was hosting. This was a panel discussion that included Senator Carstairs speaking about the tremendous work she is doing as Chair of an international group that works to protect politicians around the world who are being persecuted in their countries. The other participant was Senator Mobina Jaffer who is a world renowned human rights advocate and who spoke on women’s rights. http://www.liberalsenateforum.ca/blog/9500_rss http://www.liberalsenateforum.ca/blog/9500_rss Mon, 03 May 2010 11:49:53 GMT Recently, I tabled a bill in the Senate that would amend the bankruptcy process to better protect employees on long-term disability (LTD) by granting them preferred status during bankruptcy proceedings. http://www.liberalsenateforum.ca/blog/9440_rss http://www.liberalsenateforum.ca/blog/9440_rss Thu, 08 Apr 2010 15:02:37 GMT The government of BC has established that its public sector will be carbon neutral this year. To do this they will need to use carbon offsets. They have set up a crown corporation to work with the private sector to generate enough offsets to meet their zero footprint needs, which is about 1,000,000 per year. http://www.liberalsenateforum.ca/blog/9144_rss http://www.liberalsenateforum.ca/blog/9144_rss Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:58:28 GMT I spent three days last week attending the Globe 2010 Conference in Vancouver. This is a conference held once every two years in Vancouver to focus on the business opportunities and issues arising from environmental issues and constraints. Needless to say the overwhelming focus this time was on business and climate change. http://www.liberalsenateforum.ca/blog/9137_rss http://www.liberalsenateforum.ca/blog/9137_rss