Canada rail, airline law set for vote to hike ownership limits
Reforms could go into effect this week
Ownership limits in Canadian airlines and the country’s biggest railway are set to rise in coming days, with the wrangling over a controversial transport law poised to come to an end.
Transport Minister Marc Garneau’s sprawling reform of transport laws, known as Bill C-49, has ricocheted between the House and the Senate, but the Senate is signalling it will eventually bow to demands of elected officials to avoid what one Senator called a potential constitutional crisis.
If they do, it means the bill, first proposed a year ago, is probably set to become law this week. Though it could still face surprise delays, key portions would kick in immediately, Garneau’s spokesman Marc Roy said. These include raising the foreign ownership limit in airlines like Air Canada and WestJet Airlines Ltd. to 49 per cent, from 25 per cent now.
Another would be raising the individual ownership limit in Canadian National Railway Co. to 25 per cent, from 15 per cent. The only person near that limit is Bill Gates, who owns a combined stake in the railway of about 15.9 per cent between his investment company, Cascade Investment LLC, and his family’s charitable trust.
In addition to the ownership changes, there are also substantial new rules governing rail shipment, including the creation of a “longhaul intershipping” system aimed at helping shippers such as farmers served by only one rail line. The Senate originally sought changes to beef up powers of the rail customers, such as farms and mines. It’s these shipping rules that have delayed the bill.
The wrangling has been unusually fraught, stoked by changes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made to the Senate, once a sleepy rubber-stamp institution that now more often spars with its elected counterpart. The Senate has twice changed the transport bill, which would have become law earlier this month if not for procedural wrangling. A vote on the bill was initially scheduled on May 11, but a different type of vote was called, pushing it to late Tuesday. The Senate will likely consider it as soon as Wednesday. If the Senate stops objecting, the law could kick in that day once it gets royal assent.
The procedural record doesn’t indicate which lawmakers delayed the bill earlier this month. Trudeau’s Liberals blame the Conservatives, who blame the Liberals.
“This is an unnecessary delay by the Conservative caucus — the reality is farmers need this now,’’ Roy said. “It’s not a bill that should be used as a partisan lever in the Ottawa bubble.’’
Conservative lawmaker Kelly Block said it was Liberals who delayed things by seeking the vote, and that the government shouldn’t assume it will pass the Senate, which had gathered on May 11 in anticipation of the bill possibly becoming law that day.
“It was a little rich of the minister to presume it could have all been taken care of very quickly, that it would have just gone back to the Senate and passed,” Block said in an interview. “We have to wait and see what they will do” in the Senate, whose version she supports.
Canada needs to ensure its goods can get to market, she said. “There’s a cost to Canada’s reputation.”
The Senate can still block the bill, for a third time, though that would be very unusual. Conservative Senate leader Larry Smith said in an interview with Postmedia News agency the Senate will eventually stop objecting. But in a written statement, he declined to say if it would this time.
“We think the government needs to revisit its decision to reject the amendments the Senate has once again proposed,” Smith said in an emailed statement.