Senate debate resumes
Back-to-work legislation would force end to six weeks of rotating walkouts
Senators resumed a special sitting on Monday to examine a bill that would force an end to rotating strikes at Canada Post as the walkouts enter their sixth week.
But the upper house might not go along with the government’s rush to get mail moving again during the postal service’s busiest holiday season.
Some independent senators argue that because it curtails postal workers’ right to strike, the bill is an unconstitutional violation of their right to freedom of association and expression.
And independent Sen. Murray Sinclair, a former judge, is poised to propose an amendment that would keep the legislation from kicking in for at least seven days after it receives royal assent.
The Liberal government proposes to have the bill go into effect at noon the day following royal assent - as early as Tuesday if the Senate passes it Monday without amendments.
A Senate amendment to the bill would cause at least another day’s delay, requiring the bill to go back to the House of Commons, where MPs would have to decide whether to accept or reject the change and then ship the bill back to the Senate.
Bill C-89 was debated in the upper chamber on Saturday after the Liberal government fast-tracked the legislation through the House of Commons.
But despite an initial plan to continue debate - and possibly hold a vote - on Sunday, senators chose instead to give themselves an extra day to digest hours of witness testimony on the labour dispute.
In the meantime, Labour Minister Patti Hajdu said Monday that a special mediator the government appointed to try to bridge the gap between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers has concluded his work and the two sides are no longer negotiating.