Orders of the Day - Monday, December 14, 2009

What legislative business might that be, you ask? Well, after perusing the order and notice paper and reading through the last two days of debate, it looks like the only government bills that should, in theory, make it to Royal Assent before the break, in order of most likely to succeed, are as follows: the stimulus package, which should sail through without much difficulty at all;  the somewhat more controversial C-15, which would increase sentences for drug traffickers and has already been putatively amended at committee, and finally, the consumer safety bill (C-6). which has now officially gone pear-shaped after an unexpected outpouring of sympathy for toy makers and solidarity with purveyors of natural health products within the Liberal senate caucus. 

Not surprisingly, the government has already given notice that it is distinctly unimpressed with the latest legislative tweakings proposed by those uppity denizens of the Upper House, particularly the proposed changes to the consumer safety bill; Health Minister Leona Agglukaq has been holding near-daily press conferences to express her displeasure with the proposed changes. As for the drug bill, the proposed amendments have elicited the usual response from the Conservatives, who have excoriated Ignatieff for being unable to control his clearly kitten-soft-on-crime senators, who are now on the verge of amending a bill that the Liberals actually supported in the Commons. (Seriously, though, what can he do? Dissolve the entire caucus?) 

Anyway, it looks like all eyes will be on the Red Chamber today -- well, ears, anyway, since the proceedings aren't yet televised, although the audio is available through the internal parliamentary feed -- which is why I'll be liveblogging the sober second thinking, starting at 2pm. If anything else of a news-ish variety happens to pop up on the Hill between now and then, I'll let you know.