By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – On Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., the Senate Committee on Transport and Communications met to consider a draft agenda to conduct a pre-study of Bill C-11 during which it was agreed that the department of Canadian Heritage, the CRTC, Konrad von Finckenstein, Michael Geist and Pierre Trudel will be heard in the week of June 20 to 22.
The Department of Justice and the Privacy Commissioner were also mentioned.
Last night, the Heritage Committee finished clause-by-clause review of the bill, and today the chair reported the bill back to the House with amendments.
After it passes third reading, it will be sent to Senate for first and second reading, then sent to the same committee.
The minister of Canadian Heritage has already indicated publicly that there is not an urgency to pass the bill in the Senate.
“I’ve been meeting with and listening to senators for months, and they want a full study of the bill. I totally respect their role to do this important work with the time they need to get it done,” he said in a statement.
Discussion around the pace of the study ensued since there are 15 senators on the committee but as Senator René Cormier said, it is only a pre-study and if the committee finds it needs to hear them again, then they could do it in September when the bill will be sent to the Senate.
