Published by Senator Grant Mitchell on 29 November 2010
Last week, Senator David Angus and I – Chair and Vice-Chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources – were invited to speak to the Ottawa Chapter of the Canadian Society of Association Executives.
They invited us to speak on how the Senate works and how Senate committees work. We covered the powers of the Senate – the Senate has to pass all bills and budgets before they become law – and the innate advantages of Senate committees for doing major studies of difficult issues: we are less partisan than the House and we have the length of tenure to delve into big issues that might not have the political appeal to interest an elected MP who is driven by the political imperatives of the next election that could be called tomorrow.
It was fun working with Senator Angus. He is very senior in the Senate, very successful in many areas and has provided great leadership on our committee.
We got the impression that people left with the understanding that the Senate does have much to offer.