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Hon. James S. Cowan (Leader of the Opposition):

Your Honour, pursuant to rule 59(10), I rise today on a question of privilege on an important matter that I feel is obstructing my privileges as a senator.

I have not given notice under the alternate procedure for raising a question of privilege, as set out in rule 43, because this has been a developing matter throughout the course of the morning and could largely have been resolved before I rose had the government taken appropriate action.

My question of privilege has its genesis in the events that took place two weeks ago today, when the Senate stood together and passed Bill C-10, the Budget Implementation bill, in an expeditious manner.

To remind colleagues, we received the budget bill on Wednesday, March 4. In order to expedite its consideration, we provided our unanimous consent so that it could be given second reading and be sent to committee the next day.

The government advised us that they needed the Senate to complete its work on the bill by the end of March. The Liberal chair, Senator Day, and the Conservative deputy chair, Senator Gerstein, of the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance agreed to a work plan that would ensure that would happen.

However, on Tuesday, March 10, the Minister of Finance appeared before the National Finance Committee and had one of his departmental officials disclose that buried in the 500-page bill was a clause that placed unemployed Canadians at increasing risk of losing their EI benefits every day that the legislation failed to pass.

As a result of that new information, the work plan that had been agreed to by both sides was shelved, and Bill C-10 received Royal Assent two days later.

Two weeks ago today, I said:

We, on this side, will not oppose the swift passage of Bill C-10 but our motivation should not be misunderstood by anyone. Our allowance of swift passage is not because we believe this budget constitutes a coherent and effective action plan for the country. However, unfortunately, even the confused half-measures it contains are preferable to doing nothing, which was Mr. Harper's initial instinct, as we saw in that horrible economic statement in November.

This was not an easy decision, but it was a decision made together with my colleagues in a show of strength and solidarity by our caucus to ensure that the most vulnerable Canadians are able to receive at least some of the assistance they so desperately need. It is in this context that honourable senators will then understand my shock when it was brought to my attention that a federal government website claims that the Senate is dragging its heels and has not yet passed the budget implementation bill.

Some Hon. Senators: Shame.

Senator Cowan: On the website it says:

Many of the vital investments in Canada's Economic Action Plan are contained in the Budget Implementation Act, 2009.

This is the important part:

While the House of Commons has passed this legislation, the Senate must still approve the Act for it to become law. Senators must do their part and ensure quick passage of this vital legislation.

I am certain that all senators are interested to know where this astonishing statement is to be found. It can be found at actionplan.gc.ca, the federal government's official budget website.

Your Honour, I will state the obvious: This is a false statement. This Conservative government is misleading Canadians about the Senate and the important work done by all of its members, myself included.

The problem is compounded by the fact that many senators — and I am sure all of us, to a greater or lesser extent — have been receiving a great deal of correspondence concerning Bill C-10. My reply to those who write to me includes the following statement:

On March 12th, 2009, the Senate voted to pass Bill C-10 in order to help unemployed Canadians receive five extra weeks of employment insurance benefits. Hidden in the Conservative budget was a two week retro-active provision which provided for these benefits and which would not have been available to a great many workers and their families had we not acted swiftly to allow the bill to pass when it did.

Honourable senators, I ask you to think of the typical Canadian who receives my letter, but then goes to the official government website and finds the government's declaration that, contrary to what I have told them, the Senate has yet to pass Bill C-10.

If this Canadian chose to believe the government website, he or she could only conclude that I was not telling the truth in my correspondence. To be so branded by the government itself obviously affects my ability to perform my duties as a member of this chamber and as a representative of my province, and it is a breach of my privileges as a senator. In fact, it is a breach of all of our privileges — the privileges of each and every one of us, no matter where we sit in this chamber.

Honourable senators, in a ruling made in the House of Commons concerning a question of privilege on October 29, 1980, the Speaker in the other place said:

. . . it seems to me that to amount to contempt, representations or statements about our proceedings or of the participation of members should not only be erroneous or incorrect, but rather, should be purposely untrue and improper and import a ring of deceit.

All of the elements the Speaker referred to in that ruling are to be found here, Your Honour. We have erroneous and incorrect statements about our proceedings that are purposely untrue and improper. In my opinion, there is certainly a ring of deceit in what the government is telling millions of Canadians about all of us and about our work. Even though it was reported last night on the CTV National News that the government is making this inaccurate statement about the work of the Senate, as of the moment when I rose to make this statement, the government deliberately continues to do so.

The Government of Canada has no hesitation or shame in continuing to tell millions of Canadians that we in the Senate have not fulfilled our legislative duties on the budget bill. This is more than being misleading; it is a case of the Government of Canada intentionally spreading falsehoods about each and every one of us in this chamber, and that affects our ability to do our work for Canadians in all regions of the country.

In light of all of these facts, I ask Your Honour to find that there is indeed a prima facie case of breach of privilege.

Honourable senators, should His Honour find that there is a prima facie case of breach of privilege, I am prepared to move the appropriate motion to have the matter referred to our Standing Committee on Rules, Procedures and the Rights of Parliament, where the government will have an opportunity to explain why it is unable to tell the truth to Canadians.

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