A bizarre spectacle

Senators are considering a proposal to televise their daily deliberations to give Canadians a better sense of what they do.

This should be considered good news by those who want to abolish the Senate. The cure for anyone who thinks this is the Chamber of sober second thought is to go and watch it.

Honourable Senators were gathered yesterday to debate the government’s consumer product safety bill, which has already received unanimous consent in the House of Commons. The bill would give Ottawa mandatory recall powers and require companies to alert Health Canada of any serious incidents involving their products. At the moment, it is up to companies whether they initiate a voluntary product recall.

It should be a shoo-in. The legislation would bring Canada into line with the United States and the European Union, and it is backed by the Canadian Medical Association, the Standards Council of Canada, the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs and a host of other bodies who are upset at the prospect of children being hospitalized by toxic paint or faulty cribs.

The only people who seem to be opposed to the bill are the 45 Liberal senators who voted for a series of amendments yesterday that will send the legislation back to the House of Commons. They appear to have bought the line peddled by a lobby group called the Canadian Coalition for Health Freedom, which says the bill gives government inspectors too much power over businesses.

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