A couple of bills, killed by the election

All the signs point to an election being called within a week. The CBC's saying it. The Globe is saying it. My magic eight ball even said that it was likely.

Elections in Canada aren't the orderly things they are in the States. The come on very suddenly, causing all business to stop briefly. In that sense, it's more like an infectious disease than a government.

Interesting feature about the election: Not only does the parliament stop voting on bills, all legislation that is still before the house essentially dies. Any bill that doesn't pass the third reading by sometime this week is dead in the water and will have to be reintroduced in the next parliament.

So, let's have a look at a couple of the bills that will be killed this week if we go off to the polls.

Firstly, there's the Citizen's Arrest and Self Defense Act, which is in its second reading. This is my favorite bill, personally, because it allows me to carry out vigilante justice.

"The legislation would authorize an owner, a person in lawful possession of property, or a person authorized by them, to arrest a person within a reasonable amount of time after they find that person committing a criminal offence either:

* on their property (e.g. the offence occurs in their yard); or
* in relation to their property (e.g. their property is stolen from a public parking lot)."

This bill was in relation to that incident where a Toronto Chinatown Grocer, David Chen, tied up a shoplifter, and left him locked up in the back of his van for several hours. David Chen was charged with kidnapping, and forcible confinement, but was acquitted of both charges.

Not seen: three hogtied shoplifters, hidden beneath the counter.

It looks like that bill is going nowhere for the time being.

Another bill that's going to die an untimely death if we head off to the polls is Bill S-10. Called "An Act to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act", essentially would raise minimum sentences for those caught in a possession of as little as four pot plants. It would also introduce mandatory jail-time for an non-violent crime.

You're within your legal limit with one?

This bill was introduced in parliament last December  after passing through the Senate. Which is funny: I might just be naïve, but I didn’t think that the Senate initiated much legislation. Or any. My high school social studies class taught me that it was there to go over legislation passed by parliament. Then again, I didn’t expect them to vote down a bill passed in the Parliament, either.

In any case, this bill also gets axed if we have an election.

The next government can reintroduce these bills when they get into power after winning the election. Question is, whether it will be another conservative minority, or whether Harper will get a shiny new Majority this time around. In the latter case, expect both these bills to be reintroduced.