The Legislative Process
Assignment Value:
20% of final grade
Due Date:
August 5
th
, 2015
One important piece of recent legislation is
Bill C-51: An Act to enact the Security of Canada
Information Sharing Act and the Secure Air Travel Act
, to amend the Criminal Code, the Canadian
Security Intelligence Service Act and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and to make related
and consequential amendments to other acts (short title is “Anti-terrorism Act, 2015”).
There are several stages to the legislative process by which a bill becomes a law. These stages usually
follow this pattern:
•
First Reading
•
Second Reading
•
Committee Stage
•
Third Reading
•
First Reading in the Senate
•
Second Reading in the Senate
•
Senate Committee Stage
•
Third Reading in the Senate
•
Royal Assent
In this assignment, you will be looking at the Committee Stage for Bill C-51. You will be reading
the
witness testimony to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National
Security
. Here is
a CBC summary
of the whole process.
If your last name ends in:
•
A or B read Meeting 53
•
C or D read Meetng 54
•
E or F read Meeting 55
•
G or H read Meeting 56
•
I – L read Meeting 57
•
M or N read Meeting 58
•
O – R read Meeting 59
•
S read Meeting 60
•
T or U read Meeting 61
•
V – Z read Meeting 62
Part A:
1. List the Committee members and the political parties they belong to. (2 marks)
2. Read the testimony and provide me with one, two, or three sentence summaries of what each person
said. (10 marks)
Part B:
Answer the following questions:
1. What did you know about Bill C-51: Anti-terrorism Act, 2015 before this assignment? (2 marks)
2. What did you think of the process of the witness testimony to the Committee on Public Safety and
National Security? Did it seem worthwhile or a waste of time? Did the witnesses and politicians
impress you or disappoint you? (4 marks)
3. What is your opinion on Bill C-51 after having read this evidence? (2 marks)
Up to 4/20 marks will be deducted for terrible spelling and grammar.