Tired of the stalling tactics Conservative members of the Red Chamber have used to keep a whale captivity bill beached in the Senate since October, Elizabeth May is calling on Tory Leader Andrew Scheer to wade in and stand up to his own senators.

In an open letter sent to Scheer today, the Green Party leader said the senators have tried to delay and obstruct Bill S-203 at every stage of the legislative process, something that “disappoints the tens of thousands of Canadians who wish to see a vote on this bill, and reflects poorly on the National Conservative Caucus.”

Such tactics have been at play since the before the bill was introduced by now retired Sen. Wilfred Moore in December of 2015. The proposed legislation would ban the captivity of cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) in Canada, except for the purposes of rescue or in open water sanctuaries.

“Following first reading, S-203 spent nearly a year at second reading, and only then got its vote and referral to committee due to the failure of a (draconian) hoist amendment moved by Conservative Senator Scott Tannas,” May noted.

The bill landed at the Standing Senate Committee on Fisheries and Oceans in February of 2017, and in the nine months it spent there, 17 hearings were held, involving more than 40 witnesses.

By comparison, Bill C-14, the government’s medically-assisted dying bill, and C-51, the Harper government’s controversial terrorism bill, each had just seven committee hearings.

“Yet, despite the amount time and effort that went into these hearings, Conservative Senator [Don] Plett still drove efforts, behind closed doors, to frustrate the process and stop the committee from voting on the bill,” May said.

As the Conservative Senate caucus critic on the bill, Plett has led the charge for Conservatives since day one. They’ve been very much in the corner with Marineland and the Vancouver Aquarium (the only two facilities in the country that have captive cetaceans), which have helped Tory senators with their research and preparation at committee.

Supporters of the bill, however, are wise to what’s been afoot. Last June, they were outraged when word of backroom efforts to quietly kill the bill emerged, and responded by swamping the Senate’s servers with thousands of emails.

Against the tide, the bill has stayed afloat, sponsored by Sen. Murray Sinclair since Moore retired last year. In October, after months of hearings at committee, it was approved with amendments by a vote of 9-5, and sent back to the Senate.

A month passed before committee chair Sen. Fabian Manning moved that the report be adopted, which May noted is “a significant departure from ordinary Senate practice.”

Immediately, Plett stood and moved to adjourn debate in the name of Sen. Tom McInnis, who wasn’t in the chamber — part of the latest ploy to keep the bill from coming to the floor for a final reading.

Again in mid-December, when Liberal Senator Jim Munson sought to finally adopt and debate the bill at report stage before the Christmas break, Plett threatened a two-day procedural filibuster, stating, “Absolutely not. Not a chance. We will be here all day tomorrow, now.”

To which Munson replied: “Oh, good. Stick around, senator.”

He continued: “Since I believe, and I think all senators believe, that this is not a house of delay, it is a house of debate, that I wish to call the question.”

Things went sideways that night and since then, there’s been no movement.

In her letter, May told Scheer Canadians expect more of their Parliamentarians.

“Conservative senators continue to hold-up S-203, neither participating in debate, nor allowing a vote on the report.”

And while she supports the changes being made to create an independent Senate, she said “these stall tactics are part of a disturbing pattern of anti-democratic obstruction.”

Other “abuses of power” include similar efforts to delay debate on transgender rights (Bill C-16), the gender-neutral national anthem (C-210) and cannabis legislation (Bill C-45).

It’s not only May who has run out of patience with the Tory tactics. Last fall, Senators Chantal Petitclerc and André Pratte published a piece in the National Post expressing their frustration with efforts that left the anthem bill mired in the Senate for months.

In October, the bill’s sponsor Sen. Frances Lankin also wrote a letter to Scheer asking him to speak with his Tory Senate colleagues and allow a vote.

Plett, in turn, raised a question of privilege, alleging his parliamentary independence was being interfered with, which was unsuccessful.

“On S-203, many supporters are additionally troubled by the potentially illegal lobbying of Conservative senators, including Senator Plett and Senator Yonah Martin, your Deputy Leader in the Senate, that have been reported,” May told Scheer.

Last fall she filed a complaint with the lobbying commissioner amid concerns Marineland and the Vancouver Aquarium may have breached the Lobbying Act in their efforts to thwart the bill. A good many of the reasons for suspicion involve Plett.

In her letter, May tells Scheer the time has come to stop this block.

“Those who support phasing out the captivity of whales, dolphins and porpoises in Canada are not afraid of losing a democratic vote,” she said. “The same cannot be said of members of the Conservative Senate caucus, given their repeated efforts to frustrate the democratic process.

“As the prospective House of Commons sponsor of Bill S-203, and on behalf of thousands of outraged Canadians, I ask that you allow third reading debate to proceed and a free vote to take place on S-203 in the Senate.”

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