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“As the senators become more experienced and more informed of the role of the Senate and the passion on certain policy issues, that (assertiveness) is inevitable,” agreed Sen. Peter Harder, the government’s representative in the Senate.

Still, he thinks there is simultaneously “a broader recognition that we are a chamber of revision but not a chamber of defeat” — a principle he believes Conservative senators also accept, as demonstrated in their support for C-83.

“That too is an expression of independence,” Harder suggested.

The Senate exists, right? I know many people would like to get rid of it but it exists so we might as well use it for a good purpose

Independent Sen. Andre Pratte, who voted against accepting C-83 without the judicial-review amendment, saw the Conservatives’ move to save the bill as a sign of respect for parliamentary institutions but also of Conservative self-interest.

“They believe that they might be in government soon in a few months if they win the election and they felt that if we defeated the motion it would set some kind of precedent that they might have to live with once they’re in government,” Pratte said.

For his part, Conservative Senate whip Don Plett said he and his colleagues weren’t comfortable voting for a Liberal government bill but they did so because it was better than the amended version championed by many of the Independents. Their move, he argued, is proof that Conservative senators are not the obstructionists they’ve been made out to be.

Plett scoffed at the notion that Trudeau’s Senate — “this ridiculous sham of pretending to be independent” — is any different from upper houses in the past. The Independents are all still appointed by Trudeau on the recommendation of an advisory body appointed by Trudeau and they’re all Liberals no matter what they call themselves, he asserted.