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But most of those bills were name changes to individual ridings, a technical change that is now done in a single piece of government legislation. The last majority Liberal Parliament saw only eight private member’s bills pass.

Conservative B.C. MP Dan Albas put forward a private member’s bill on personal wine imports, and saw it pass in 2012.

He wanted to amend a bit of Prohibition-era law that banned Canadians from taking wine over provincial borders — a big issue in the Okanagan Valley where he lives.

After Mr. Albas’s bill passed, the government decided to pick up on the idea in the last budget and expand the change to include beer and spirits.

“People really do appreciate when you take local concerns, bring them up to that level, and in this case, we were very successful,” said Mr. Albas.

NDP MP Randall Garrison has found success twice in getting a bill through the Commons to criminalize discrimination against transgender Canadians, managing to secure the support of 18 Conservative MPs and cabinet ministers.

‘I think we’re in for some confusing court time as a result of the government using the private member’s bills this way’

But a year later, the legislation remains stuck in limbo in the Senate. Mr. Garrison now fears there is a behind-the-scenes plan to make sure his bill never becomes law.

Mr. Garrison, who sits on the Commons public safety committee, said he’s seen Conservative private member’s bills on law and order that should have been introduced by the government.

When legislation is proposed by a minister, it gets vetted by departmental lawyers and policy experts before landing in the Commons, unlike private member’s legislation.

A recently passed private member’s bill restricting offenders from coming within two kilometres of a victim’s home came out of the justice committee with seven amendments.

“We’ve ended up amending the Criminal Code and the Corrections [and Conditional Release] Act in piecemeal fashion, without the minister of justice being involved in the constitutional questions, because that doesn’t happen for private member’s bills,” Mr. Garrison said.

“I think we’re in for some confusing court time as a result of the government using the private member’s bills this way.”

The Canadian Press