OTTAWA - The continuing Conservative government-versus-the Senate battle will rage until the bitter end of the parliamentary session, with the Tories warning that Liberal hijinks in the upper chamber could force them to run a deficit.
This latest round is over the government's budget implementation bill, which passed through the House of Commons earlier this week with a healthy dose of controversy. The Liberals, NDP and three provincial premiers urged the House to vote against it amid criticism that it violates the spirit of Tory promises to let certain provinces keep their resource revenues.
Now that the bill is before the Senate, some senators from the Atlantic provinces in particular are threatening to delay or amend the budget bill because of their anger over the resource issue.
Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has said that his party will not interfere with the passage of a money bill, but the Conservatives say they're still concerned. They say delays in passing the bill would mean major elements of the budget, such as billions in environmental funding for the provinces and income-splitting measures for seniors, wouldn't be implemented.
Getting the money to fund those projects without the budget bill might force the government to go into deficit, House Leader Peter Van Loan mused.
"The money would automatically go to a previous year, and you might run a risk of running a deficit, or at least if you respected all the elements of your plan, because we already have a commitment to pay down the debt," Van Loan said at a news conference.
Said Government Senate Leader Marjory LeBreton: "There's no reason whatsoever we can't get this budget passed before the 30th of June."
The main concern of the Conservatives is that if the Senate introduces an amendment to the budget bill after June 22 when the Commons will have adjourned, it would be difficult to call back MPs to Ottawa to approve or reject any changes.
The Speaker of the House would decide whether or not to do so, and calling back the House is not unprecedented.
The push-back is the latest in an acrimonious relationship between the governing Conservatives and the Liberal-dominated upper chamber.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has spoken out vigorously against the "unelected, unaccountable" Senate, and various members of his cabinet have complained about bills being delayed by Senators.
The Tories were particularly peeved that a bill they introduced to apply term limits to Senators was shelved by the Liberals, citing constitutional concerns. Four provinces had expressed doubts the change could be achieved without provincial consent.
Meanwhile, Liberal senators are upset that the passage of a private member's bill that would have Canada respect its greenhouse-gas reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol is being delayed.
Bill C-288 was passed by a majority of MPs in the Commons, but the government argues that trying to meet the Kyoto targets would result in economic disaster.
