OTTAWA – Members of Parliament have adjourned for their summer break a day early, after unanimously agreeing to make last-minute progress on a handful of bills.
Though, with MPs now out of the House of Commons until the fall, several other pieces of legislation proposing to implement various government promises have been left in limbo.
“In the spring sitting we are finishing today, MPs passed 21 government bills in the House in 14 weeks,” said Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon. “It’s been a very productive spring sitting, and I would like to thank all MPs for the hard work they put in.”
Though, MacKinnon’s legislative tally dates back to the start of the 2026 sitting in January, and only focuses on bills that MPs passed, not what has also cleared the second hurdle of the Senate.
Despite agreeing to wrap up early, the Conservatives were quick to say the Liberals failed to deliver results this spring.
“As MPs finish their work here in Parliament and return to their communities, Canadians ask one question: where are the results? Where are the results from this government that they’ve been promising you for more than 15 months now? Where are the results from this session?” said Conservative Deputy Leader Melissa Lantsman.
Where do key bills stand as of adjournment?
Among the key bills the government has recently passed are reforms to Canada’s bail and sentencing systems, as well as alterations to how victims of crime and incidents of hate speech are treated by law enforcement.
The contentious Bill C-22 – proposing a new lawful access regime for police – has cleared the House of Commons after the Liberals forced it through rapidly over the last two weeks, but it could still stall out in the upper chamber before senators take their summer break.
As of Thursday evening, the Senate also has some additional work to do to see a pair of key economic bills become law: legislation to implement measures from the federal budget and the bill to enact the various spring economic update commitments.
In terms of what’s been left in legislative limbo until parliamentarians return in the fall, the main piece that’s caught Canadians’ attention lately is the “Safe Social Media Act,” a.k.a. the latest iteration of the Liberals’ online harms bill, the privacy reform legislation, and the recently introduced “First Nations Clean Water Act.”
The government also wrapped up while a bill to ban goods made with forced labour was left to languish in the House.
Asked if he’s concerned not getting that one across the finish line could harm the coming Canada-U.S. trade talks, in light of U.S. President Donald Trump calling out this country and others for falling short on addressing the issue, MacKinnon said no.
“There are a number of things remaining on the order paper, and the government will put forward an awful lot of other measures. We’ve already provisionally got a full calendar for the fall,” MacKinnon said.
Conservatives call out Carney’s QP attendance
Carney was not in the final question period of the spring sitting. After missing all of this week as he was overseas, he opted instead to jet to Vancouver to catch the Canadian men’s soccer team play Qatar at the FIFA World Cup.
Asked if that was a concern, or if that sends a message to Canadians that Carney doesn’t feel the need to attend – after missing more than 100 question periods since becoming prime minister – MacKinnon said no, as Canadians in his estimation would expect Carney to attend the match.
Lantsman though, saw it differently.
“I think we would all be very happy to be in Vancouver and in great, expensive seats, watching our Canadian men’s national team beat Qatar today. I hope that that happens, and we can watch that at 6 o’clock,” she said.
“But question period is at 2:15 and the prime minister could be here … I would put our leader’s record against the prime minister’s any day in the House of Commons.”
Poilievre did attend Thursday’s question period, though he was absent earlier in the week.
Bloc say Liberals acting like ‘only party’
When the spring sitting began, Carney had a minority government, but thanks to floor-crossers and by-election wins, the Liberals secured a majority in April, making it easier to advance their agenda.
Though, the Bloc Quebecois said Thursday that with that, any pledge to collaborate across the aisle went out the window.
“You can see it through the time allocation and different procedures that we have at the end of the session, for bills that would have passed anyways,” said Bloc House Leader Christine Normandin.
“They seem not to care about what other parties have for recommendations,” she continued. “They are basically working as if they were the only party in the House.”
Asked if he’s keeping track of how many times the Liberals have used procedural motions, such as time allocation to limit or shut down debate, MacKinnon said no. Asked why not, he said he has “bills to pass, work to do.”
“There exists enough time in the calendar between committees and the House of Commons to amply debate every piece of legislation we have passed. How the opposition uses that time is up to them,” he went on to say.
