Like many Slaw readers, I monitor legislation in Canada, especially federal legislation. Our 1st session of the 40th parliament officially began on November 18, 2008 with the Throne Speech [1] on November 19, 2009. We are now on day 8 of this parliament and Bill C-2, the first government sponsored bill, has yet to appear on the Projected Order Of Business [2] or the Order and Notice Paper [3].
As I clicked my shortcut to LegisINFO [4] and saw no Bill C-2 again today, I found myself wondering if this long delay was out of the ordinary. To do a fast grab of stats on Parliament opening date vs. Bill C-2 introduction I used – you guessed it – LegisINFO.
Here is what I found:
| Parliament | Start date | Bill C-2 introduction | Number of sitting days |
| 40th parliament, 1st session | November 18, 2009 | Not yet | ? |
| 39th parliament, 2nd session | October 16, 2007 | October 18, 2007 | 3 |
| 39th parliament, 1st session | April 3, 2006 | April 11, 2006 | 7 |
| 38th parliament, 1st session | October 4, 2004 | October 8, 2004 | 5 |
| 37th parliament, 3rd session | February 2, 2004 | February 5, 2004 | 4 |
| 37th parliament, 2nd session | September 30, 2002 | October 3, 2002 | 4 |
| 37th parliament, 1st session | January 29, 2001 | February 2, 2001 | 5 |
| 36th parliament, 2ndt session | October 12, 1999 | October 14, 1999 | 3 |
I ‘cheated’ just a little and used the earliest paper copy in my collection of the Canada Legislative Index [5]from the newly re-branded Courthouse Libraries BC [6].
This is the longest wait for Bill C-2 in a decade.