Recent Legislative Summaries from Library of Parliament

The Library of Parliament has recently published a number of legislative summaries describing federal bills:

• Legislative Summary of Bill C-24: An Act to amend the Citizenship Act: "The bill makes substantial changes to legislative provisions connected with Canadian citizenship in the areas of eligibility requirements, security and fraud, and application processing and review of decisions. The current Citizenship Act originally came into force in 1977. While there have been previous attempts at comprehensive amendment, none has been successful. Nevertheless, some of the provisions proposed before are found in the new legislation. Other provisions in the bill refine amendments enacted within the last six years. In addition, many changes in Bill C-24 align the Citizenship Act more closely with the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), which brought about a complete overhaul of immigration law when it came into force in 2002."
• Legislative Summary of Bill C-26: Tougher Penalties for Child Predators Act: "The bill amends the provisions of the Criminal Code that deal with sexual offences committed against children and young persons by increasing the mandatory minimum penalties and maximum penalties for such offences. Bill C-26 also makes the following changes to the law: It increases maximum penalties for violations of prohibition orders, probation orders and peace bonds. It sets out rules for the imposition of consecutive and concurrent sentences. It requires courts to impose consecutive sentences on offenders who commit sexual offences against more than one child. It amends the Canada Evidence Act  to ensure that spouses of accused persons can be called as witnesses for the prosecution in child pornography cases. It amends the Sex Offender Information Registration Act to increase the reporting obligations of sex offenders who travel outside Canada. It enacts the High Risk Child Sex Offender Database Act to establish a publicly accessible database that contains information with respect to persons who are found guilty of sexual offences against children and who pose a high risk of committing crimes of a sexual nature."
• Legislative Summary of Bill C-30: An Act to amend the Canada Grain Act and the Canada Transportation Act: "Through the amendments to the Canada Grain Act  and the Canada Transportation Act, the Government aims to get grain to its destination market more quickly. It also aims to increase supply chain transparency and strengthen contracts between producers and shippers. The bill establishes requirements regarding the minimum amount of grain to be moved by certain rail companies. It sets maximum penalties of $100,000 a day for rail companies that do not meet these requirements. These measures are in force until 1 August 2016, or until a later date adopted by resolution by both houses of Parliament."

It is possible to follow the progress of federal bills, find links to related parliamentary debates and other background information on the LEGISinfo website.