Canada's Tory Senate Overturns Opposition Bill on Climate Change

"Federal Conservative senators have defeated a private-member's bill on climate change that was passed by the majority of MPs in the House of Commons, marking the first time Prime Minister Stephen Harper has used the clout he has built in the Upper Chamber to kill a law his minority government does not support.

The defeat by unelected senators of the bill known as the Climate Change Accountability Act, which was introduced in the House by New Democrat MP Bruce Hyer, prompted cries of indignation from NDP Leader Jack Layton and the Liberals who sponsored it in the Senate.

It also announced a change of attitude on the part of Mr. Harper who, when the Liberals dominated the Senate, often railed against the possibility that unelected senators would kill, delay or alter bills that elected politicians had passed in the Commons."

Gloria Galloway reports for the Toronto Globe and Mail November 17, 2010.