Hon. Scott Tannas: Honourable senators, I wish to make some comments on this matter.

First, I want to thank Senator Jaffer for her leadership and the Legal Committee for their efforts on this file. In terms of committee meetings, witnesses and questions by senators, it was all a textbook exercise of the due diligence we undertake in the Senate of Canada, and it was done well.

I had a couple of reflections that I wanted to express. As has been said — and I think will be said more — the experts left us with absolutely no doubt about the legality of this action. It is entirely legal for Saskatchewan to do what they did, and we should not be troubled by that at all.

However, one of the legal scholars, an eminent fellow from the University of Ottawa, did draw a distinction. He talked about the difference between legality and legitimacy, particularly as to the retroactive extinguishment of what is a legal right under a valid contract today. This is the piece that continues to trouble a number of people, including a number of senators, and it troubles me as well.

It also became clear — and Senator Quinn has just referred to this — that this action is intended to have an impact on legal proceedings and on the imminent judgment of a court in this matter. This has helped to highlight the issue for me.

As you may know, I have been troubled by this motion and its potential consequences since it was first delivered to us. I have to say that in my heart I wish it did not have to come to this. For a while I wanted to find out how and why it came to this. However, in the end and on reflection, it really doesn’t matter for our deliberations if the government moved too quickly or if the company, as was just suggested, was trying to overplay a hand. It is here and we need to deal with it.

I am offended by the notion of retroactivity and the obvious intention to circumvent court proceedings — not just to put a finger on the scale of justice, but to actually knock the scale off the table.

I am also troubled by the issue of CP being the big, bad company that has unjustly enriched itself through an illegitimate perpetual benefit. I don’t think there is another company in the history of our country that has contributed more to the building and preservation of this country through its actions — well over one hundred years ago, but through the actions it took way back then.

Today, Canadian Pacific employs 10,000 Canadians. Ninety‑one per cent of the shares of CP are lodged in Canadian financial institutions, which leads me to believe that most of the shares are owned by Canadians — most of them probably in pension funds, mutual funds and so on. I would not be surprised if a significant percentage of Canadians, if not a majority, have some ownership in Canadian Pacific.

The committee meetings, the debates and the extra time we’ve had for reflection, rather than passing the bill with alacrity — hurrying up and passing the bill, as was suggested earlier — have been helpful to me as I consider what my job as a senator is: sober second thought, but also humility and respect toward other orders of government, especially in my own region. We had a job to do and I think we’ve done it. I believe that today is the time to vote.

I cannot bring myself to support this motion; however, I do not think it is legitimate for us to vote this motion down. It may be legal, but it is not legitimate. By the same arguments we heard in committee, there are things we can do legally that are not legitimate. I believe that in this case we must do the legitimate thing.

While I cannot support this motion, I do not think it is right to oppose it and risk it being voted down. I will make my own small statement on this issue by abstaining. Thank you, colleagues.

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