The federal Liberals are set to make legislation to extend a pause on the federal fuel tax a top priority when Parliament resumes sitting later this month.

It’s expected to easily clear the House of Commons as the Liberals hold a majority and the opposition Conservatives are fighting to claim credit for the idea in the first place.

But what about the Senate?

A spokesperson for Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said the minister is already holding talks with MPs and has begun “engaging” with members of the Senate on supporting the bill.

John Fragos said Champagne wants the bill to pass quickly, but it’s ultimately up to the senators to determine the pace of their own study.

While the bill hasn’t been introduced yet, the government has publicly posted the draft version, consisting of only several passages.

The government has expressed frustration with the Upper Chamber’s pace in clearing legislation, as well as senators voting to rise early in both the fall and spring sittings.

Typically, the Senate starts a week later than the House when Parliament resumes, and sits for a few days after the House rises. This allows the Senate to pass any legislation that cleared the House in the final sitting days.

That didn’t happen this past June, leaving two key government bills in the lurch — one establishing a new lawful access regime and another finalizing the self-government agreement for the Tlegohli Got’ine.

Those bills passed on June 18, the last day the House was sitting. The Senate was supposed to sit until June 23, but opted to also rise on the 18th.

iPolitics reached out to all groups in the Senate to ask what their plans are for those two bills and prospective legislation extending the gas tax cut.

Not one group pledged to expedite study of any of the bills or hold a pre-study on the excise tax legislation. The Senate will occasionally permit a committee to start studying a bill that is still in the House. This is most commonly used for budget bills.

Unlike the House, where MPs mostly vote on party lines, individual senators are mostly free to vote their conscience without fear of repercussions.

All of the Senate groups — save for the GRO and Conservatives — operate as facilitating bodies and members aren’t forced to vote in any certain manner.

When reached, the Canadian Senators Group wouldn’t commit to fast-tracking of the bill, but a spokesperson for the group said in an email that they are “prepared to work constructively to facilitate the consideration of priority legislation.”

“The CSG has consistently encouraged the government to identify its legislative priorities early and provide the Senate with sufficient time to carry out its constitutional role of sober second thought,” read the email.

On the lawful access and self-governments bills, the CSG said that given that they were passed in June, “there has been ample opportunity for the government to plan for their consideration when Parliament returns.”

The Independent Senators Group, the largest group in the Senate, said only that is “committed to reviewing each piece of legislation on its merits.”

The ISG said that no sponsor has been selected for the two bills that passed in the House on the last sitting day in June, and was non-committal about expediting the excise tax legislation.

“The Senate’s responsibility is to give legislation careful, independent consideration while also recognizing that Canadians expect Parliament to act on matters of public importance in a timely way,” read a statement from the group.

“The ISG is open to ongoing discussions with the Government and House of Commons on prioritizing review of certain legislation in the interest of Canadians. It would be premature to comment further on legislation that has not yet been introduced.”

The Progressive Senate Group said in a statement that it expects the outstanding legislation from last sitting and the excise bill will come up at the first meeting of the fall with the Government Representative’s Office.

The GRO meets with all groups in the Senate to discuss plans for government legislation, and the PSG said it would be “premature to make presumptions about how discussions around these bills would go.” The GRO also organizes briefings for the senators on government bills.

The PSG added that none of its members have been asked yet to act as a sponsor for any of the bills, while the Conservative senators always take up the role as critics, owing to their status of the official opposition.

The Conservatives wouldn’t offer any commitments on timelines, but stressed that the government “controls the legislative agenda and timelines in the Senate.”