Four things to expect as Parliament resumes Monday

They’re baaack!

Amid the backdrop of international tumult, ongoing deliberations over the senate expense scandal and an election one year away, parliament resumes on Monday after a three month summer recess.

Analysts and pundits are predicting a raucous fall sitting.

Here is some of what we can expect:

Senate shenanigans take centre-stage, again:

The Conservatives have successfully changed the channel on the senate expense scandal.

This fall, the channel will likely change back.

Sen. Mike Duffy’s first court date is scheduled for Tuesday.

In July, the RCMP announced 31 counts of fraud, breach of trust and bribery against Duffy after a year-long investigation into the suspended senator’s expense claims and that $90,000 cheque he received from Nigel Wright to repay taxpayers.

Duffy has denied any wrongdoing and says that he looks forward to his day in court.

Meanwhile, Auditor General Michael Ferguson continues his audit into the expenses of all senators. According to CBC News, his findings could be made public as early as December.

A focus on foreign affairs:

With the ongoing situation with ISIS and the deployment of dozens of Canadian military advisers to Iraq, the foreign affairs file is certain to be a hot topic during the fall sitting of parliament.

As explained by CTV News, both the opposition Liberals and NDP want more debate on Canada’s role in Iraq and more detail on what Canadian troops will exactly be doing.

Moreover, it appears that the Tories are eyeing new legislation to deal in light of the growing number of Canadians joining international terrorist groups.

[ Related: Canadians are fighting for ISIS, but Canada has no terrorism alert system ]

The government’s 2014 Public Report on the Terrorist Threat to Canada, released last month, says 130 Canadians have travelled abroad to support terrorism-related activities with at least 30 believed to be fighting in Syria.

"We are moving forward this fall with additional measures to better coordinate our effort to track those who are leaving the country, once they leave the country, and once they abroad and what they are doing," Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney told CTV's The West Block.

"We need to give more tools to our law enforcement agencies so they can protect Canadians and protect those individuals from the harm they could cause."

New legislation:

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: The Conservatives say the focus of the fall sitting will be the economy.

"The major priority for the government will be job creation and economic growth,” Conservative House Leader Peter Van Loan told Global News.

“Job creation has to be our top priority, and you’ll see that legislatively,”

Last week, Finance Minister Joe Oliver announced cuts in employment insurance premiums for small businesses and, according to CBC, the party will push forward on trade deals with South Korea and Japan this fall.

Other legislation of note is Conservative MP Michael Chong’s Reform Act. According to the Ottawa Citizen, the private members bill — to be debated on September 24 — would “strip party leaders of their automatic power to veto election candidates, and establish clear rules for party caucuses on dumping their leader.”

The Tories’ controversial cyber-bullying and prostitution bills are also expected to make their way through the house in the coming months.

Let the unofficial campaign for 2015 begin:

Scandals and legislation aside, all parties are expected to ratchet up their campaign rhetoric ahead of a scheduled October 2015 election.

[ Related: Can Tom Mulcair steal the spotlight away from Justin Trudeau? ]

Prime Minister Harper will kick things off, on Monday morning, with a speech at the Ottawa Convention Centre in front of caucus members, Conservative Party supporters and members of the media.

As for the opposition leaders — don’t expect to see a lot of them in parliament this fall.

Liberal leader Justin Trudeau will continue to criss-cross the country to take part in campaign-style events and, last week, NDP leader Thomas Mulcair announced that he would do more of the same.

The fall sitting concludes on December 12.

(Photo courtesy of The Canadian Press)

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