Canada’s Senate puts LGBT conversion therapy bill on hold for summer

OTTAWA, June 30 (Reuters) – A pledge by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to ban LGBT conversion therapy has been delayed until at least September, after an attempt to recall the Senate over the summer to deal with the bill failed late on Tuesday. Canada’s Senate, or upper chamber, held special sittings earlier this week to deal with a raft of bills passed last week by House of Commons lawmakers ahead of their summer break, adopting the key budget bill late last night. A push by the government’s representative in the Senate to add sittings over the summer to deal with outstanding business, like the conversion therapy bill, was blocked. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland on Wednesday told reporters she was frustrated that the Senate did not see through Bill C-6, which passed by Canada’s House of Commons 263 to 63 last week.