Pundits, journalists, parliamentary experts and even former Progressive Conservative cabinet members have warned the federal government's massive budget implementation bill will change in unpredictable and dangerous ways how Canada works.
However, the omnibus bill makes a much larger gamble than that, for most of the changes to Canada's institutions presumably can be undone by future governments. The great gamble of this massive bill, which goes further to change the nature of Canada than any previous bills have done, is that it all but removes any vestiges of power Parliament still retained.
It's worth remembering that opposition parties, whose job it is to oppose government bills, aren't the only ones objecting this time. The case last month of David Wilks, the rookie Conservative MP from British Columbia, demonstrates this isn't merely a case of partisan politics. Mr. Wilks was caught on video assuring constituents that many of his Conservative backbench colleagues, too, want the government to divide its omnibus bill into manageable bites.
He was subsequently forced by the Prime Minister's Office to humiliate himself with an about-face and confirm undying fealty to his leader and Tory tactics. Mr. Wilks apparently didn't understand that passing the omnibus bill is part of a high-stakes game about how Canada and its government work.
And it isn't Prime Minister Stephen Harper who invented the rules of this game. In fact, he was on record in 1994 loudly decrying the use of similar tactics by the Liberals on much smaller bills that were making much more incremental changes to the nature of Canada.
But the Liberal government at the time ignored Mr. Harper's plea "in the interest of democracy" to break up their omnibus bill. And this wasn't a fleeting interest of the man who then went on to become the leader of the official Opposition. In 2005, Mr. Harper asked: "How can members represent their constituents on these various areas when they are forced to vote on a bloc of such legislation?"
Mr. Harper's concern for democracy appears to have vanished. Not only is his government forcing through even larger bills more aggressively by quickly ending debate and by more determinedly turning parliamentary committees into partisan attack dogs, but he sees nothing wrong with silencing those with whom he disagrees.
While on a European tour last week, he told a journalist that he doesn't believe Canadians, in times of restraint, would support financially assisting organizations such as the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy, the First Nations Statistical Council and the National Welfare Council when they offer solutions that run counter to government policy.
Meanwhile, Yorkton-Melville MP Garry Breitkreuz stood in Parliament on Monday to brag about the newly-created Hunting and Angling Advisory Panel that's meant to advise the government on conservation. Apparently, in times of restraint, Canadians have no difficulty with government assistance to organizations that are likely to support its agenda.
If Canadians disagree, it is becoming increasingly clear that Parliament isn't the place to air it.
Original Article
Source: thestar phoenix
Author: The StarPhoenix
However, the omnibus bill makes a much larger gamble than that, for most of the changes to Canada's institutions presumably can be undone by future governments. The great gamble of this massive bill, which goes further to change the nature of Canada than any previous bills have done, is that it all but removes any vestiges of power Parliament still retained.
It's worth remembering that opposition parties, whose job it is to oppose government bills, aren't the only ones objecting this time. The case last month of David Wilks, the rookie Conservative MP from British Columbia, demonstrates this isn't merely a case of partisan politics. Mr. Wilks was caught on video assuring constituents that many of his Conservative backbench colleagues, too, want the government to divide its omnibus bill into manageable bites.
He was subsequently forced by the Prime Minister's Office to humiliate himself with an about-face and confirm undying fealty to his leader and Tory tactics. Mr. Wilks apparently didn't understand that passing the omnibus bill is part of a high-stakes game about how Canada and its government work.
And it isn't Prime Minister Stephen Harper who invented the rules of this game. In fact, he was on record in 1994 loudly decrying the use of similar tactics by the Liberals on much smaller bills that were making much more incremental changes to the nature of Canada.
But the Liberal government at the time ignored Mr. Harper's plea "in the interest of democracy" to break up their omnibus bill. And this wasn't a fleeting interest of the man who then went on to become the leader of the official Opposition. In 2005, Mr. Harper asked: "How can members represent their constituents on these various areas when they are forced to vote on a bloc of such legislation?"
Mr. Harper's concern for democracy appears to have vanished. Not only is his government forcing through even larger bills more aggressively by quickly ending debate and by more determinedly turning parliamentary committees into partisan attack dogs, but he sees nothing wrong with silencing those with whom he disagrees.
While on a European tour last week, he told a journalist that he doesn't believe Canadians, in times of restraint, would support financially assisting organizations such as the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy, the First Nations Statistical Council and the National Welfare Council when they offer solutions that run counter to government policy.
Meanwhile, Yorkton-Melville MP Garry Breitkreuz stood in Parliament on Monday to brag about the newly-created Hunting and Angling Advisory Panel that's meant to advise the government on conservation. Apparently, in times of restraint, Canadians have no difficulty with government assistance to organizations that are likely to support its agenda.
If Canadians disagree, it is becoming increasingly clear that Parliament isn't the place to air it.
Source: thestar phoenix
Author: The StarPhoenix
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