After the 24-hour House of Commons filibuster marathon voting session on June 13 on the federal government’s 425-page massive omnibus Budget Implementation Bill, C-38, MPs head home to their ridings for the summer.
Liberal House Leader Marc Garneau (Westmount-Ville Marie, Que.) told The Hill Times last week that he’s proud of what the opposition parties accomplished by forcing 159 votes on amendments to the budget bill, even though none of the amendments passed. The bill is currently moved through the Senate.
“I feel very good leaving this sitting of Parliament particularly because of C-38. We’re finishing on a high note. I think they’re [the Conservatives] finishing across there on a low note,” Mr. Garneau said.
Conservative MP Tom Lukiwski (Regina-Lumsden-Lake Centre, Sask.), Parliamentary secretary to the government House leader, criticized Mr. Garneau’s comment saying that the government defeated all of the opposition’s amendments. “If Mr. Garneau thinks losing 159 straight votes is positive for him, you can understand why the Liberal Party is in a lot of trouble politically,” he said. “I thought it was a very good sitting, a very productive sitting. We got a lot of our legislation passed, which I was very pleased to see, culminating of course with two very important pieces of legislation, our omnibus bill, and C-11, the modernization of the Copyright Act. All things considered, it was very productive.”
NDP House Leader Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley, B.C.) said his lasting impression of the spring sitting will be one of the government abusing democracy.
“If there was any theme running through this, it was very much about how little respect they have for our democratic institutions,” he said.
NDP MP Peggy Nash (Parkdale-High Park, Ont.) agreed. “The Conservatives will have to defend what they’ve done here, both the process of throwing everything into one bill that even Conservative commentators are calling a lack of transparency and some undemocratic,” she said. “They’ll also have to be held accountable for specific provisions in this bill because Canadians will know once it’s law, who made it law, where it came from and so I think we were able to break through into some of the public opinion discussion. In that sense, I believe that we were successful. We were not successful in stopping the bill, we were successful in opening up the dialogue so that we brought Canadians in and they and we will hold this government accountable.”
But Prime Minister Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) last week in the House said, “We just had one of the most legislatively productive periods, and the NDP members, by deciding they will oppose everything and filibuster everything, have proven themselves to be the least influential opposition in terms of legislative agenda in the history of this Parliament.”
Liberal Senate Leader Jim Cowan said last week in a press conference that the same tactics were spilling over into the Senate. He said the government has imposed time allocation on Bill C-38, in addition to bills C-11, the Copyright Modernization Bill and C-31, the Immigration and Refugee Reform Bill, in an effort to pass them this week before the Senate adjourns for the summer.
“This is really an abuse of their majority power. It prevents Parliamentarians from doing the job they’re sent here to do,” Sen. Cowan said. “As importantly, it prevents committee study in both houses, where Canadians, experts and ordinary Canadians can have the opportunity to express themselves and their perfectly legitimately views on bills which will inform Parliamentarians before they have to vote. We’re sent here to study legislation and to vote on legislation and we need to have input from Canadians, and from people who really know the impact of the legislation we’re being asked to look at. This consistent abuse, consistent prevention of legitimate opportunities to be heard is just wrong. It’s getting worse, and worse, and worse.”
Meanwhile, in addition to Bill C-38, Government House Leader Peter Van Loan (York-Simcoe, Ont.) told reporters last Thursday on the Hill that the government has successfully passed bills C-11, the Copyright Modernization Bill; C-23, the Canada-Jordan Free Trade Agreement; S-5, Foreign Ownership of Financial Institutions Bills; C-25, Pooled Registered Pension Plans; C-26, Citizens Arrest; C-31, Immigration and Refugee Reforms; S-4, Railway Safety Act; C-19, Elimination of the Long Gun Registry; C-18, Elimination of the Wheat Board; C-10, Omnibus Crime Bill; and C-20, Increasing Seats in the House of Commons.
“When this sitting began, our government committed to Canadians that we would focus on job creation and economic growth. Over the last four months, we have kept this commitment in an orderly, productive and hard working way,” Mr. Van Loan said. “Our government’s work will not end. Canadians can continue to count on our government to continue to provide strong economic leadership and focus on what matters most to Canadians, jobs and long term prosperity. When Parliament returns in September, our government will continue to work in a productive and orderly fashion to champion ideas and legislation to keep the Canadian economy growing and see even more Canadians get jobs. We will get the job done.”
The House is adjourned until Sept. 17.
Original Article
Source: hill times
Author: Bea Vongdouangchanh
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