“From my reading of it, there’s nothing in this omnibus budget bill that wasn’t in budget itself,” Green Party Leader Elizabeth May (Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.) said last week.
“That said, in debate it was mentioned that this was the budget implementation act number one coming out of budget 2013. I don’t think there’s much left in 2013 that would require another budget implementation act, so I’m very concerned that maybe when we come back in the fall there will be some nasty surprises in a second omnibus bill, so we should keep our eyes and ears open for that.”
Ms. May told The Hill Times she fears that the Species At Risk Act could be severely diluted or destroyed in a subsequent omnibus budget implementation bill.
Mr. Flaherty (Whitby-Oshawa, Ont.) introduced Bill C-60, the 2013 Budget Implementation Bill, on April 29.
MPs debated it for the first time last Wednesday. Government House Leader Peter Van Loan (York-Simcoe, Ont.) subsequently moved a time allocation motion on the bill, limiting debate to a further four days (a total of five), which passed last Thursday.
NDP MP Peggy Nash (Parkdale-High Park, Ont.), her party’s finance critic, said last week that the motion was “ridiculous” so early in the debate.
“Time allocation in effect is closure. After two hours of debate, this government wants to smother any further discussion on this bill, it’s ridiculous,” she told The Hill Times.
Ms. Nash said that the bill should be split up because there are more than 50 pieces of legislation being amended, and includes a new act to create the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development.
“These should be studied by the appropriate committees, the relevant committees, where they can take the time to have witnesses and they have the power then to make amendments and vote on a clause-by-clause basis in their own committees,” Ms. Nash said, noting that she asked for unanimous consent to do so, but it was declined.
“Our strategy has just been to propose it. I introduced a motion yesterday and the government voted it down. They said they’re going to be sending it to committees for review, but if the last Budget Implementation Act is any guide, it was a very rushed review. Some didn’t even have time to call witness beyond government officials and there’s no opportunity to amend or really fully debate the bill,” Ms. Nash said.
Liberal MP and finance critic Scott Brison (King’s Hants, N.S.) agreed, saying that although the bill will likely be split into various committees for study, it’s not enough.
“It should be not simply for study, but also for voting on individual provisions. This is shorter omnibus bill, but it’s still an omnibus bill,” Mr. Brison said. “You could say it’s less omnibusive than the last ones and this is one that increases taxes, hikes up taxes massively on middle class Canadian families while doing nothing for young Canadians who can’t find paid work. So it’s a failure on both counts.”
In addition to a controversial section that will give the Cabinet powers over collective bargaining and working conditions for non-unionized employees of Crown corporations, Bill C-60 implements tax measures such as a tax break for adoption-related expenses, additional credits for first-time charitable donors, extending the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit for one year, phasing out tax credits for credit unions over five years, and ending GST/HST exemptions for the Governor General. In addition, it also “amends the Investment Canada Act to clarify how proposed investments in Canada by foreign state-owned enterprises and WTO investors will be assessed and to allow for the extension, when necessary, of timelines associated with national security reviews.”
Bill C-60 also addresses issues around temporary foreign workers and transfers powers the National Capital Commission to the Minister of Canadian Heritage.
In her speech on the bill, Conservative MP Shelly Glover (Saint Boniface, Man.), Parliamentary secretary to the Finance minister, told the House that government members on the House Finance Committee will move a motion to refer some aspects of the bill to relevant committees.
“I hope the opposition will give us its support,” she said. “In terms of the legislation we are dealing with today, we must not forget that the economic action plan 2013 is part of a comprehensive plan that goes back to 2006 when our Conservative government came to power. The priorities at the heart of the plan were the Canadian economy, job creation and tax cuts to help families keep more money in their pockets.”
Meanwhile, Ms. May said that because she’s not on any committees, she will use the House rules to present amendments to the bill at report stage, although nowhere near the number of amendments during debate on Bill C-38, the first 2012 budget implementation bill, which made significant changes to environmental regulations and kept MPs in the House for more than 24 hours straight.
“They’ve put time allocation on the debate. I’ll never get a chance to put forward any argument or debate. Whenever there’s time allocation, any of us who are in the status of being treated under the rules of independents even though we’re not, we’re never going to get a chance to debate it. We’re also in the category also of being disallowed to sit on committees,” she said. “There’s certain amounts of criticism about my efforts to use report stage to bring forward amendments as I do, but I’ll continue to do it.”
Original Article
Source: hilltimes.com
Author: BEA VONGDOUANGCHANH
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