Liberal and NDP MPs told The Hill Times the shutdown of non-essential U.S. federal services caused by a budget deadlock between the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives was the latest critical event that has emerged since Mr. Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) announced last month he was asking Governor General David Johnston to suspend Parliament until Oct. 16, when the government intends to launch the second half of its majority government mandate with a Speech From the Throne framing the Conservative agenda into the 2015 federal election.
With uncertainty growing over any spillover from the U.S. budget gridlock, which opposition MPs say could dampen the U.S. economy to the point Canada could be affected as well, NDP MP Peggy Nash (Parkdale-High Park, Ont.) and Liberal MP Ralph Goodale (Wascana, Sask.) said Mr. Harper’s decision to prorogue Parliament, eliminated 20 House sitting days and Question Periods during a period of what turned out to be one of the most crucial for the government since its 2011 majority election.
The U.S. government shutdown over House of Representatives Republican opposition to U.S. President Barack Obama’s health-care law affected 800,000 public servants, leaving only essential government employees such as air traffic controllers, the military, border patrol agents, the weather service, and the U.S. postal service on the job.
“Both economies are still recovering from the economic downturn, so I think, from a larger economic perspective, I think there is a genuine concern,” Ms. Nash said in a phone interview with The Hill Times from her Toronto riding office.
“Because of political gridlock, our largest single trading partner is going through a process of shutting down their non-essential government services that could play a role in reducing their GDP, which would have a ripple effect into Canada,” Ms. Nash said.
Ms. Nash and Mr. Goodale also criticized the government for unleashing a virtual flood of politically-beneficial announcements across Canada over the past month, dispatching backbench MPs and Cabinet ministers to every corner of the country announcing millions of dollars in funding arrangements to local cultural or business groups while Parliament’s doors remained closed.
“Rather than running around the country waving cheques at people, the government should be in Parliament allowing MPs to report on what’s happening, debate the concerns and see if there are any measures here in Canada that we can take in order to minimize any potential impact,” said Ms. Nash.
The government so far this week alone, on Monday and Tuesday, issued a dozen media statements announcing appearances by MPs, Cabinet ministers, and MPs acting on behalf of cabinet ministers to emphasize previous budget funding or to detail smaller programs that were receiving specific amounts of cash from wider programs—including cadet programs, senior citizen pilot projects and a $73,620 federal grant to the Clarke Foundation Theatre in Mission, B.C., announced by local Conservative MP Randy Kamp (Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge-Mission, B.C.).
“It’s completely abusive,” Mr. Goodale said of the federal spending spree while Parliament is prorogued. “The clearest message that this sends is that the Prime Minister is in deep trouble, and he knows it and he’s trying desperately to grasp at every straw to save himself. We had a Cabinet shuffle and we had prorogation and now we have this string of political announcements, and in a couple of weeks, we’ll have a Throne Speech.”
Mr. Harper’s office would not discuss the Cabinet session, likely a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Priorities and Planning, which has 17 members, including Mr. Harper as chair, and which was likely discussing any finishing touches or long-term strategy for the Oct. 16 Throne Speech to be read by Gov.-Gen. Johnston.
There were 16 ministerial sedans outside the Centre Block in front of the Prime Minister’s corner office on Tuesday afternoon, their drivers chatting and mingling in the fresh air as the meeting continued.
Mr. Harper ended traditional accessibility for members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery to the hallway outside the Cabinet room in 2006, soon after he first won power and became engaged in a battle with the gallery over control over his news conference venues and questions from gallery members.
“We do not comment on Cabinet meetings or their content,” Jason MacDonald, Mr. Harper’s new communications director, said in an email to The Hill Times Tuesday afternoon.
A spokesperson for Finance Minister Jim Flaherty (Whitby-Oshawa, Ont.), when asked about the government’s position on the U.S. budget crisis, forwarded a statement Mr. Flaherty issued on Monday, stating his hope for a quick solution and his position that “while Canada’s economy remains strong, we are still vulnerable to uncertainties outside of our borders, especially in the U.S. and Europe.”
Mr. Goodale argued the government knew of the Sept. 30 budget deadline approaching in the U.S. when Mr. Harper prorogued Parliament in August.
“People knew that Sept. 30 was the budget drop-dead date, so the risk of it happening was known, but in virtually every month of the year there is some pre-scheduled event that could turn into a problem,” Mr. Goodale said.
“That’s why, for the most part, prorogations should not be for protracted periods of time. The best plan, I would have thought, would have been to prorogue one day and start the new session the next day, and there’s no reason why that could not have happened on the sixteenth of September,” he said.
“The Prime Minister has taken an extra four-and-a-half weeks simply for his political convenience. It has nothing to do with the requirement of Parliament. He says he needs time to reset things, well midway through a four-year cycle, at the two-year point, that’s perhaps necessary, but he had half of June and all of July and all of August and half of September. Why he needs another four-and-a-half weeks is more an indication of his political difficulty than any parliamentary or policy requirement,” Mr. Goodale said.
Original Article
Source: hilltimes.com
Author: Tim Naumetz
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