Without official party status and the ability to sit on parliamentary committees, May is one of the few MPs who can introduce new substantive amendments during the report stage and, with support from the Liberals, she’s planning to put forward upwards of 300.
“The goal here is not just to take a long time and make everybody miserable,” May said in an interview.
“What Stephen Harper is doing under the so-called omnibus budget bill is beyond outrageous . . . I remain committed to stopping this bill from passing.”
Meanwhile, the Liberals and NDP will contribute to the filibuster by introducing hundreds more simple amendments aimed at deleting entire clauses of the bill.
The opposition had until 8 p.m. Friday to submit amendments. By Saturday afternoon, 871 were posted online.
While none of the amendments are likely to pass given the Conservative majority, May said the voting process could last 100 to 200 hours.
“This is a double-edged sword for me,” May has said.
“I am not happy to hold my friends hostage in the House and regret any inconvenience to my fellow MPs with numerous votes on my amendments, but Stephen Harper’s aggressive determination has left me no choice.”
The length hinges in part on whether Speaker Andrew Scheer decides to group like amendments into a single vote and on the stamina of the opposition to keep it going.
Scheer must also sift sort through the proposed changes and decide whether any need to be tossed because they’re simply a rehash of amendments that were put forward during earlier stages of the bill.
The debate itself is expected to kick off around noon and while the Conservatives are likely to introduce a motion to limit it, the voting itself is expected to take up the bulk of the time.
Considered a confidence vote, the Conservatives will also need most of their 165 members in the 308-seat House of Commons chamber for the votes, which are expected to continue through the night, or risk falling.
That said, there is a chance the entire debate over Bill C-38 doesn’t happen. May has also put forward a lengthy legal motion asking the Speaker to rule the entire bill out of order. In the unlikelihood that he does, it would effectively stop the bill in its tracks.
The government has chided the tactic as nothing more than “partisan procedural games.”
As for the opposition, it’s maintained it has no choice and blames the government for burying dozens of non-budgetary changes within a single 425-page bill and refusing to break it up into small chunks in order to be properly scrutinized.
The bill would effectively rewrite some 70 different laws, some of the most controversial of which include overhauling environmental-protection measures as well as the employment insurance system and boosting the age of eligibility for Old Age Security.
Third reading of the bill is expected within the next two weeks, before the House rises for the summer break.
Original Article
Source: national post
Author: Tobi Cohen
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