The Forum Research poll, conducted last weekend after Finance Minister Jim Flaherty (Whitby-Oshawa, Ont.) tabled a second massive budget implementation bill, found 64 per cent of respondents opposed the tactic, which also failed to get support from a majority who ranked the Conservative Party as their current voter preference.
The survey found opposition to another Conservative calling card in this Parliament even higher, with 73 per cent opposing the government’s tactic of using time allocation to cut short debate on contentious bills and limit MPs’ abilities to speak on legislation.
Conservatives have defended their use of the two omnibus bills on grounds their changes and amendments to a range of laws—including substantive changes to regulations and statutes that protect Canada’s waterways and ecosystems and the environment as a whole—will contribute to Canada’s economic growth and job creation.
The government titled its latest omnibus bill, Bill C-45, the Jobs and Growth Act, though it deals with changes that at first blush do not appear related to specific budget measures, from elimination of the Merchant Seamen Compensation Board to federal withdrawal from environmental responsibility for small rivers and lakes.
The first budget implementation bill, Bill C-38, also dealt with a host of unrelated measures, including making the governor general’s salary taxable, and sparked a marathon of overnight voting by the opposition parties in protest.
Conservative MP Andrew Saxton (Vancouver North, B.C.) said Tuesday in response to the Forum Poll findings that the sweeping bills are necessary because the government has a lot on its plate.
“We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. We’ve got to get through that work and this is one way to make sure we get through the work that has to be done in a timely basis,” said Mr. Saxton, who is Parliamentary Secretary to Defence Minister Peter MacKay (Central Nova, N.S.).
“The opposition is going to have lots of opportunity to debate various components of the legislation,” he said. “We have to at some point get it done.” But opposition MPs said the survey indicates the majority of Canadians are growing to dislike the government’s tactics, and predicted the unrest may have a shelf life until 2015, the next federal election year.
The voice interactive response telephone survey on Oct. 27, of 1,735 Canadian residents over age 18 has a margin of error of two per cent 19 times out of 20.
“The Conservatives in government have become very arrogant and disconnected from average Canadians, and so they’re like the political Faust, they think three years will never come,” NDP MP Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay, Ont.) told The Hill Times. “They all sit and laugh and snicker when they win this fight. Sure they’re going to win this fight, but they’re creating an impression in Canadians’ minds and the time will come, and they will pay a price.”
Liberal MP Scott Brison (Kings-Hants, N.S.) said the omnibus bills are an affront to the voters and are undemocratic.
“These massive omnibus bills are a direct attack not just on Parliament, but on the Canadians who chose this Parliament. It’s an attack on democracy to deny any Member of Parliament to actually vote on individual pieces of important legislation,” Mr. Brison told The Hill Times. “This should be an issue for Conservative backbenchers, not just for opposition members, because Conservative backbenchers are being denied the opportunity and the responsibility to do their jobs.”
Several Conservative backbenchers briefly spoke out about the last omnibus bill prior to Parliament’s summer recess, but the Prime Minister’s Office quickly quelled the nascent rebellion.
Despite the findings about opposition to the omnibus bills, the Forum poll on the state of democracy in Canada found two-thirds of Canadians, 64 per cent, believe Canada’s system of government is more democratic than the U.S. system.
As well, the survey found the largest number of respondents, 35 per cent, believe the NDP is the party in Parliament with the most respect for democracy. Only 19 per cent of the respondents ranked the Conservative Party with the most respect for democracy, and only 18 per cent gave the nod to the Liberal Party. Seventy-five per cent of respondents who said their current party preference was NDP ranked the NDP as the one with most respect for democracy, but only 51 per cent of those with a Liberal preference said the Liberal Party had most respect for democracy. Twenty-four per cent of the Liberal supporters favoured the NDP on that score.
Fifty-six per cent of the Forum poll respondents said they approved of a proportional representation system to elect Parliament, which would give each party a share of seats based on their percentage of the popular vote. Only 43 per cent supported Canada’s current first-past-the-post system.
The Conservatives won a majority government with 166 seats, but received 39.6 per cent of the votes. The NDP won 103 seats with 30.6 per cent of the popular vote, and the Liberals plunged to only 34 seats with 18.9 per cent of the vote.
MPs speculated that a majority of the respondents favoured Canada’s system of government over the U.S. because of the amount of money that is spent in U.S. elections.
As of this week, the New York Times reported U.S. President Barack Obama has spent $852.9-million on his re-election campaign, and Republican challenger Mitt Romney has spent $752.3-million.
“I do think, it’s my own opinion, that first of all it’s a question of scale. The U.S. system is so large and so dominated by money that many people are cynical about what’s happening,” NDP MP Randall Garrison (Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca, B.C.) told The Hill Times. “Ours is a much smaller scale, and because money doesn’t run things, Canadian politicians actually have to talk to voters, instead of just running ads.”
Original Article
Source: hill times
Author: TIM NAUMETZ
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