Idle No More Deserves Our Thanks

A major concern of the Idle No More movement is Bill C-45, the omnibus Budget Bill enacted by the Parliament of Canada as the Jobs and Growth Act, 2012.  This Bill received royal assent and became law on December 14, 2012.  In addition to giving legal effect to the Harper government’s budget of last year, this omnibus statute amends many other statutes, including the Indian Act, the Fisheries Act, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, and the Navigable Waters Protection Act (significantly renamed the Navigation Protection Act).

Dispossessing democracy: Colonialism, capitalism and the consequences of Bill C-45

As Parliament resumes, Stephen Harper has made it clear that he remains committed to implementing Bill C-45 in the face of widespread social protest. But thanks, in part, to Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence's hunger strike, Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples are now working together, through the Idle No More movement, to grow a strong oppositional alliance against the Harper government, and Bill C-45 has become something of a lightning rod for criticism.

The high stakes of Indigenous resistance

The blossoming of the Idle No More movement signals the return of Indigenous resistance to the political and social landscape of Canada and Quebec.

With its origins in Saskatchewan in October 2012, this mass movement has taken on the federal government and more specifically the adoption of Bill C-45.[1] Its origins lay not in the work of established organizations such as the Assembly of First Nations (although the AFN supports the initiative), but in a grassroots mobilization that has arisen in several parts of the country. This process echoes other recent citizen mobilizations such as the student carrés rouges in Quebec and the worldwide Occupy movement.

There’s lots of confusion about Bill C-45 and the Idle No More movement

Holed up inside for the last few weeks with a chest infection, I’ve spent my time examining the coverage of the Idle No More movement.

I’ve read countless articles. Reviewed comments on social media sites (including reading a staggering 1,021 comments for one article alone on the CBC website). And what I have concluded so far is there is a lot of interest in this issue, but a lot of confusion about what exactly the “issue” is.

Navigable Waters Act at committee one last time 130-year-old law gets two hours, four witnesses at Transport Committee

Two hours of Transport Committee hearings today will be the last word the House of Commons hears on the 130-year-old Navigable Waters Protection Act.

The Act is to be replaced by the Navigation Protection Act, a piece of legislation included in bill C-45, the government's second omnibus Budget Implementation Act.

Canadian majority opposes omnibus legislation: Forum Research poll

PARLIAMENT HILL—A new poll has found an overwhelming majority of Canadians say the government should not be allowed to use omnibus bills, rolling amendments of several unrelated laws into one massive volume of legislation, as the Conservative government is doing with an array of measures they say stem from last spring’s federal budget.

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 big picture of Harper's assault on the Constitution

Despite the clever website research of the media and the NDP, the fact that permits under the Navigable Waters Protection Act used to trigger federal environmental assessment, does not, in itself, prove the NWPA has been an environmental measure. There were other triggers that do not go to environmental laws -- triggers such as federal land being involved or federal money (both now disappeared with most of CEAA).

The issue is far more fundamental than erasing the word "environment" from the NWPA website. Like the Fisheries Act in C-38, dismantling the Navigable Waters Protection Act takes a hatchet to federal constitutional powers that have been foundational in environmental law for generations. And in both cases, the Conservative talking points are the same. "This act was never about the environment, it was about fisheries -- not fish; it was about navigation -- not waters."

22 changes in the budget bill fine print

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told the House of Commons last Thursday MPs would know what was in the Harper government's second omnibus budget implementation bill if only they had read the budget last March.

It's true that Flaherty's media event on the day the bill was tabled did feature the extension of a small business-friendly hiring tax credit that was heavily marketed around last spring's budget. A dozen or more other tax changes are also featured in the first section of C-45.

Harper again rejects debate on China investment treaty, but public pressure is having an impact

The Conservative majority on trade committee defeated a motion yesterday from NDP trade critic Don Davies which would have forced the committee to study the Canada-China investment treaty (FIPA) before it’s allowed to become law, as early as November 1. In typical fashion, the committee went in-camera for the vote so that Harper’s abuse of democracy went unrecorded. They do this quite often.

“It boggles my mind that the government would want to move forward with that [treaty] without a debate, without a vote and without a study,” said Davies Thursday afternoon. Davies also complained about receiving “thousands upon thousands of emails” against the China treaty forwarded to him from the office of Conservative MP Bev Shipley, who is also on the trade committee.

Omnnibus Budget Bill C-45 Fastrack: Government Limits Debate To Speed Passage

OTTAWA - Just one week after introducing it, the Conservative government is moving to fast-track its controversial omnibus budget bill.

The House of Commons passed a motion Thursday to impose time allocation on Bill C-45, essentially limiting how long it can be debated by MPs.

"They've introduced a law and then right away they introduce time allocation," interim Liberal leader Bob Rae said after the motion passed.

Stephen Harper’s government deletes ‘environment’ from Transport Canada website

OTTAWA-Transport Canada has deleted references to protecting the “environment” from its website in support of a proposed overhaul to a law that was designed to protect navigable waters.

The environmental issues were highlighted in a background web page explaining the role of the Navigable Waters Protection Act and the government’s commitment to consulting Canadians to review its effectiveness.

The page previously explained how the legislation, first adopted in 1882, triggered federal environmental reviews of projects that threatened to disrupt bodies of water.

Navigable Waters Protection Act: 'Environment' Disappears Overnight From Web Description Of Federal Bill

OTTAWA - The word "environment" was suddenly deleted from a federal government website that described Conservative proposals to change the law protecting Canada's navigable waterways.

The Navigable Waters Protection Act is being altered as part of the government's latest omnibus budget bill.

The proposed changes would make the Act apply to fewer bodies of water than before, in a bid to make the system more efficient.

Getting run over by the omnibus

OTTAWA — Government calls it making way for business. Outraged foes call it the slicing and dicing of environmental protection and any remaining trust with aboriginal peoples.

Over several months of omnibus bills, amendments, regulations and tinkering with longstanding conventions, Ottawa has undertaken a series of adjustments that add up to undeniably profound changes in both environmental and aboriginal policy.

Omnibus Budget: Bill C-45 To Deliver Profound Changes For Environment, Natives

OTTAWA - Government calls it making way for business. Outraged foes call it the slicing and dicing of environmental protection and any remaining trust with aboriginal peoples.

Over several months of omnibus bills, amendments, regulations and tinkering with longstanding conventions, Ottawa has undertaken a series of adjustments that add up to undeniably profound changes in both environmental and aboriginal policy.