MP pedals while Canada struggles

Dear Editor:

It’s no secret the NDP and our very own Richard (“Dick”) Cannings, MP for South Okanagan-West Kootenay, basically supported Justin Trudeau to shut down Parliament a few months ago. So where’s Dick now? Out for a bike ride.

And despite Trudeau (and Cannings) shutting down Parliament and continuing to spend billions, there are some reports Trudeau may very well be in contempt of Parliament. Where’s Dick? Out for a bike ride.

Just since proroguing Parliament on Aug. 18, in order to stop investigations into the WE scandal, Trudeau has announced $37 billion in new spending on COVID-19 measures and more recently $2 billion for provincial back-to-school plans — all without any input from the Parliament. Where’s Dick? Out for a bike ride.

In July, the House of Commons finance committee demanded all memos, emails, contracts, etc., related to the WE contract and said any information that could not be released in public must be redacted by appropriate clerks. Now it’s reported the Trudeau government allowed ministers to have their departments redact information before sending it to the committee. Where’s Dick? Out for a bike ride.

Philippe Dufresne, the law clerk and Parliamentary counsel and chief lawyer for the House of Commons, has written to the finance committee saying: “We note that the House’s and its committees’ power to order the production of records is absolute and unfettered as it constitutes a constitutional Parliamentary privilege that supersedes statutory obligations, such as the exemptions found in the Access to Information Act.”

Dufresne said that the power of the committee to order the papers is “absolute and unfettered,” so Trudeau and his government are refusing to release papers demanded. Where’s Dick? Out for a bike ride.

Meanwhile, Trudeau and his ilk (and likely Jagmeet Singh too) are meeting behind closed doors to de-carbonize the economy, add even more to the $340 billion in deficit in just over five months, bring in programs like endless welfare called “universal basic income,” revamp the EI system so those that never paid into it get taxpayers money, won’t report on the status of the Canada Pension Plan and who knows what else.

Where’s Dick?

Wayne Llewellyn

Penticton