Liberals ‘derailing Parliament’
COVID-19 spending oversight needed: critics
OTTAWA — Scrutiny by politicians of the Liberal government’s $150 billion in emergency funding will be limited to just four hours following a deal to suspend Parliament until September — a move branded undemocratic on Thursday.
Canada’s budget watchdog as well as democracy advocates said Justin Trudeau had undermined parliamentary accountability by the suspension and contradicted his 2015 campaign promise for open and honest government.
“There’s been no justification from the very beginning for shutting down Parliament completely,” said Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch.
The Trudeau government on Wednesday passed a motion with the support of the New Democratic Party to suspend Parliament until September 21. Many observers blasted the deal, saying it was an attempt by the Liberal Party to sidestep scrutiny of the emergency spending it has announced in response to COVID-19.
The move also comes after the Liberal government has for months sought to limit sessions in the House of Commons, even as many provincial and foreign governments have continued in-person debates on a limited basis, said Conacher.
And the motion also designates a single four-hour period on June 17 to debate Ottawa’s supplementary estimates, which are likely to include much of the $150 billion in planned program spending.
“What the Liberals have been doing with regards to essentially derailing Parliament goes against everything they promised in the 2015 election campaign about open, honest and accountable government,” Conacher said.
He also placed blame on the NDP for its support of the motion, which passed with a 28-23 vote.
“The New Democratic Party forgot the middle part of their name in rolling over and supporting the Liberals in this undemocratic move,” he said.
The NDP agreed to suspend Parliament apparently in exchange for an increase in the number of sick days afforded to Canadians — an issue that falls under provincial jurisdiction anyway, Bloc Québécois Yves-François Blanchet argued on Wednesday.
Conacher said the justification for shutting down Parliament early in the pandemic was always thin, particularly as healthcare officials, grocery store workers and other employees were expected to work within close proximity to others.
The motion passed on Tuesday means there cannot be a vote of no confidence against the minority Liberals. A special COVID-19 committee will continue to meet well into June, but does not enjoy the full powers of Parliament,
under which opposition parties can occasionally set the agenda in the House, or provide written questions to government.
Aaron Wudrick, director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said the four-hour limit seems entirely arbitrary and could have easily been extended to a few days to properly assess the spending programs.
“There’s just no reason for them to do it this way, except that they don’t want to be bothered with basic parliamentary accountability,” Wudrick said.
Parliament often spends days reviewing budgets in which spending increases by $20-$30 billion at most, he said, while the current deficit is projected to reach $252 billion in 2021.