An affront to Parliament

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives may have the power to abuse Parliament by ramming their outrageous “omnibus” budget bill into law in the coming days. But they don’t have a mandate from the people to do so. They discredit themselves by trying.

Canadians never got to vote on the sweeping changes the Tories have sprung on the country, affecting everything from Old Age Security to employment insurance, environmental protection, even the oversight charities receive. None of this was in the Tory platform. And it hasn’t undergone anything like the scrutiny it deserves. It is being rushed into law by an arrogant majority government that’s in a hurry to impose its agenda on the country.

This reeks of hypocrisy. As a Reform MP back in 1994, Harper strenuously objected to a Liberal omnibus bill “in the interest of democracy.” He decried it as a “kitchen sink approach” that prevented MPs from voicing the views of their constituents. He urged that it be divided up. Now he’s using the very tactics he once denounced.

That’s the message the New Democrats, Liberals and other parties plan to send on Monday as the House of Commons begins final consideration of Bill C-38. They hope to stir public awareness by tying up Parliament for a few days with procedural tactics and amendments. Good for them. While the government isn’t likely to fall on a no-confidence vote, it richly deserves to be held to some kind of account, even if only in the court of public opinion.

Through such stratagems as relying on omnibus bills and limiting debate, “the Harper government has proved ingenious in confounding normal parliamentary practices and preventing legislation from facing normal scrutiny,” Queen’s University political studies expert Ned Franks told the Star’s Tim Harper recently. They took the same omnibus approach to their crime bill. As we have noted before, the Tories have been working overtime to keep Parliament in the dark, to bury MPs under so much legislation that they can’t digest it all, and to thwart scrutiny. So much for the accountability they promised.

C-38 is a dense, 425-page package that rewrites more than 60 statutes to nudge Canada down a more conservative, pro-business road by revamping economic, social and environmental programs.

It imposes more than $5 billion in spending cuts, with the loss of 19,000 federal jobs. It also raises the age of eligibility for Old Age Security to 67 from 65, starting in 2023. It sets out new rules that will make it harder for people on employment insurance to pass up jobs that pay less or aren’t in their skills set. It scraps Canada’s Kyoto commitment to curb greenhouse gases, imposes time limits on environmental hearings on pipelines and other energy projects, restricts who may speak and empowers cabinet to give the go-ahead no matter what hearings may find. It allows some foreign workers to be paid less than the going rate. It makes sweeping changes to immigration law. It even cracks down on charities’ political activities.

Whatever one thinks of the many, many elements of C-38, Parliament should have had a chance to debate the major components as separate bills, giving each careful consideration. The Tories may decry the opposition’s “partisan procedural games,” but the government invited this pushback.

The Conservatives say they need to forge ahead with their economic plan, and claim that C-38 has had more debate and review than any budget legislation in decades. But this is no garden-variety budget bill. It is an ideology-driven affront to Parliament, and the public.