Rick Mercer returned to the airwaves last night and delivered a scathing rant attacking Stephen Harper and the Conservatives' sequel to last session's omnibus budget bill.
In the premiere of the 10th season of the "Rick Mercer Report," the CBC comedian and commentator was in vintage form.
"Seeing as they know that everyone is going to vote for it, instead of just putting budgetary things in the budget -- you know, math -- they fill it full of goodies no one’s even heard of before," Mercer exclaims.
He goes onto mention a particularly disquieting provision in the last omnibus bill allowing CIA and FBI agents to cross the border and make arrests in Canada. "I know I sound like a conspiracy theorist with a tin foil hat just saying it out loud but it's true. It happened and there was no debate," Mercer explains.
Mercer says even Tory MPs admitted they had no idea what was in the last bill and are essentially voting yes with the same amount of thought we give to accepting an iTunes contract.
But the CBC star saves his most savage vitriol for Harper. Referencing the prime minister's past disdain for "undemocratic" omnibus legislation, Mercer accuses Harper of putting of putting ideology before everything else.
"He knows right from wrong here, he's on record, but he has decided it's OK to do wrong in order to advance the right. And democracy no longer enters into it."
The prospect of a second omnibus budget bill, a sequel to Bill C-38, is already getting the opposition riled up. NDP MPs have accused the government of planning to once again steamroller Parliament and its democratic traditions.
"We are concerned, based on the comments made by the Conservatives, that they are planning again to trample our legislative rights," said NDP House leader Nathan Cullen on Monday.
The last budget bill was only passed after an all-night voting session forced by an avalanche of amendments tabled by the NDP and Liberals. The bill was often referred to as a "Trojan horse" because it contained so many hidden non-budgetary changes and due to the fact that few MPs were able to get a full grasp of what the mammoth piece of legislation contained.
As Mercer is ranting about democracy gone astray, the comedian is also releasing a new book. Titled "A Nation Worth Ranting About," the work is a collection of Mercer's musing on politics.
His thoughts on politics today? Mercer told CBC he thinks "things are getting worse" in a climate where politicians can no longer freely voice their own opinions.
Well at least Mercer doesn't have any problems there.
With files from The Canadian Press
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