Today in the House of Commons Canadians will be witnessing a rare sight -- a voting marathon. I wish I could say it's a celebration of democracy, but it's not. It's a sign of a government that has lost its way and is undermining accountability with its Trojan Horse Budget Bill.
Instead of introducing a straight-forward bill that implements their budget, Stephen Harper's Conservatives decided to use the budget bill to sneak through changes that gut environmental protection, give broad new powers over employment insurance to the Minister and eliminates large portions of the Fisheries Act.
SLIDESHOW: Bill C-38 ALL-NIGHTER
Prime Minister Stephen Harper once railed against omnibus legislation in 1994, saying it was unprincipled to ask Members of Parliament to vote on so many different issues with a single vote. Now, the Prime Minister is doing the exact same thing with his Trojan Horse Budget Bill: He's packing in sweeping changes to everything from environmental assessments to Employment Insurance to retirement security into an unwieldy 400+ page budget document that amends over 70 different other bills. And to make matters even worse, Conservatives tried to sneak these through without even consulting those affected.
They are proposing significant changes to the fisheries industry without talking to people living in fishing communities. They are making drastic changes to EI without hearing from the businesses or workers who pay into it. They are cutting Old Age Security and future Health Care transfers despite promising not to during the last election. The Conservative Cabinet is even grabbing more power to rule on environmental assessments and pipelines, while the Environment Minster fires the scientists who provide expert independent advice.
From the start, New Democrats offered a better way through this where delay tactics were avoided and the bill was split up into five individual bills to allow a proper study of the extensive changes being proposed. This would have taken no more time than the bill is now taking, but would have been fairer and more accountable. Unfortunately, the Harper Conservatives stubbornly rejected any compromise.
So New Democrats did what the Conservative government refused to do -- we went out and listened to Canadians about the budget bill. We consulted people from coast to coast. We heard many concerns about this massive bill. We even heard frustration from people who told us they voted Conservative in the last election.
Virtually everyone outside the Conservative cabinet understands that railroading such a large and complex bill through the House is simply wrong. Even Stephen Harper used to understand this, before he became Prime Minister and started taking Canadians for granted.
New Democrats had long advocated for a Parliamentary Budget Officer to help Members of Parliament review financial documents. Stephen Harper circa 2006 also believed that MPs should have solid independent financial advice before voting on money bills, and included a Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) in the Federal Accountability Act.
Now -- just six years later -- the Harper government is withholding information about its planned cuts and Conservative ministers routinely attack the PBO for telling Canadians the truth about spending. Withholding financial information from the PBO is not only wrong, it is in contravention of the Parliament of Canada Act.
That's why New Democrats are prepared for a marathon of votes. We will be standing up for transparency and accountability. We will be standing up for environmental protection and our fisheries communities. We will be standing up for retirement security and health-care funding.
We will spend 24 straight hours -- or more -- standing up on behalf of millions of Canadians who sent us to Ottawa to vote against this bill.
Follow Peggy Nash on Twitter: www.twitter.com/PeggyNashNDP
Now I better then ever understand how George Grant felt when he wrote Lament for a Nation.
This government won't rest until generations worth of building a just and fair Canada is totally undermined.
When we found the cause of urban heat islands and the billions in energy waste spent reacting to the symptoms, we reported it to the Environment Minister and Harper. Solar radiated buildings were grossly exceeding building code because of a paint job or lack of shade. Yesterday we imaged buildings in Canada and building development was 60 deg. C by 7:00 AM when it was 13 deg. C reported at the weather station. The buildings were superheating the atmosphere and changing weather without emissions produced. Here is what it looks like in the infrared spectrum. http://www.thermoguy.com/blog/index.php?itemid=84
The buildings aren't insurable nor compliant with building code. The reason we report this to the PM as the chief administrator is so they can inform government, companies, UN, etc. We aren't selling anything, we provide electricity. No response from Harper
When we reported imaging nature's hidden treasure called groundwater, early detection of cancer with non invasive imaging, tracking forest fires through smoke providing sight....No Response while Slave Lake burns, Manitoba floods, Quebec, etc.
Canada and the world are wasting billions on emission reduction while building development is superheating the atmosphere. Shameful that Canada didn't take this to the UN who is worried about a couple degree temperature rise when we reported buildings close to boiling temperature.
Calling this undemocratic is just like the Conservatives calling the NDP, Liberals, and Bloc undemocratic in forming a coalition government. At least the Tories don't deal with traitors and separatists as the NDP and Liberals do.
Canada is not the US we have a Westminster system of Government.
J
I trust that there's a caravan heading to Ottawa from the streets of Montreal. Surround Parliament. Deliver the message of dissent to Harper and his pals.
It only highlights one of the many things dysfunctional in Parliament. The marathon is necessary to bring the attention of the Canadian people to the fact that Parliament can easily be hijacked by political parties that have an ideological viewpoint not in keeping with the majority of Canadians. There can be no mandate to govern without a clear majority of the vote, something the Harperites have not achieved or are likely to attain . This omnibus bill is only symptomtic of a political movement attempting to to destroy democracy in Canada.
http://thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2005/11/29/HarperBush/ http://goo.gl/Yy9w
http://www.walrusmagazine.com/articles/the-man-behind-stephen-harper-tom-flanagan/
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2012/03/26/Harper-Evangelical-Mission/
Thank you for your efforts on behalf of Canada, Canadians and the concept of Democracy.