Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Omnibus Bills: Another Liberal Betrayal



When Justin Trudeau and his merry band of men and women were campaigning for our vote, they railed against the Harper propensity for passing omnibus bills; those documents, being so dense and long, meant that almost anything could be slipped in.

Said the erstwhile earnest Trudeau in 2015:
We will not resort to legislative tricks to avoid scrutiny.

Stephen Harper has used prorogation to avoid difficult political circumstances. We will not.

Stephen Harper has also used omnibus bills to prevent Parliament from properly reviewing and debating his proposals. We will change the House of Commons Standing Orders to bring an end to this undemocratic practice.
Sadly, the Liberals'return to power has dulled the appetite for change, with the use of the omnibus bill now enjoying the government's full fervour:
The Senate has narrowly defeated a motion to divide the Liberal government’s budget bill, following a personal appeal from Finance Minister Bill Morneau.

In a late-night 38-38 vote with one abstention, senators defeated a motion to split Bill C-44 in a way that removes the proposed Canada Infrastructure Bank Act from the main budget bill.
The motion to split the bill had come from independent Senator André Pratte, who argued that it would give the senators more time to study the proposed $35-billion infrastructure bank about which I have written previously. In typical neoliberal fashion, the Infrastructure Bank appears to be a gift to the corporate world, backstopped as it will be by the taxpayer.

Senator Pratte's desire to separate the Bank legislation from the budget bill appears to have arisen from noble motives:
Mr. Pratte promoted his motion as a vehicle for the Senate to draw a line in the sand against the use of wide-ranging omnibus bills that make it more difficult for Parliament to thoroughly study all of the bill’s component parts.
Alas, the pressure from Finance Minister Morneau appears to have been too great:
Mr. Morneau spent nearly two hours last week as a witness before the Senate national finance committee, where he urged Mr. Pratte and other senators to approve the budget bill intact before Parliament rises for the summer recess.
It would appear that even though Liberal senators are no longer part of the Liberal caucus, their affiliations and gratitude still tend toward placating their former political masters.

10 comments:

  1. .. like Harper before him, Trudeau stumbles badly against the memory stick of fact & election promises. He looks equally stupido while battling Disabled & Honorably Retired Veterans. The pipelines for Asia aka 'Energy Security For Canadians' farce is just more of the same rhetoric.. Its about pimping & pumping LNG & dilbit via supertakers to Asia .. the old 'grow the economy' - jobs jobs jobs sermon from on high.. and the 'environment' will adjust' .. as species lose their habitat to right of way.. and petroleum plumbing..

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    1. I think you and I have been around long enough, Sal, to see through pleasing rhetoric to the ugliness lurking beneath. I was willing to give Trudeau a chance when he was elected; indeed, I had guardedly high hopes, but now the time for illusions and delusions is clearly over.

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  2. The Infrastructure Bank will be Trudeau's undoing someday, it's just a horrible idea executed in a horrible fashion.

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    1. The fact that it is being rushed through via an omnibus bill suggests Trudeau doesn't want real scrutiny, Gyor.

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  3. The fact Lorne that the Infrastructure Bank Act was hidden away in an omnibus bill, says everything about Trudeau and his minions.

    Here's a whole new financial neoliberal entity that they've created, using tax payers money and they know that the creating of this bank is a neoliberal corporate power grab, other wise why the secrecy.

    I said it before, but hope you don't mind if I repeat it. "The deception and betrayal of Canadians by this prime minister Justin Trudeau, when all said and done, will be on a scale that has no equal by any previous prime minister."

    The selling out of Canadians including the control of their wealth has continued from Harper. Trudeau however is implementing his neoliberal power grabs at a much faster pace, then Harper did.

    I have been around long enough to spot a con artist when I see one. Trudeau is nothing more, then a front man for the corporate/military elite, domestically and globally.

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    1. One could argue about how much of it is an intentional deception of the people and how much of it is just part of his makeup and upbringing, Pamela, but there is no question in my mind that Trudeau epitomizes the neoliberal agenda.

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  4. Careful, Lorne. LPT, LPT - you shall be judged.

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    1. Oh, I've always been a bit of a rebel, Mound, opposed to any kind of group-think.

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  5. The powers that be are opposed to public ownership of anything.

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    1. Thus we have the Trudeau government, Owen, fully regaled in sheep's clothing.

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