Parliament to pass budget at 'lightning speed': MPs House Finance Committee will get only two days to study budget spending.
By Bea Vongdouangchanh
The federal government's budget bill will go through Parliament at "lightning speed" and will most likely be passed within the next month, say Conservative and Liberal MPs, but the New Democrats, who won't try to hold up the bill's passage, say it's also "insufficient" time to properly study a bill that's 551 pages and includes a $40-billion stimulus package.
In its budget, the Conservative government stated that for the stimulus package to be most effective, it has to be implemented within 120 days, by May 27.
Conservative MP Mike Wallace (Burlington, Ont.), who sits on the House Finance Committee, said the government is working hard to meet its goal, which is why the House Finance Committee is meeting this Monday to hear from representatives from 24 organizations and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty (Whitby-Oshawa, Ont.) in four separate meetings.
Mr. Wallace said the committee will then move into clause-by-clause study of the bill on Tuesday, Feb. 24.
"We did a lot of pre-budget consultations, and so did the other parties, at least they claim they did, so we've [already] heard from a lot of people," Mr. Wallace said last week, adding that the committee will hear from "key folks" and work quickly to report the bill back to the House. "Instead of taking three months to do this process, we need to get it done, all completely done within a month."
Liberal MP John McCallum (Markham Unionville, Ont.), his party's finance critic, said last week that while the bill is "imperfect," it does provide some stimulus and the official opposition does not want to delay the funding.
"It is rushing it. I think it's going by Parliamentary standards, I think it's going through in lightning speed. But the reason is we're in an economic crisis and we need to get this money out the door," Mr. McCallum said. "We think there are many weaknesses in the bill, it wasn't the way we would've done it, by any means. The responsible thing to do when thousands of Canadians are getting laid off, is to make sure that the money is spent on infrastructure and the other items that help support the economy."
NDP MP and finance critic Thomas Mulcair (Outremont, Que.), whose party along with the Bloc Québécois voted against the budget's ways and means motion as well as against sending Bill C-10, the Budget Implementation Act, to committee, acknowledged that there's very little he can do without a majority on the committee to delay the bill.
"The two of them [Conservatives and Liberals] together have the majority of the committee, so it's going to make life difficult for those of us who actually want to ask questions in the public interest," Mr. Mulcair said. "We think that two days is completely insufficient for legislation of that size and scope that we're going to do our best... To try to shut it down so early is scandalous, but again, if the official opposition is in bed with the government, we'll do our best and use whatever Parliamentary techniques at our disposal to try to make Canadians' voices heard."
The budget includes a stimulus package, but also makes changes to pay equity, environmental protection, the sale of Crown assets, program review, and much more, which Mr. Mulcair said have "nothing to do with the budget, but everything to do with the government's ideology."
He said the NDP will bring forward amendments to the bill which address these issues that "will not require further government spending but will allow us to avoid some of the things that the Conservatives were thinking of doing."
Mr. Mulcair said he has no hope that the Liberals will work with the NDP and the Bloc Québécois to "stand up for women's rights and the environment without it costing an extra penny to the government."
The Liberals amended the ways and means motion to force the government to report on its progress with "getting money out the door" and into communities for infrastructure projects and other initiatives related to the stimulus package.
The reports would provide information on how the government has implemented the budget and be tabled in the House of Commons at least five sitting days before the last opposition day in every supply period this year.
The first supply period ends March 26, but the House is on a break from March 16 to 20. If the last opposition day is scheduled for March 26, the first report would be due to be tabled in Parliament by March 12. The second supply period this year ends June 23. If the last opposition day is scheduled for June 23, the second report would be due before June 16. The last supply period ends Dec. 10. If the last opposition day is scheduled for Dec. 10, the third report would be due before Dec. 3.
"The government's own record is that money does not go out the door. Money sits forever under a mattress in Ottawa doing nobody any good, so that is why we'll be holding the government to account, to make sure the money does flow for infrastructure, but also the money for business lending," Mr. McCallum said, noting that because the first report is due in a few weeks, it will be a different nature than the subsequent ones. "The money is not even legal to go out the door before April 1. The first report will be different from the others in the sense that we cannot expect budget money to have gone out the door when we're still in March and the new fiscal year has not begun."
In the budget document, the government said it would provide a progress report the first week in September, following the summer recess, before the Liberals put forward their amendment.
"The government will reassess and, if necessary, reallocate funding in the 2009 economic and fiscal update," the budget document says. Since the Liberal amendment was successfully passed, Mr. Wallace said the government will work with the amendment's timeline, rather than the original one in the first week of September.
"The Liberal opposition has put us on notice, they want regular updates," Mr. Wallace said. "We need to take action and get the budget passed so we can start delivering on some of those infrastructure projects, for example. We need the Budget Implementation Act to pass to be able to start flowing those much needed funds."
Mr. Mulcair said these regular reports are "a joke," however, because the Liberals will not stand up to the government if they don't like what they see in them. "The Liberals are not going to stand up to the Conservatives more at the end of March than they are at the end of June. That was their pretension of saying they put the government on probation. Well what they did was give the government their approbation, they approved everything that the Conservatives have done because they are simply devoid of principles," he said.
Mr. McCallum said however that his party will be working with the Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page to dissect and study the report to determine if it is sufficient. He said although the Liberals and the Parliamentary Budget office still have to work out the details about what the party is looking for, Mr. Page will review the report. "He's done a very good job in providing economic professional advice to Parliamentarians and he will play a role in the report," Mr. McCallum said, adding the Liberals are looking for evidence that "the government has active plans to get money out the door fast [because] the money will not have flowed" by March 12.
It's likely the Finance Committee will report Bill C-10 back to the House this week. Louise Girouard, communications director to Government House Leader Jay Hill (Prince George-Peace River, B.C.) said last week that the House leaders have not met yet to negotiate the scheduling of the votes, but said once Bill C-10 is reported back to the House, it will take precedence in House debate so it can be passed at report stage and third reading quickly. It would then be sent to the Senate as early as next week, to be passed and given royal assent as early as the end of March if there are no delays.
"I would imagine that the Senators feel the same way that we do, which is: flawed as the bill is, the priority has to be, at this time of economic recession, to support the Canadian economy," Mr. McCallum said.
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The Hill Times
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