Report Back from Senate Committee Meeting...

Just got back from the Senate Finance Committee Hearing on Bill C-10. The Senators gave Flaherty a really hard time. Lowell Murray, Art Eggleton and Grant Mitchell were particularly good. Mitchell grilled him on pay equity and Eggleton focused on the inadequacy of the changes to EI.

Flaherty's party line is that they need to pass the budget immediately, so they can extend EI benefits for 5 weeks for unemployed people -- he kept coming back to that. When questioned about the fact that only 40% of unemployed people in Canada can access the system, he said, "this is an insurance program, not a welfare program."

Mitchell said "this government can only get its agenda through using tricks" ... asked Flaherty how women in the public sector could be expected to achieve pay equity through the collective bargaining process if the government insists on capping public sector wages and undermining the negotiation process. He also pointed out that women are unlikely to file a complaint to the PSLRB on their own, especially if unions are going to be fined $50,000 for helping them.

Lowell Murray said that even though he's not a member of the committee, he went ahead and drafted motions to sever the stimulus measures from the bill, "should a member of the committee want to present them." Except for two Conservative Senators who lobbed soft balls at Flaherty, it seems like the majority of Senators would support this, based on their comments this morning.

Flaherty kept saying that the stimulus package is "not severable" and pointed out repeatedly that the same committee passed an omnibus Liberal budget in 2005 in two days with no amendments.

Here's an article from Can West that just came out about the meeting:

Senate must pass budget without delay: Flaherty Not after spring break

OTTAWA — Canadians are being hurt by the global recession and can’t afford any delay in passing the federal budget, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told members of the Senate finance committee Tuesday morning. By Meagan Fitzpatrick, Canwest News ServiceMarch 10, 2009 11:02 AM

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says he will not support the idea of splitting the budget bill into two parts to speed up its passage through the Senate, but pressed the sense of urgency that he said the budget bill requires. “I’m going to urge you today to deal with this bill right away, and I mean right away,” Flaherty told the committee. “I don’t mean that you go on March break and come back after March break and deal with it. Canadians are entitled to better than that.” Flaherty says he will not support the idea of splitting the bill into two parts to speed up its passage through the Senate, but pressed the sense of urgency that he said the budget bill requires.

“This is a time of crisis for Canadians,” said Flaherty, who came armed with a pile of letters and e-mails from Canadians whom he said were pleading for the employment insurance reforms contained in the bill.

The finance minister said his government did the most extensive pre-budget consultations in history and delivered a sound budget at the end of January that won the support of the official opposition and was quickly passed by the House of Commons.

“This can be an academic discussion around this table, or in the House of Commons but it’s not an academic discussion for people who are not being paid by the government, or people who are losing their jobs or have lost their jobs, and their families,” Flaherty said, “and this bill provides help for them.

“We cannot wait weeks, they cannot wait weeks, or months or a year for reaction to this situation.”

The Senate finance committee asked the finance minister if he would be willing to split the budget bill into two parts and deal first with the economic stimulus measures and the rest of the measures in the bill later.

“I do not want the bill divided,” Flaherty responded. “You’re making an assumption that the stimulus package is severable. It is not.”

Liberal Senator Art Eggleton told the finance minister that the budget bill is extremely complex and that not all measures in it require urgent implementation, which is why the committee wanted it split.

“You’ve thrown in the kitchen sink here. In fact, most of this paper deals with things other than the stimulus package and you expect us to ram it right through,” Eggleton said. “Well, there is a responsibility we have in terms of due diligence."