"Shut the #!*% up!"
When the Liberals had a majority, they used to end debate pretty quickly. In the case of the current omnibus crime bill, all of the measures have been thoroughly debated already. So for NDP MPs like Pat Martin, who used profanity on their Twitter account to whine about it, and telling a follower to "F--k off" without an apology (I don't really care about that, but his vitriol is wanting), at this pace, someone's going to need him to eat soap. In other words, with a Conservative majority and a mandate in place, he'd better get used to it.
John Ivison from the National Post has some "Advice for the opposition parties: Shut the #!*% up!"
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Conservatives were set to use their majority to shut down debate on the omnibus crime bill at the justice committee Thursday, and have used time allocation on six other bills to speed their passage through the House of Commons. (In the event, after the cameras switched off, MPs agreed on a compromise that will see them come back to debate again next week.)
Judging by the response, you'd think they had suspended habeas corpus. "A stunning assault on democracy," frothed Green leader Elizabeth May. "A hijacking of democracy," said Liberal Irwin Cotler.
Mr. Cotler, who should know better, was in full flow. "If we pass these nine bills in their present form - we will have the exact opposite of what we seek: more crime, less justice and more cost," he told the committee.
That may very well be the case - and there are certainly many shortcomings in the crime bill. But his opinion on its worth should not be confused with the government's right to pass legislation on which it was elected. It's not as if the various component bills that make up the Safe Streets and Communities Act have not been debated in Parliament. The bill as it stands has had four days of debate, comprising 16 hours and 53 speeches, not to mention nine days at committee. But much of its content has been hanging around Parliament since the Conservatives were elected in 2006. In total, including review in the Senate, the component bills have had 53 days of debate, made up of 95 hours and 261 speeches, since they were first introduced, according to the House leader's office. Not quite the trampling of democracy the opposition parties suggest.
In fact, most of the legislation in front of the House has been thoroughly aired - bills to modernize copyright, kill the long-gun registry, open up the wheat board, and create more seats in the House of Commons have all appeared in one form or another in previous parliaments.
Almost by definition, the opposition parties don't agree with them - nor should they. But the Conservatives won the right to push through their agenda at the last election, after years of seeing half their bills killed by elections, prorogation and opposition tactics.
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h/t Dr. Roy
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4 comments:
hmmmm, most politicos are aholes. heh. profane nah. most political comment in canada is immaterial, means nothing, just drivel.
What we need is a leader that will make sensible decisions. Our laws don't need to be more controlling, they just need to make more sense. this mess is just something new to bog down the system even further. Small federal government+significant provincial government= good government.
When Quebec stops getting the Lion's share of government directed industry and transfer payments, when drug laws are completely rethought, and when People see American corporate interests held to the same standards that we expect from our own industries, maybe we will have a government I can believe in.
Regarding the comment about corporate interests, I am referring to the American dairy industry trying to break into Canada in a much larger way. Well, the Americans have allowed Monsanto to produce a hormone supplement for the American Dairy indusry that has been banned in Canada, but approved in the States. I see this as a dangerous dilemna that will likely be decided based on profitability.
Our neighbor to the South should have no impact on our government other than to be a trade partner without political or corporate manipulation of our government. The new hysteria about drugs in Harper's government would not meet approval if his own members of parliament were allowed to vote their conscience instead of the Party line.
Since you're on the topic of eastern provinces, lets talk about Ontario. 1 billion dollars wasted on G20 summit, building a fake lake next to the worlds largest body of fresh water. Then there's the 20 billion dollar interest free loans just in 2009/2010 alone, then there's the city of Ottawa, 25 billion per year spent in contracting for things like building maintenance, wasteful luxury spending on everything under the sun. That's around 46 billion alone spent in about a year in Ontario. Then there's Toronto, where the chartered banks are getting money at %1 and charging massive margin passing it onto the consumers in an invisible tax. No other province has even a fifth of the government handouts and gets to write profitable loans on money that came from hard working dollars created in Alberta from exports of Oil and exports of other raw materials that take a lot of labour to produce. Then there's your taxes, that constantly flow into Ottawa and the stuff that comes back to you you have to pay interest on charged by Ontario's chartered banks (BMO (a toronto bank), Toronto Dominion (another toronto bank), CIBC (another toronto bank), Royal Bank (another chartered toronto bank), and the list goes on.
Alberta has a few credit unions and treasury branches, none with the really lucrative charters.
Don't forget, Harper is from Ontario. Notice how he hasn't moved federal jobs to Alberta? Alberta pays for those too, might as well get some.
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