Yup, that’s what they are calling Bill C-9, The Budget Implementation Act. I testified before the Senate Finance Committee this morning about drastic changes to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act(CEAA). Doesn’t that sum up how degraded our parliamentary system has become; that the last chance to stop the gutting of CEAA is the Finance Committee of the Senate reviewing the Jobs and Economic Growth Act? No environmental committee gets to touch this bill. And it is not focused on jobs or economic growth either. In my opening, I suggested Senators re-read 1984 for the Orwellian influence.
I have blogged about this outrage before. Changes to Canada Post, the EI system, approving the sale of AECL and undermining environmental assessment forced through in a hurry because they have been stuck in the budget bill.
Many Senators are outraged. Not enough. Senator Lowell Murray tried valiantly to get the non-budgetary measures split out of the bill. If the Liberals had been told to all vote with the independents (and Lowell Murray is called an independent although he describes himself as Progressive Conservative) the effort to split the bill would have worked. Failing solid Liberal support, it failed.
Conservative Senator Stephen Greene muttered loudly and repeatedly “so pathetic” while I was explaining how this legislation turns the clock back on environmental assessment by several decades. Worse still is the damage to Parliament itself from stuffing unpalatable and controversial measures into the budget bill when they are clearly unrelated to the budget.
This is abuse of process. This is an affront to Canadian parliamentary traditions and to democracy.
If Stephen Harper were capable of shame, he should be ashamed. But the ruthless are often immune to shame…