Canadians are calling on the federal government to abandon Bill C-38

OTTAWA -- In only one week, the Green Party of Canada has received over twenty thousand signatures on a petition calling for the Harper Government to scrap C-38 in favour of legislation that only deals with budget matters, leaving other changes for future bills.

“The response to this petition is incredible,” said Leader Elizabeth May, Member of Parliament for the BC riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands.  “It is clear that Canadians don’t like this bill.  They don’t like Stephen Harper abusing his majority to ram through a budget bill that is mostly about non-budget matters.”

“Canadians are asking Conservative Members of Parliament now to stand up and do the right thing: to respect democracy, to respect procedure, and to respect the values of Canada.”

“With C-38, the Harper Conservatives are subverting democracy by trying to sneak destructive and regressive measures into what is supposed to be a budget bill,” said May.

The petition also asks that the federal government ensure that any future legislation on the environment receives adequate study and debate before the appropriate committees by refraining from the use of time allocation.

The online petition can be found at http://www.greenparty.ca/c-38/petition