Categories: Capital Read, Inside the Queensway

Behold the awesome power of the fall legislative agenda!

by kadyomalley on Wednesday, November 26, 2008 3:45pm - 21 Comments

Screenyoinked from parl.gc.ca earlier this afternoon:

theagendaisrobust

In the absence of evidence to the contrary, ITQ will blame this on the New Spirit of Cooperation ™, although we should note that we have also heard wild tales of PMO plans of a most cunning kind: an omnibus bill of a size and scope never before seen in Ottawa, currently pupating in the deepest reaches of Langevin, which will descend, plague of Egypt-style, on the House just before the Christmas break, on the theory that the Liberals, at the very least, won’t have the stomach to vote it down. (Hey, I warned you that it was wild; it would, however, explain the uncharacteristic legislative silence coming from Canada’s Newly Reelected Government.)

Tags: conspiracy theories, cunning plans, don't wake the kraken, house of commons, insect metaphors are harder than you'd think, parliamentary business

More by kadyomalley

http://carnewsandviews.com jwl

Do the rumours you hear say what the omnibus bill would cover, Kady.

I have this impression that Cons can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. How many stories were there a a week or two ago about all the initiatives that were going to be put on the backburner so Government could deal with economy. They made it sound like entire Cabinet would be getting minute by minute updates about economy and would respond accordingly so they didn’t have time/focus to deal with anything else.

I didn’t agree with much Obama said but I thought he was spot on when he said, in response to McCain wanting to cancel first debate, that leaders had to be able to deal with more than one issue at a time.
Andrew (not Potter or Coyne)

I think that such an omnibus bill would probably be a spectacularly bad idea.
Anon

There is no legislative agenda because the throne speech is still being debated, is that not right? But the omnibus thing, probably wiping out/merging departments etc may not be bad idea. The departure of Cruickshank (spelling?) from the CBC to Torstar may be a harbinger of things to come.
Geiseric the Lame

Brinkmanship or no, the Liberals need to vote the issues if they’re ever to have an identity of their own. I think fours years of opposition against a paid-in-full majority would be good for what ails them.
Michael

A brilliant legislative tactic!

Introduce it and get on with the job that needs to be done!
Dr Riff

jwl – the plague of egypt omnibus bill is covered in genesis 47:13 – 26. the reason i know this is because they got the idea from me.
kenneth

Why are people impressed with ‘brilliant’ tactics? The media have us trained to think process stories are important stories.
Wascally Wabbit

A vote of confidence in an omnibus bill you say?
first sign of the Giorno Machievellian Machinations (aka GMM)?
Well – it didn’t work for Harris – as I recall – so – let’s at it Guy!!
Wascally Wabbit

In soberseconf thought – make that G2M2 (Guy Giorno Mchaievellian Machinations)…
A variant on H2G2 – Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy…

Chief of Staff Giorno and his boss have clearly come up with the question to which the answer is – 42!
Expect the opposition to be catcalling 42 42 to Flaherty this afternoon!
Wascally Wabbit

Hot off the press Kady…
THIS will be a showstopper – they have outreached their grasp!!

The Honourable James Michael Flaherty, Canada’s visionary Finance Minister, has already obliterated fiscal responsibility by combining massive tax cuts with record spending, leading to a federal deficit. Now he is paying for that self-created deficit by taking aim at the very notion of free and fair elections by eliminating public campaign financing. In tomorrow’s fiscal update, Minister Flaherty will announce that he is withholding the $1.95 that the government pays political parties for each vote they receive. Coincidentally, I assume, the Conservative Party will be largely unaffected by the cuts due to its relatively strong financial situation. The Liberals will be devastated. The announcement will save the government $30-million, which is about one percent of one percent of the government’s total budget.

Public campaign financing is designed to remove the corrupting influence of large private donations. Without public financing, political parties are beholden to the will of those who can afford to finance them. Parties that typically do not attract support from the upper classes are severely limited in terms of their ability to operate, even though such parties might be extremely popular. A lack of public financing also disempowers those who cannot afford to make substantial donations to political parties. In a time of economic crisis, more and more families are prioritizing their money on the essentials and have no room for political contributions. Without public financing, those who cannot afford to donate have no capacity to financially support a political party, whereas under a public financing system they do so in virtue of voting for the party of their choice.

Given that the cost to the government is negligible and given that this move will devastate every political party except the Conservatives, I have no hesitation in calling this move a transparent attack on free and fair elections in Canada. Deficit Jim is using the cover of an economic crisis to undermine his political rivals and revert to a political system that is controlled by the economic elite.

Conservative Party insider Stephen Taylor has conceded as much in writing that “In this, the Conservatives aim to level a strategic blow to the Liberals”.

This will probably trigger another federal election, and rightfully so.
keith by the Bruce

“Minister Flaherty will announce that he is withholding the $1.95 that the government pays political parties for each vote they receive.” Good for steve . In less than 12 years this measure will pay for the out of fixed election date schedule just held .

Are public office holders not required to expose their pay . How much is steve’s ” top up pay ” from his political party ? Is this not a conflict of interest ?
Dr Riff

and if a single one of read the topic you’d know why it’s being done as it is, Genesis 47:13 – 26.

is that all you guys do is sit around and dream up ways to cry about stuff?
Brad

Dr. Riff

They’re introducing a flat tax?
keith by the Bruce

” is that all you guys do is sit around and dream up ways to cry about stuff? ”

If taxpayers refund up to 75% of donations to political parties and the cons pay steve a “top up” wage what tax rates does steve pay on his income paid from the con party ? Is the con party considered a religious organization thus Revenue Canada has no say ?
Dr Riff

nah what’s going on is like this. we live in a judeo christian society and it’s entrenched in our constitution hence we have ministers as leaders. plus we have an economic disaster that no-one had a plan for. and any of the plans that have been proposed involved giving a bunch of f#@%heads your hard earned dollars. and being ministers if they can be seen doing scriptural things, even better.

so we are now going to flog a bunch of surplus stuff tariff free to south america and in 18 months we’re going back and flogging more stuff. this will kickstart manufacturing. “APEC”

all these cts otherwise are trimming the fat and tripe off of government, before they ask the little guy to make even one more single sacrifice.
keith by the Bruce

all these cts otherwise are trimming the fat and tripe off of government, before they ask the little guy to make even one more single sacrifice.

Only reform alliance cons consider the public ” little guys ” ( little people to grown ups )
Dr Riff

by little guy i was quoting linda leatherdale and leona helmsley, what i’m saying is the taxpayer is first in line for any bailouts.
Andrew (not Potter or Coyne)

Wow Wascally, I wouldn’t expect you to be genuinely critical of this move.

This whole situation seems designed to break Paul’s first rule: Canadian politics always tend toward the most boring outcome.

I think one exception to that rule, of course, would be the 1995 referendum result, which was a real nail-biter. Or does that get counted as Quebec politics?
Dr Riff

Andrew: steve and me enterprises have ended separatism as follows -
“Les Quebecois form a nation within a united Canada”

go look up the word “nationalize” in the free online dictionary
Brad

From those wacky guys and gals at Wikipedia:

An Omnibus bill is a single document that is accepted in a single vote by a legislature but contains amendments to a number of other laws or even many entirely new laws. An example of these are the Omnibus spending bills regularly used by the American Congress to group together the budgets of all departments in one year. Another famous example of an omnibus bill is the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1968-69, a massive 126-page, 120-clause amendment to the Criminal Code of Canada, which dealt with issues as diverse as homosexuality, abortion, gambling, gun control and drunk driving.
Dr Riff

yeah for the zillionth time the plague of egypt omnibus bill is based in principle on Gen 47:13 -26