PARLIAMENT HILL—The government tabled its omnibus budget bill Thursday, highlighting an overhaul of MP pensions that will see major reductions in what have been described as “gold-plated” pensions.
But the opposition is complaining that the 443-page bill contains a mass of changes to other legislation that should be broken up and debated separately. Meanwhile, Green Party leader Elizabeth May said the bill will gut one of the last pieces of federal environmental protection.
Maintaining Jobs and Growth
At a photo-op announcing the bill, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty touted the government’s relative success maintaining job growth amidst a turbulent global economy.
Speaking from a bike store in Ottawa Thursday, Flaherty pointed to the critical role small business play in the Canadian economy.
“While we are still combing through all the fine details, we certainly have seen some things we think are positive measures, [and] some things that we are very concerned about,” said NDP finance critic Peggy Nash.
“Our overall concern with this bill is that it is just such a large bill and once again they’ve thrown so much into it.”
NDP house leader Nathan Cullen joked the 443-page tome was good for weight-lifting, but complained there was little notice or explanation of what was in the bill.
“They have rammed together so many issues and topics that it is impossible for Parliament to do what Parliament is meant to do: hold government to account, understand exactly what it is we are voting for or voting against.”
NDP leader Thomas Mulcair rose during question period to demand the government split the bill. Harper deflected the demand by saying the government was focusing on creating jobs before taking a side-swipe at an NDP-proposed cap-and-trade system similar to what the Tories previously advocated for. Flaherty made similar comments during his announcement for the bill
Tax Credits
The new budget plan extends the Hiring Credit for Small Business, which was used by 534,000 employers last year. Nash said the NDP approves of the measure but wanted conditions put on the credits.
“It is something we have consistently proposed, but always linking tax credits and tax cuts to job creation, which this budget implementation act does not. It is yet again an across-the-board cut for small business.”
The bill also implements the Pooled Registered Pension Plans system and improves the Registered Disability Savings Plans. The government said the bill would improve environmental protections by strengthening the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, promoting clean energy and phasing out tax preferences for the mining and oil and gas sectors.
Environmental Protections Shrunk
Despite those improvements, the bill’s overall impact on environmental protection was called into question by Green MP and party leader Elizabeth May. She said the budget bill’s changes to the Navigable Waters Protection Act effectively gut one of the last pieces of federal legislation aimed at protecting the environment.
May says the bill continues a process seen in the previous omnibus budget bill whereby the government winnows down the number of times it has to issue permits for projects to proceed.
That winnowing effectively removes the federal government from the environmental review process. With the current budget bill, that withdrawal of federal responsibility has been extended to the Navigable Waters Protection Act.
“You wouldn’t need any permits from the Minister of Transport to destroy waterways or block waterways under at least this new navigation protection act, unless it was one of the 62 named rivers, or 100 lakes or oceans,” May said.
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