UPDATED - Omnibudget Watch: So, now what?

With the omnibudget now heading to the finance committee in its original, intact form, the time for passive aggressive parliamentary resistance would seem to have, well, passed, at least until the behemoth bill returns to the Chamber for a final round of debate later this month.

So far, the NDP has kept admirably, if somewhat infuriatingly mum on exactly what tricks and/or treats it may have in store for the government during the next stage of the battle  -- other than the launch of the Hallowe'en-themed monsterbill.ca, that is.

But a quick check of recent committee minutes may provide some clues on what we can expect to see from the opposition in the days to come.

Earlier this week, Megan Leslie introduced a motion at Environment, which, if accepted, would have tasked the committee with studying proposed changes to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, and report its findings back to the House "no later than" next Monday.

Alas, as has become standard practice under this government, the mere act of reading it into the record triggered was sufficient for the Conservatives to force the subsequent discussion behind closed doors, where its ultimate fate will almost certainly remain a mystery, at least officially, since all such matters are protected by parliamentary privilege. 

(One can, however, eventually come to one's own conclusions on what likely happened in camera if no such study is undertaken.)

It turns out that Leslie isn't the only opposition MP who has been quietly laying the groundwork for a little extracurricular examination of the finance-bound omnibudget bill.

Over at Justice, Liberal MP Denis Coderre was able to squeeze in his proposal to go over the provisions related to judicial salaries at the end of a public session, although as was the case with Leslie's motion, the ensuing debate was held off the record.

Similar motions are, or will soon be on notice at Public Safety, Fisheries and Transport -- and it's worth stressing that there may be others that were tabled behind closed doors, and, as such, cannot be confirmed even by the mover without breaching privilege.