Inside Politics

UPDATED - 10 committees, 6 days, one 450-page budget bill to examine

by Kady O'Malley Posted: November 1, 2012 2:15 PM Last Updated: November 1, 2012 3:53 PM
Last night, the finance committee agreed to accept the government's proposal to divvy up consideration of the omnibudget bill between no fewer than ten separate committees -- an apparent concession that was, at least initially hailed, as a small but important triumph by the opposition. 

A quick scan of the fine print, however, reveals such stringent deadlines throughout the process that it appears that the bill won't even undergo committee scrutiny as scrupulous as that received by its predecessor last spring: just six sitting days, total, in fact, once you factor in the looming week-long Remembrance Day recess, and likely considerably less time at the table, given the notice required to set up meetings, select and invite witnesses and draft a report to send back to the main committee. 

In fact, it's hard not to conclude that, had opposition parties not been so quick to abandon any attempt to delay second reading in favour of fighting amongst themselves over who should get credit for seemingly forcing the government's hand, they may well have been able to negotiate a bit more time at the committee table.

According to the motion -- which passed with the support of the NDP despite some initial grumbling on the opposition side over what should really have been seen as a harbinger of hurrying tactics to come; namely, the lack of time they were given to consider it -- committee chair James Rajotte was instructed to contact, "as promptly as possible," the chairs of those committees that will be charged with studying the sections of the bill that are directly relevant to their mandate and/or area of expertise --Aboriginal Affairs, Agriculture, Citizenship and Immigration, Environment, Fisheries, Health, Human Resources, Justice, Public Safety and Transport. 

Once the invitation has been officially  extended, those committees will have until the afternoon of November 20th -- which, as noted earlier, works out to a maximum of six sitting days, and very likely even less time in practice -- to select, invite and hear from witnesses and put together their respective recommendations. 

(According to the motion, those recommendations can indeed include proposed amendments, despite some initial concern that, by not truly splitting the bill, but just the workload, the government had effectively eliminated any opportunity for opposition members to put forward specific changes to the bill, although given the numbers, it's unlikely that any such amendments will make it to finance without the support of Conservative members.) 

In any case, those reports -- or sub-reports, perhaps, might be a better term -- must be submitted to Rajotte, in both official languages, no later than 5pm, which will allow the main committee to begin clause-by-clause review the following day, with a preemptive five-minute-per-party time limit on debate of each clause, and a hard deadline of midnight, with the bill to be reported back to the House on Thursday, November 21.

With the House set to adjourn for the holidays on December 14th, that will give the government three full weeks to trundle the bill through report and third reading, which effectively removes any leverage the opposition may otherwise have been able to bring to bear during the traditional pre-Christmas legislative blitz, when time -- specifically, House time -- becomes very much of the essence. 

UPDATE - Not only did the time crunch make the first round of Question Period today, with both opposition parties imploring the government to reconsider hitting the fast-forward on committee stage, but interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae challenged the PM to "direct" those committees to meet during the Remembrance Day break week, which he quite reasonably demurred to do, reminding Rae that they are, after all, masters of their respective agendas. 

After QP, Liberal House Leader Marc Garneau sought unanimous consent for a motion crafted along similar lines. Not surprisingly, it was denied.  

The full text of the motion:

That, in relation to the Order of Reference of Tuesday, October 30, 2012, respecting Bill C-45, A second Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 29, 2012 and other measures,

(a) the Chair of the Standing Committee write, as promptly as possible, to the Chairs of the following Standing Committees inviting those Standing Committees to consider the subject-matter of the following provisions of the said Bill:

(i) the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, clauses 206 to 209,

(ii) the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food, clauses 351 to 410,

(iii) the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, clauses 308 to 314,

(iv) the Standing Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Development, clauses 425 to 432,

(v) the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, clauses 173 to 178,

(vi) the Standing Committee on Health, clauses 269 to 298,

(vii) the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, clauses 219 to 232,

(viii) the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, clauses 210 to 218,

(ix) the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, clauses 264 to 268, and

(x) the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, clauses 156 to 165, 179 to 184, 316 to 350 and 411 to 424, and schedules 1 and 2;

 (b) each of the Standing Committees, listed in paragraph (a), be requested to convey recommendations, including any suggested amendments, in both official languages, in relation to the provisions considered by them, in a letter to the Chair of the Standing Committee on Finance, in both official languages not later than 5 p.m. on Tuesday, November 20, 2012;

(c) any amendments suggested by the other Standing Committees, in the recommendations conveyed pursuant to paragraph (b), shall be deemed to be proposed during the clause-by-clause consideration of Bill C-45, provided that the recommendations are received prior to the relevant clauses being considered, and further provided that the members of the Standing Committee on Finance may propose amendments notwithstanding the recommendations received from the other Standing Committees;

(d) the Committee shall proceed to clause-by-clause consideration of Bill C-45 no later than Wednesday, November 21, 2012, provided that the Chair may limit debate on each clause to a maximum of five minutes per party per clause before the clause is brought to a vote;

(e) amendments to Bill C-45, other than the amendments deemed to be proposed pursuant to paragraph (c), be submitted to the Clerk of the Committee 48 hours prior to clause-by-clause consideration and distributed to members in both official languages; and

(f) if the Committee has not completed the clause-by-clause consideration of Bill C-45 by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, November 21, 2012, the Chair shall put, forthwith and successively, without further debate or amendment, each and every question necessary to dispose of clause-by-clause consideration of the Bill, to report the Bill to the House, and to order the Chair to report the Bill to the House on or before Thursday, November 22, 2012.

UPDATE: Here's the template for the letters that finance committee chair James Rajotte is sending out to his counterparts at the committees being invited to take part: FINA - C-45 - October 31, 2012

Tags: blackberry jungle, fine print, omnibudget II