{"id":11329,"date":"2020-03-27T09:06:17","date_gmt":"2020-03-27T13:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/?p=11329"},"modified":"2023-07-24T20:58:27","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T00:58:27","slug":"liberals-machiavellian-power-grab-defeated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/?p=11329","title":{"rendered":"Liberal\u2019s Machiavellian Power Grab \u201cDefeated\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Niagara Independent, March 27, 2020 \u2013 <\/em>Partisan politics at any time is ugly, but during a national crisis partisan politics can be detestable. With the Liberal Government\u2019s attempted end-run around Parliament this week, Canadians saw the very worst kind of political power-play. It was a calculated maneuver to sidestep Canada\u2019s foremost democratic institution and ensconce the Prime Minister and his Cabinet with unassailable powers through an extended period of time. Even for former PM Jean Chretien advisor Warren Kinsella, it was daringly Machiavellian: \u201cYou cannot use a national emergency as a pretext to turn a Parliamentary minority into a de facto majority with no opposition. It is unethical and fundamentally wrong. It squanders, in 10 minutes, whatever goodwill Justin Trudeau had built up over 10 days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Political commentators were challenged to come up with insightful parallels to explain what was unfolding in Ottawa this week. Many reflected on the challenges democracies faced during WWII. Through the bombing of London, British PM Winston Churchill faced Parliament to address his government\u2019s actions to turn the tide against the Nazi terror. At the same time, Canadian PM MacKenzie King faced Parliament to argue the necessity for conscription to meet the country\u2019s commitments to the war effort. As these parliamentary experiences reveal, during a time of crisis our Westminster model of Parliament proves indispensable, not only contributing to responsible decision-making, but also providing its citizens with demonstrative leadership and reassurances that their elected leaders are considering all options in the best interests of all.<\/p>\n

The echoes from these past troubled times served to underscore just how disturbing it is that the Liberals would attempt their unconstitutional overreach of power during a national crisis. On Tuesday morning the Prime Minister assured Canadians that he respected the country\u2019s democratic institutions. However, Liberals\u2019 actions speak louder than their Leader\u2019s words, for had the Liberal backroom strategists been successful Trudeau would have erased Canada\u2019s traditional parliamentary checks and balances.\u00a0National Post<\/em>\u00a0political reporter John Ivison sums it up as \u201ca Liberal plan to effectively neuter Parliament for 21 months.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the centre of this controversy is the Liberals\u2019 \u201cTrojan horse;\u201d a piece of legislation they rolled out to enact $82 billion of promised relief to Canadians \u2014 and a poison pill hidden within. The story broke on Monday night when Global News revealed the Liberals\u2019 emergency bill was to grant \u201cextraordinary new powers to spend, borrow and tax without having to get the approval of opposition MPs until December 2021.\u201d Global News described the new powers as \u201chighly unusual\u201d since \u201cThe Canadian Constitution enshrines taxation as a power of the parliamentary branch.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Liberals\u2019 package provided all the necessary legislative authorities to implement the $82 billion of aid funding announced by the Prime Minister. The legislation permitted augmenting the GST\/HST credit and the Canada Child Benefit, implementing a \u201ctemporary wage subsidy,\u201d and amending the Employment Insurance. It included support for the private sector relating to deposit insurance coverage, measures with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Export Development Corporation and Farm Credit Corporation. Finally, the package contained measures that would authorize additional transfers to the provinces and territories. This was the gift horse.<\/p>\n

What was not expected was what was hidden within: additional measures that would empower the government to unilaterally raise taxes without Parliamentary approval and amend tax laws through regulation.\u00a0The legislation would create a new law to authorize the Minister of Health and Minister of Finance to spend \u201call money required to do anything\u201d in relation to a public health crisis. The Health Minister would also be able to use any health information from authorities and the Cabinet would be given the power to circumvent patent protection to \u201cmake, construct, use and sell a patented invention to the extent necessary.\u201d The Trudeau Cabinet would have the power to exercise these provisions for 21 months, through to the end of 2021.<\/p>\n

The outcry to this power-play was immediate. A\u00a0Hill Times<\/em>\u00a0editorial assessed, \u201cIt would be unconscionable for any government, whether they hold the majority or the minority of seats in the House, to propose giving themselves unfettered powers in a time like this.\u201d The Leader of Her Majesty\u2019s Official Opposition, Conservative Andrew Scheer said: \u201cIn a crisis, broad all-party agreement is essential\u2026 we are prepared to have Parliament sit as needed to transact the business of Parliament.\u00a0 But we will not give the government unlimited power to raise taxes without a parliamentary vote. We will authorize whatever spending measures are justified to respond to the situation but we will not sign a blank cheque.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, noon Tuesday, Liberals sheepishly acknowledged their overreach and promised to revise the legislation. The House of Commons convened and MPs immediately suspended so that the Parties could agree on an acceptable set of conditions for governing the country through the crises. At 3 a.m. Wednesday, after 15-hours of backroom negotiations, MPs reconvened in the House to debate the new legislation, and this was passed just before the morning sunrise.<\/p>\n

That revised legislation was markedly different, with significant concessions made to the original Liberal package. In the approved legislation, the Government:<\/p>\n