Ottawa

Can this baby be split?

In regards to the budget bill, the NDP has proposed the following motion to the Conservatives.

“That, notwithstanding any Standing Order or usual practice of the House, clauses 52 to 67, 163 to 169, 315 to 325, 578 to 594 and 699, be removed from Bill C-38, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 29, 2012 and other measures, and do compose Bill C-38A; that Bill C-38A be deemed read a first time and be printed; that the order for second reading and reference to the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development of the said Bill be printed in the Order Paper; that Bill C-38 be reprinted as amended; and that the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel be authorized to make any technical changes or corrections as may be necessary to give effect to this motion.”

Essentially, it would separate the environmental regulation changes from the budget bill to create a separate bill. The government side received the proposal this evening and a meeting between the two sides is scheduled for tomorrow.

Nathan Cullen seemed cautiously optimistic after QP this afternoon.

While the government was alluding and being quite negative towards our proposals in Question Period, the government did not say no. We sent an email just recently to the House Leader’s office suggesting that we’d be moving motions this afternoon. The government asked to see the language that we would be moving. We are now going to have a conversation with the government about what we’re proposing. Again, this is even happening in the Senate of all places.  Why it can’t happen in the House of Commons is beyond me. This is in fact good for the government’s own purposes. So let’s see if the government’s actually open to the idea. So until they say an outright no we’re going to continue to do the work that Canadians sent us to do.

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