Ottawa senators are raising alarms over the growing size and complexity of federal budget bills, threatening to split unwieldy legislation they say undermines parliamentary scrutiny.
Blacklock's Reporter says areport from the Senate national finance committee highlights that Budget Implementation Acts, once concise and focused on financial matters, have ballooned into omnibus bills exceeding 600 pages, often containing unrelated or controversial measures.
The committee’s review cites the current Bill C-16, which runs 638 pages and includes provisions allowing expropriation of land for an electric railway in eastern Ontario.
“The 1994 Budget Implementation Act was only 24 pages long, whereas recent bills routinely exceed 600 pages,” the report states.
Senators warned that these lengthy bills hinder Parliament’s ability — and Canadians’ opportunity — to thoroughly examine legislation. They emphasized that the Senate “retain[s] the authority to divide bills if necessary.”
Historically, omnibus bills have sparked controversy.
Senators last rejected a cabinet bill in 1993, and in 2016 forced the Department of Finance to withdraw sections of a 236-page bill amending the Bank Act to protect consumers.
In 2017, a motion to split a budget measure establishing the $35-billion Canada Infrastructure Bank was narrowly defeated on a 38-38 tie.
Omnibus legislation has continued to grow.
A 2024 budget bill spanned 686 pages and amended 48 Acts of Parliament, prompting Bloc Québécois MP Gabriel Ste-Marie to call it “hundreds of pages of incomprehensible jargon for the average Canadian.”
A 2023 omnibus bill was 430 pages and amended or introduced 51 Acts.
In 2018, Parliament passed two omnibus bills totaling 1,411 pages, the largest in Canadian history.
One controversial 2018 measure, Bill C-74, amended the Criminal Code on page 555 to allow SNC-Lavalin Group to negotiate a “remediation agreement” to avoid prosecution for bribery.
In 2021, SNC-Lavalin became the first corporation in Canada to use the new settlement mechanism.