Conservatives restarted a filibuster of Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland's budget bill on Thursday..According to Blacklock’s Reporter, MPs want to hear additional testimony from witnesses.. Raining moneyRaining money .“I don’t know why these Liberals want to make things so difficult for Canadians just to simply get the facts and understand the reality of the budget,” said Conservative MP Philip Lawrence (Northumberland-Peterborough South, ON). .“It’s almost as if they are allergic to transparency.”.“We want to hear from Canadians,” said Lawrence. .“We were willing to sit whether it be Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday to get this done. We were absolutely clear on this. I would put my honour on it.”.“You guys are not my boss,” said Lawrence. .“The Canadian people, the people of Northumberland, that’s who I get my marching orders from. That’s who I get instructions from, not from the Liberal government. My power does not come from you, it comes from the people, and I am here as their representative. I owe no one an apology for speaking.”.Bill C-47 the Budget Implementation Act has been before the committee for a month. Conservative MPs initially filibustered the bill after Minister Freeland would not agree to appear for two hours of questioning. Freeland finally testified on May 17..“We were able to break a marathon meeting which ran for approximately 27 hours or at least equivalent to 13 meetings,” said Liberal MP Peter Fonseca (Mississauga East-Cooksville, ON), Finance committee chair. .“It started Tuesday, May 2 at 11 a.m.”.“It was actually 27 hours,” said Fonseca. .“Twenty-seven hours.” .On Thursday, the conservatives used a strategy called talking out the clock to delay clause-by-clause votes on the bill..Lawrence asked the committee clerk to read the first of 681 clauses of Bill C-47 into the record. The bill runs 430 pages and introduces or amends 51 Acts of Parliament..“They want to filibuster,” said Liberal MP Terry Beech (Burnaby North-Seymour, BC), Finance parliamentary secretary. .“They want to delay. They are not interested in having a democratic debate.”.New Democrat MP Daniel Blaikie (Elmwood-Transcona, MB) opposed the filibuster. However, he acknowledged that the Opposition had the right to read the bill into the official record..“While I may not endorse some of the tactics I think are going on in this meeting, I do think it is an important right of Members to be able to ask for what we are considering to be read into the record,” said Blaikie..“I would hate to think that because we may have some legitimate grievances about the tactics of the meeting that we would set a poor precedent.”
Conservatives restarted a filibuster of Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland's budget bill on Thursday..According to Blacklock’s Reporter, MPs want to hear additional testimony from witnesses.. Raining moneyRaining money .“I don’t know why these Liberals want to make things so difficult for Canadians just to simply get the facts and understand the reality of the budget,” said Conservative MP Philip Lawrence (Northumberland-Peterborough South, ON). .“It’s almost as if they are allergic to transparency.”.“We want to hear from Canadians,” said Lawrence. .“We were willing to sit whether it be Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday to get this done. We were absolutely clear on this. I would put my honour on it.”.“You guys are not my boss,” said Lawrence. .“The Canadian people, the people of Northumberland, that’s who I get my marching orders from. That’s who I get instructions from, not from the Liberal government. My power does not come from you, it comes from the people, and I am here as their representative. I owe no one an apology for speaking.”.Bill C-47 the Budget Implementation Act has been before the committee for a month. Conservative MPs initially filibustered the bill after Minister Freeland would not agree to appear for two hours of questioning. Freeland finally testified on May 17..“We were able to break a marathon meeting which ran for approximately 27 hours or at least equivalent to 13 meetings,” said Liberal MP Peter Fonseca (Mississauga East-Cooksville, ON), Finance committee chair. .“It started Tuesday, May 2 at 11 a.m.”.“It was actually 27 hours,” said Fonseca. .“Twenty-seven hours.” .On Thursday, the conservatives used a strategy called talking out the clock to delay clause-by-clause votes on the bill..Lawrence asked the committee clerk to read the first of 681 clauses of Bill C-47 into the record. The bill runs 430 pages and introduces or amends 51 Acts of Parliament..“They want to filibuster,” said Liberal MP Terry Beech (Burnaby North-Seymour, BC), Finance parliamentary secretary. .“They want to delay. They are not interested in having a democratic debate.”.New Democrat MP Daniel Blaikie (Elmwood-Transcona, MB) opposed the filibuster. However, he acknowledged that the Opposition had the right to read the bill into the official record..“While I may not endorse some of the tactics I think are going on in this meeting, I do think it is an important right of Members to be able to ask for what we are considering to be read into the record,” said Blaikie..“I would hate to think that because we may have some legitimate grievances about the tactics of the meeting that we would set a poor precedent.”
