The federal government aims to end a month-long filibuster that has caused delays for Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland's omnibus budget bill in the Commons Finance committee. .A Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) referred to this filibuster as “arbitrary filibustering,” suggesting that it was intentionally disrupting the federal government's planned schedule, according to Blacklock’s Reporter..“What happens when you filibuster needlessly? Not for any real point,” said Liberal MP Terry Beech (Burnaby North-Seymour, BC), parliamentary secretary for Finance. .“The point is quite clear. The point is to obstruct the bill and to prevent it from passing or at least to delay it as long as possible.”.“All the Conservatives are doing by continuing this filibuster is proving the fact they intend to do nothing except obstruct for obstruction’s sake,” said Beech. .Beech proposed a motion at the Finance committee, suggesting that Conservatives be restricted to an additional 15 minutes of debate on Bill C-47 the Budget Implementation Act..Conservative MP Rick Perkins (South Shore-St. Margarets, NS) dismissed any notion of gamesmanship and emphasized the importance of thoroughly studying the far-reaching and costly bill..Minister Freeland “built up a level of distrust in this committee and in the House,” said Perkins..Liberal MP Peter Fonseca (Mississauga East-Cooksville, ON), who chairs the Finance committee, complained the bill was far behind schedule..“Last year, clause-by-clause took a total of five hours to complete,” said Fonseca. .“Thursday, we could only complete two clauses in five and a half hours.” .The bill has 681 clauses..“What The Heck Is Going On?”.“As of Thursday, we completed a total of 46 hours equivalent to at least 23 meetings for the subject matter in Bill C-47,” said Fonseca. .The committee gathered for five more hours on Friday to continue their meeting..“I am tired of these shenanigans,” said New Democrat MP Daniel Blaikie (Elmwood-Transcona, MB), who described the filibuster as a spectacle. .“All the Conservatives are doing right now is pissing away the time we have.”.“What the heck is going on here?” asked Blaikie. .“Why should anyone watching this be impressed? I am beyond the blame game. This is pathetic. It’s just pathetic. Shame on all of us for not finding a way out, but what’s going on doesn’t help anybody.”.Conservative MP Marty Morantz (Charleswood-St. James, MB) said the budget bill worth $496.6 billion warranted close scrutiny. .“This budget is approaching spending 25% of the GDP of this country,” said Morantz..“It is a massive expansion of government into the economy.”.“We need to have witnesses about omnibus bills,” said Morantz. .“This practice has gotten out of control.” .Bill C-47 amends or introduces 51 Acts of Parliament and runs to 430 pages..“An effective opposition is fundamental to good governance,” said Morantz. .“We know that because all we have to do is look around the world and see countries that don’t have an effective opposition. You know what happens in those countries? Bad things. We can see right now in Russia and in China and many other places.”
