To move its budget bill out of the Commons Finance committee, the Trudeau government has given notice that it plans to use closure.. Justin Trudeau .According to Blacklock’s Reporter, until Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland agrees to a two-hour questioning session, Conservative MPs are prolonging the debate by filibustering the budget bill..“The fact the current filibuster has seen us lose 20 hours of committee time that could have been spent hearing from witnesses is indicative of the need to set a deadline,” said Liberal MP Yvan Baker (Etobicoke Centre, ON). .Baker gave notice cabinet will force the committee to pass the bill by 4 p.m. EST on Friday, May 26..“End this filibuster so that we can get the Budget Implementation Act passed,” said Baker..“I am making sure members are aware of the intention here. I am giving notice.”.Bill C-47 runs to 430 pages and amends or introduces 51 separate Acts of Parliament..The Opposition has refused to let the bill come to a Finance committee vote until Freeland appears for questioning..“The minister won’t come to defend this bad budget for two hours,” said Conservative MP Rick Perkins (South Shore-St. Margarets, NS). .“I understand that. Perhaps it is because she’s embarrassed it is such a bad budget.”.New Democrat MP Daniel Blaikie (Elmwood-Transcona, MB) said the filibuster should be brought to a close..“We are running out of time,” said Blaikie..“We live in a majority decision-making context,” said Blaikie..“That’s what the House of Commons is. You need a simple majority to decide virtually every question.”.“But we have to be able to put the question in order to make those decisions and at a certain point having a minority of people on the committee hold up the possibility of making a decision at all simply because they don’t like the decision that’s going to be made or because they want this thing or they want that thing becomes a problem,” said Blaikie..This year, the Liberal government plans to spend $496.6 billion and half-a-trillion-dollar budgets are expected in the future..The current deficit is $40.1 billion and the government has not balanced a budget since 2007..Additionally, the interest charges on the national debt will cost $43.9 billion, $19.5 billion more than the pre-pandemic cost of $24.4 billion, representing an 80% increase..Budget Officer Yves Giroux's testimony on April 18 at the Senate National Finance committee shows that the spending plans represent a significant milestone in the federal budget..“The government projects $500 billion in annual spending over the next two or three years,” said Giroux..“We are going over a psychological hurdle, a very large one.”.“Has the government lost control of its spending?” asked Giroux..“I don’t know.”
