WHAT will it take? Seriously what WILL it take for Canadians to wake up to their own government’s blatant disrespect for Parliament and outright attack on our democracy?.In an open letter to Canadians on November 4, 2015, when, reflecting on a major promise he had made during the recent election, brand new prime minister just-in power Justin Trudeau stated: “We committed to set a higher bar for openness and transparency in Ottawa. Government and its information must be open by default. Simply put, it is time to shine more light on government to make sure it remains focused on the people…”.Reassuring words, however, let’s examine his track record since taking office nearly six years ago. .To begin, allow me to make a passing reference to the many personal scandals that Mr. Trudeau has brought upon himself, some of which either resulted in precedent-setting ethics convictions or barely avoided such..His dismissal of a young reporter’s claim that he groped her as “people can experience interactions differently”, his numerous and now infamous incidents of wearing racist brown and blackface makeup, the widespread international scorn and derision heaped upon him for channeling Mr. Dressup in India, his Christmas vacation on the Aga Kahan’s luxurious private Caribbean island….Or when his impatience and childish temper-tantrum resulted in Elbowgate on the floor of the House of Commons, and who can forget his flippant, sarcastic comment to an indigenous woman who interrupted a Liberal Party fundraiser to protest about poor living conditions on her reserve. Ahhh, you can’t buy memories like that. Wait a minute, I guess as a taxpayer, you and I have. .Now let me focus instead on some of the times over the past five years that he has used his MPs to filibuster, obfuscate or otherwise delay Parliament’s attempt to get to the truth on a wide variety of issues of concern to Canadians. Or flagrantly, and arrogantly dismissed legitimate questions from the opposition or reporters..Remember a company named SNC-Lavalin? It was discovered for five years up to 2009 they made illegal donations to the federal Liberal Party totally over $110,000. The Liberals allegedly learned of the illegal activity in 2016 but failed to make it public for three years. Some openness..Around the same time, the Ethics Commissioner found ethics laws had been breached when Prime Minister Trudeau and his staff attempted to undermine an impartial decision by federal prosecutors to apparently “save jobs” at this very same company..When pressure didn’t convince the Attorney General to offer SNC-Lavalin a deferred prosecution agreement, MP Jody Wilson-Raybould and her supportive cabinet colleague, Jane Philpott, not only lost their cabinet positions but were expelled from the Liberal Party. Then when the Justice Committee was about to get to the truth of what really happened, the Liberals used their majority to shut down the investigation. Transparency? You be the judge..Do you recall that exactly one year ago Prime Minister Trudeau announced his government was contracting the WE Charity to deliver $912 million that would pay students to volunteer over the summer? .When it was revealed Trudeau family members had been paid hefty fees to speak at WE events, and the Prime Minister had not recused himself from the cabinet decision to award WE the contract, the public backlash was predictably damning. Rather than see the investigation, and criticism continue, PM Trudeau simply prorogued parliament to shut down any further exploration of the facts. Transparency like mud, eh?.While I could go on and on with other examples, I’m rapidly running out of column inches so I must get to the point..So we come to this past week and a parliamentary full-frontal assault on free speech as contained in Bill C-10 which was not only rammed through the House of Commons with the use of time allocation, but likewise the almost unprecedented use of this closure process to shut down debate on amendments at the committee! .These tactics resulted in the Liberal Speaker of the House of Commons being forced to rule the “secret amendments null and void” because Conservative MPs had been granted no time to consider or debate them. Zero transparency..Now the latest blow to open democracy from our dictatorial Prime Minister. For months the opposition parties have been raising legitimate questions about a Chinese couple that were scientists at Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg and the export of samples of the Ebola and Henipah viruses to the lab in Wuhan, China..The opposition parties for once united and demanded to see unredacted documents. Such a demand from our country’s parliament supposedly represents the highest law of the land, but Iain Stewart, President of Public Health Agency of Canada, refused. .Over the protest of Liberal MPs, the opposition passed a motion to have Mr. Stewart appear “before the bar” in the House of Commons. The first time since 1913 a private citizen has been so summoned. Yet he still refused to turn over the documents. Why the Sergeant-at-Arms didn’t immediately arrest him I don’t know. In 1913 he would have been. .The result? Our Liberal government then files a lawsuit in federal court against their own Liberal Speaker of the House of Commons! .The reason is obvious. This is a Prime Minister so convinced that he doesn’t answer to Parliament (or anyone else) that he will do anything to delay complying with its lawful order..Instead he will call an unnecessary election, hoping he can reclaim his majority so he will have sufficient votes to bury this as he has everything else over the past five years..Transparency? I think quite the opposite Mr. Trudeau. .Have Canadians learned nothing from history? .Lack of transparency = lack of accountability = corruption. Or worse. .Hill is the interim leader of the federal Maverick Party
WHAT will it take? Seriously what WILL it take for Canadians to wake up to their own government’s blatant disrespect for Parliament and outright attack on our democracy?.In an open letter to Canadians on November 4, 2015, when, reflecting on a major promise he had made during the recent election, brand new prime minister just-in power Justin Trudeau stated: “We committed to set a higher bar for openness and transparency in Ottawa. Government and its information must be open by default. Simply put, it is time to shine more light on government to make sure it remains focused on the people…”.Reassuring words, however, let’s examine his track record since taking office nearly six years ago. .To begin, allow me to make a passing reference to the many personal scandals that Mr. Trudeau has brought upon himself, some of which either resulted in precedent-setting ethics convictions or barely avoided such..His dismissal of a young reporter’s claim that he groped her as “people can experience interactions differently”, his numerous and now infamous incidents of wearing racist brown and blackface makeup, the widespread international scorn and derision heaped upon him for channeling Mr. Dressup in India, his Christmas vacation on the Aga Kahan’s luxurious private Caribbean island….Or when his impatience and childish temper-tantrum resulted in Elbowgate on the floor of the House of Commons, and who can forget his flippant, sarcastic comment to an indigenous woman who interrupted a Liberal Party fundraiser to protest about poor living conditions on her reserve. Ahhh, you can’t buy memories like that. Wait a minute, I guess as a taxpayer, you and I have. .Now let me focus instead on some of the times over the past five years that he has used his MPs to filibuster, obfuscate or otherwise delay Parliament’s attempt to get to the truth on a wide variety of issues of concern to Canadians. Or flagrantly, and arrogantly dismissed legitimate questions from the opposition or reporters..Remember a company named SNC-Lavalin? It was discovered for five years up to 2009 they made illegal donations to the federal Liberal Party totally over $110,000. The Liberals allegedly learned of the illegal activity in 2016 but failed to make it public for three years. Some openness..Around the same time, the Ethics Commissioner found ethics laws had been breached when Prime Minister Trudeau and his staff attempted to undermine an impartial decision by federal prosecutors to apparently “save jobs” at this very same company..When pressure didn’t convince the Attorney General to offer SNC-Lavalin a deferred prosecution agreement, MP Jody Wilson-Raybould and her supportive cabinet colleague, Jane Philpott, not only lost their cabinet positions but were expelled from the Liberal Party. Then when the Justice Committee was about to get to the truth of what really happened, the Liberals used their majority to shut down the investigation. Transparency? You be the judge..Do you recall that exactly one year ago Prime Minister Trudeau announced his government was contracting the WE Charity to deliver $912 million that would pay students to volunteer over the summer? .When it was revealed Trudeau family members had been paid hefty fees to speak at WE events, and the Prime Minister had not recused himself from the cabinet decision to award WE the contract, the public backlash was predictably damning. Rather than see the investigation, and criticism continue, PM Trudeau simply prorogued parliament to shut down any further exploration of the facts. Transparency like mud, eh?.While I could go on and on with other examples, I’m rapidly running out of column inches so I must get to the point..So we come to this past week and a parliamentary full-frontal assault on free speech as contained in Bill C-10 which was not only rammed through the House of Commons with the use of time allocation, but likewise the almost unprecedented use of this closure process to shut down debate on amendments at the committee! .These tactics resulted in the Liberal Speaker of the House of Commons being forced to rule the “secret amendments null and void” because Conservative MPs had been granted no time to consider or debate them. Zero transparency..Now the latest blow to open democracy from our dictatorial Prime Minister. For months the opposition parties have been raising legitimate questions about a Chinese couple that were scientists at Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg and the export of samples of the Ebola and Henipah viruses to the lab in Wuhan, China..The opposition parties for once united and demanded to see unredacted documents. Such a demand from our country’s parliament supposedly represents the highest law of the land, but Iain Stewart, President of Public Health Agency of Canada, refused. .Over the protest of Liberal MPs, the opposition passed a motion to have Mr. Stewart appear “before the bar” in the House of Commons. The first time since 1913 a private citizen has been so summoned. Yet he still refused to turn over the documents. Why the Sergeant-at-Arms didn’t immediately arrest him I don’t know. In 1913 he would have been. .The result? Our Liberal government then files a lawsuit in federal court against their own Liberal Speaker of the House of Commons! .The reason is obvious. This is a Prime Minister so convinced that he doesn’t answer to Parliament (or anyone else) that he will do anything to delay complying with its lawful order..Instead he will call an unnecessary election, hoping he can reclaim his majority so he will have sufficient votes to bury this as he has everything else over the past five years..Transparency? I think quite the opposite Mr. Trudeau. .Have Canadians learned nothing from history? .Lack of transparency = lack of accountability = corruption. Or worse. .Hill is the interim leader of the federal Maverick Party
