WIECHNIK: SOUND THE ALARM: Carney’s scary clause in Bill C-15

While concerned citizens and political junkies were busy watching the latest Conservative pipeline motion get shot down in the House of Commons on Tuesday, the Liberals have been quietly pushing another Trojan Horse on the parliamentary floor.Hidden in the more than 600 pages of Bill C-15 (the Budget Implementation Bill), the Liberals have inserted a measure that would allow Prime Minister Mark Carney to grant cabinet ministers the extraordinary power to exempt any person or company from any federal law — except the Criminal Code — for up to six years.If approved, the measure would also let a cabinet minister exempt the testing of almost any product or service from federal law to encourage innovation or economic growth.The minister alone would define “public interest,” weigh risks versus benefits, and decide if oversight is sufficient — with taxpayers, not companies, footing the bill for any fallout.It seems that one of the only people who noticed this was Toronto Star columnist Althia Raj.Yes, that Toronto Star — the biggest bunch of Liberal cheerleaders this side of everyone’s favourite taxpayer‑funded media, the CBC.If the Star is worried, I guess everyone else should just assume the house is already on fire.In her December 6 piece, Raj says the measure “wasn’t included in the version of the Liberals’ Nov. 4 budget that was given to reporters and it was not discussed in the government’s speeches in Parliament about this bill.”.Elizabeth May says Carney government is 'breathtakingly anti-democratic'.She also went on to say that “no opposition party aside from the Bloc Québécois seems to have noticed it was there until the Star pointed it out.”Bloc finance critic Jean-Denis Garon told the Star that “The Liberal government is granting itself the right to evade the application of laws without going through Parliament.”From a Conservative point of view, it’s surprising that more noise hasn’t been made about this, especially considering even Elizabeth May chimed in recently, saying the clause was “concerning” and asking, “Why are ministers to be given such wide personal discretion to say laws don’t apply?”NDP House Leader Alexandre Boulerice (Rosemont—La Petite—Patrie) recently summed it up best when he said Mark Carney “is governing like he has a majority,” and this is example number... well, I’ve lost count.A prime minister is supposed to negotiate, compromise, and maybe — just maybe — listen to Canadians, their concerns, and the people they elected.Instead, it appears Carney’s going the bypass‑Parliament‑completely route with this one.Now it does seem that a couple of Conservative MPs are trying to raise the alarm.Better late than never, I suppose..On Tuesday, MP Chris Warkentin (Grande Prairie) said during the second reading of the bill that Carney was “preoccupied with his Brookfield bondholder and banker buddies” and that he was handing his cabinet ministers “a golden key to unlock any federal law for his favourite companies or buddies.”“It’s all justified with buzzwords like innovation and competitiveness,” Warkentin went on.“If they decide that someone or some company shouldn't have to abide by the law, they won’t have to. And who decides if this bill is passed? The prime minister or one of his ministers, alone in secret, based on their own fuzzy definition of what they call, quote, unquote, the public interest. No parliamentary debate, no transparency, no oversight.""Taxpayers will foot the bill for whatever mess they create or whatever goes wrong, and their well‑connected friends or companies — they’re off the hook. Tough luck for average Canadians.”Tough luck indeed.Dr. Leslyn Lewis (MP for Haldimand–Norfolk) has called out Carney and his cronies, saying they have been doing this sector by sector since he took power..On X, Lewis cited multiple bills such as Bill C‑2, which she says “centralizes discretion in border control, information‑sharing, and enforcement, reducing the role of courts through administrative decision‑making,” and Bill C‑9, which “redefines hate, exposing pastors and faith leaders to potential legal action for preaching traditional beliefs, with decisions driven by ministers.”The list goes on.Now Bill C‑15 has the potential to blow the doors off the whole system. As Lewis warns, this bill “would make them literally above the law.”She’s not exaggerating.With C‑15, the question isn’t “which laws can be ignored?” It’s “which ones can’t?”When a government grants itself the power to arbitrarily exempt companies from federal laws on a whim, Canadians should be asking questions.One question I can think of is what does this mean for Carney and his relationship with Brookfield?Carney served as the vice‑chair at Brookfield Asset Management (BAM), the asset‑management arm of Brookfield Corporation, where he chaired key funds focused on “transition investing” toward net zero emissions and directed billions into projects like renewable energy and carbon capture.For a firm like Brookfield, which is one of the most interconnected investment giants in the world and has its fingers in every little pie imaginable, this is a tailor‑made loophole.And let’s not forget, it’s not just Canada where these sorts of shenanigans are happening.Western democracies everywhere are moving toward more control and less freedom.The UK’s online safety laws, Germany’s speech restrictions, the EU’s vendetta against Elon Musk and X — all are part of a larger pattern of Western governments and their corporate friends tightening their grip on every aspect of society.Fair Vote Canada put it nicely: “The composition of a Parliament elected by first‑past‑the‑post may be wildly unrepresentative of how people voted, but the Parliament still has a meaningful authority to decide what gets done."“Bill C‑15 comes close to dispensing with that responsibility.”If it passes, Fair Vote suggests Parliament could essentially become little more than a focus group — something the prime minister can consult or ignore at his whim.Maybe that’s been the plan all along.

WIECHNIK: SOUND THE ALARM: Carney’s scary clause in Bill C-15

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