Discussion · Government Orders
Dan Albas Conservative
“I oppose part of this bill because it gives the government too much power forever. An older bill let the government ignore almost any law during an emergency, but that power was supposed to end after five years. This bill removes that end date. I want to know if the member agrees that this hurts Parliament.”
“Mr. Speaker, I certainly appreciate my fellow British Columbian, the member of Parliament for Saanich—Gulf Islands, and her intervention today. I know she is very passionate. She is a parliamentarian because she cares about this place. Part of the tradition of this place is making sure that there are reasonable expectations on the executive and she talked about the massive powers the Liberals justified in Bill C-5 that gave them essentially the ability to exempt almost any law. At the time, they justified it under an emergency, so Parliament set a five-year sunset clause on it. Clause 102 in Bill C-39 removes that stop, giving future governments complete access to all of those powers from there on in. What does she have to say about those expanded powers for the executive at the expense of Parliament?”
Mr. Speaker, I certainly appreciate my fellow British Columbian, the member of Parliament for Saanich—Gulf Islands, and her intervention today. I know she is very passionate. She is a parliamentarian because she cares about this place. Part of the tradition of this place is making sure that there are reasonable expectations on the executive and she talked about the massive powers the Liberals justified in Bill C-5 that gave them essentially the ability to exempt almost any law. At the time, they justified it under an emergency, so Parliament set a five-year sunset clause on it. Clause 102 in Bill C-39 removes that stop, giving future governments complete access to all of those powers from there on in. What does she have to say about those expanded powers for the executive at the expense of Parliament?