Advertisement

Conservative government will ‘probably set record’ for limiting debate in Parliament

Over the past several months, the opposition parties have complained 'ad nauseum,' about the Harper government's penchant to limit debate on legislation.

As chronicled in the Globe and Mail, the Conservatives have so far invoked time limits on bills relating to the gun registry, the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly, legislation to add more seats to the House of Commons, as well as two budget bills.
And on Wednesday, government house leader Peter Van Loan used time allocation yet again, to cut short debate on Bill C-11, the copyright legislation.

Professor Ned Franks told the Hill Times that no previous government has used time allocation at the rate of the Harper Conservatives.

"He's probably going to set a record, that's for sure," Franks said.

According to Tim Naumetz of the Hill Times, the Annotated Standing Orders of the House of Commons indicates that if the government stays on track, its current rate of time allocation is several times that of recent Liberal and Conservative governments.

"The last Conservative government of former prime minister Brian Mulroney used time allocation 30 times over three years from 1988 to 1993, while the Liberal government of former prime minister Jean Chrétien used it 30 times through his final term, over three years," Naumetz wrote.

"Former Liberal prime minister Paul Martin used time allocation only 14 times during his only majority government term, from 2003 to 2004."

Naumetz adds that after debate on the copyright bill, the Harper government will have already used time allocation 18 times since last September.
In addition to time allocations, the government has also used closure—abruptly ending debate regardless of its stage—twice since last June.

In October of 2002, in response to the number of times the Chretien government limited debate, Stephen Harper had this to say in the House of Commons:

"The government has used closure and time allocation more frequently than any previous government," said Harper according to the Globe and Mail.

But it seems that now in power, the Harper government has a different view.

In a statement released Wednesday, the Tories implied they have little choice but to limit debates.

"Last week the NDP revealed their true agenda - they intend to delay ALL legislation as long as possible. It explains why the NDP almost never agree to holding a vote on legislation in the House of Commons.," the statement published at CBC.ca noted.

"If the NDP had their way, Canada would go the way of other countries where political gridlock and indecision has led to economic uncertainty which threatens the world economy. That is not what Canadians want from their government."