Couillard government to invoke closure on Bill 28
The Liberal government of Premier Philippe Couillard is set to get back to work a day early to push through a massive, multi-faceted piece of legislation.
MNAs will he holding a special session to invoke so-called closure measures to pass Bill 28.
The bill is titled "An Act mainly to implement certain provisions of the Budget Speech of 4 June 2014 and return to a balanced budget in 2015-2016". Finance Minister Carlos Leitao says the bill is crucial to budget balancing efforts.
Leitao accuses the opposition of dragging its feet, saying the normal review process has only allowed MNAs to get though fewer than 20 of the more than 300 articles in the bill.
One of the most high-profile measures is the end to the universal fee structure for publicly-funded daycares.
Last fall, the province said it was going to implement a sliding scale for daycare fees. The fee will climb as high as $20 per day per child, for families whose total annual income is more than $150,000.
Bill 28 will also eliminate two Quebec institutions, the local development centres (CLD) and regional councils of elected officials (CRÉ), in addition to reducing the overall pay package for the province's pharmacists by about $130-million.
This is the second time in recent months the government will have invoked closure to pass a bill.
In February, the government used the measure on Bill 10 to overhaul the administration of healthcare in Quebec.
There's speculation that the government might again use the measure to push through Bill 20, which would reform the way doctors in the province do their work.
