Outrage over omnibus bill coming from a glass house

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This article was published 09/05/2024 (697 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“Will the premier apologize to Manitobans for denying them their democratic rights?”

— Interim Tory leader Wayne Ewasko, during question period this week.

“There’d be no reason to delay them. We ran on them, got a mandate from Manitobans to do these things. If they want to fight the bill, that’s their choice.”

— Former PC premier Brian Pallister regarding a 2019 omnibus budget bill by the Tories that included a cut to the provincial sales tax.

“Manitobans should be concerned that our current government is willing to ram through concerning pieces of legislation in the middle of the night.”

— NDP MLA for St. James, Adrien Sala in November 2020, in correspondence to the Winnipeg Free Press regarding that year’s PC government’s omnibus budget bill.

Earlier this week, the Manitoba Progressive Conservatives loudly complained about the Kinew government’s decision to table a rather large omnibus spending bill, saying that it was an unfair move by the NDP to curtail rightful public scrutiny.

I have no love for omnibus bills, but something about those living in glass houses comes to mind.

As reported by both the Winnipeg Free Press and The Canadian Press this week, Bill 37, the Budget Implementation and Tax Statutes Amendment Act 2024 — known by its acronym, BITSA — is a normal procedural bill that is brought before the legislature to enact measures contained in the spring budget.

But this particular piece of legislation includes a host of other acts and amendments on the NDP agenda.

They include amendments to the provision for the fuel tax holiday — the suspension of the 14-cent-per-litre provincial gas that took effect Jan. 1 and expires at the end of September— that will allow the government to change the fuel tax by regulation, rather than legislation.

Also included is the Labour Relations Amendment Act to ban replacement workers during a lockout or strike and make it easier to form a union by requiring a simple majority of workers to join a union — a bill that was blocked by the Opposition Progressive Conservatives, who repeatedly stood on procedural matters to delay government business after it was introduced in March.

Other proposed changes in the legislation include a boost to rebates given to political parties and candidates for election expenses under the election financing law, and the establishment of a seniors advocate who would report to the legislature, among other things..

In a press release issued yesterday afternoon, the Opposition says the new laws under Bill 37 will give the NDP extraordinary powers “to raise taxes and energy prices at the cabinet table while watering down financial accountability for Crown corporations.”

And, yes, an omnibus bill is a way of forcing through an array of measures without giving the Opposition a chance to properly scrutinize the legislation, or the public a chance to fully understand it.

“By rolling dozens of new laws into an omnibus budget bill, the NDP are doing a disservice to the democratic process, denying Manitobans their rights, avoiding accountability, and eroding transparency,” Tuesday’s press release read.

Now the Tories aren’t wrong for crying foul. But it’s difficult to feel any sympathy for a party that is just as guilty as the NDP for pushing through omnibus legislation and denying Manitobans those “democratic rights” that Ewasko is referencing at the top of the page.

In 2020, Ewasko’s former boss, Brian Pallister, sought to ram through several pieces of PC government legislation via BITSA, including increased Hydro and natural gas rates among other bills. Pallister did the same thing one year earlier — ramming through an omnibus budget bill that included a cut to the PST to seven per cent from eight, and the elimination of a taxpayer-funded rebate for election expenses — which the NDP are seeking to reverse with their own omnibus bill this session.

If our elected officials in the Manitoba legislature really give a damn about the democratic rights of Manitobans, they should do more than merely pay it lip service when it suits their interests, and instead choose to end such political manoeuvrings and curtail the use of omnibus bills.

As it stands, they’re both playing from the same rule book, and the hypocrisy is more than a little annoying.

Perhaps they should avoid throwing stones.

» Matt Goerzen, editor