HILL RAISES HELL OVER SHUT-DOWN OF DEBATE ON ANTI-TERRORISM BILL

OTTAWA-Today in the House of Commons, Jay Hill, MP (Prince George-Peace River) rose during debate on Bill C-36, the Anti-terrorism Act, to express his outrage at the decision of the Liberal Government to end debate on the Bill. The motion to apply time allocation to the Bill was tabled when the House opened this morning and the Government used its majority to ensure its passage following thirty minutes of question and answer to the Minister of Justice, who tabled the motion. 

“I did want to rise to make a point on behalf of my constituents of Prince George—Peace River regarding the seriousness of what took place here this morning. It is not at all unusual that the government forces through time allocation on Bill after Bill. In fact one of the [other]  members who spoke immediately following the time allocation vote that we had this morning made the very strong point that this has become the rule, not the exception, unfortunately in this House.” 

Since forming government the Liberals have used time allocation 63 times to limit the ability of opposition MP’s to participate in debates on new legislation. This morning’s motion was tabled following a meager 4 ½ hours of debate on the Bill. 

“ The Government intends to ram the Bill through by using a very undemocratic method. If there was ever a piece of legislation that should not have resulted in closure or time allocation, surely to goodness this is the Bill.” 

Hill concluded his comments with a statement that through her actions the Minister of Justice was doing all Canadians a disservice.  

“By simply suggesting somehow, because we (the opposition) are trying to improve yet another clearly flawed Bill before it becomes law and gets challenged in court, clearly the government is not listening. The Minister is not listening to Canadians and Parliamentarians, even from her own backbenches.”