A Nation Waits While The Opposition Weighs Their Political Options

February 6th, 2008

The House of Commons has been back to business for just over a week now and already the opposition parties are consumed with election fever. If I sound rather partisan in saying that, well, I am … unapologetically! I’m frustrated. And so are my Conservative colleagues.

We’re trying to get some real work done on behalf of Canadians. There are important decisions to be made by Canada’s Parliament. Our traditional industries, primarily the forest sector, are in trouble. Parliamentarians must determine the direction and future of Canada’s mission to Afghanistan. Vital justice legislation to enhance the safety of Canadians, especially our children, remains held-up in the Senate.

And yet, the opposition parties – the NDP, Liberals and Bloc Quebecois – continue to dither, obstruct, delay and engage in more posturing about a potential election.

Some issues are simply too urgent and critical to leave at risk to these partisan games. Community leaders and forestry workers in Prince George-Peace River know that and they overwhelmingly told me that our government’s $1-billion Community Development Trust to help laid-off workers and vulnerable communities is far too important to allow opposition parties the opportunity to kill it.

We heard the same feedback from across Canada and we listened. This week, our Conservative Government introduced stand-alone legislation that not only expedites delivery of the Trust to the provinces, through Bill C-41, we meet the requirement to seek spending authority from Parliament, without having to wait for the budget to be passed. Now that our motion for unanimous consent of the legislation has been endorsed by MPs, the Trust is no longer threatened by partisan politics surrounding our minority government’s federal budget.

As I write this, we are all hopeful that this urgently-needed legislation will be passed just as quickly through the Senate.

That’s far from a sure thing with the unelected Liberal majority in the Red Chamber. For example, Bill C-2, our tackling violent crime legislation, has been stalled by Liberal Senators since November 29th after being passed quickly by the House of Commons.

This legislation includes a provision to raise the age of consent from 14 to 16 in order to better protect our children from sexual predators. Emails, letters, faxes and phone calls urging all parliamentarians to support passage of this provision have poured in from Prince George-Peace River and from across the nation. Canadians have made it clear that they want Parliament to pass this legislation!

Yet, uncertain ‘if’ or ‘when’ he can risk an election, Stéphane Dion is using unelected, unaccountable Liberal senators to block these legal protections for Canadian families. They are buying him time.

Nor can he decide on his policies concerning Canada’s mission to Afghanistan, despite the recommendations made by former Liberal Deputy Prime Minister John Manley. In fact, far worse than his indecision was his Liberal MPs’ supporting the Bloc and NDP in not allowing Mr. Manley and his panel members the opportunity to appear at the Foreign Affairs and National Defence committees to discuss their report.

If they can’t, or won’t, take a position, the least they could do is let our Government get on with governing!