Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer boasted a few weeks ago that he saved Canada from a Trudeau dictatorship.
The Conservatives strongly objected to Liberal plans for the short session of Parliament to pass legislation giving the Liberals absolute power to tax and spend until Dec. 31, 2021. The Liberals argued these powers were needed to cope with unexpected issues arising from the coronavirus pandemic.
The Conservatives rallied other parties around their objections and the Liberals withdrew the absolute power request. Parliament passed a financial aid/tax deferral package.
The Conservatives made much of their victory, a victory from a battle that delayed availability of the package by a few days.
Scheer’s chest thumping over the victory was mostly petty partisan bickering, simply because the Trudeau Liberals have no majority in Parliament.
If the Liberals had a majority, Scheer would have definitely stopped any potential abuse and should have been applauded for his stand.
Given the Liberal minority — a position Scheer used to force the Liberals to withdraw the absolute power clauses — it is questionable whether Trudeau and the Liberals would have gone overboard with taxing and spending.
With a minority position, anything the Liberals would have done would have faced intense scrutiny from the majority opposition after Dec. 31, 2021.
A Liberal majority would have run over any post Dec. 31, 2021 objections.
Instead of chest thumping over this partisan win, Scheer, and the Conservatives, should be showing a unified effort to effectively combat this once-in-a-lifetime pandemic situation.
Scheer, Trudeau and the other federal party leaders should be standing shoulder to shoulder encouraging Canadians to take and continue taking precautions to avoid this damaging, deadly virus.
The apparent need for the absolute powers came within weeks when Trudeau announced the wage subsidy program. Before it could be executed, the government now needed Parliamentary approval.
Scheer took time out from his criticism that business wasn’t getting federal funds fast enough to delay the wage subsidy in a dispute over whether the next emergency session of Parliament would be online or in the House of Commons,
It was the second time Scheer delayed approval of financial aid to those hurt by the pandemic, yet he criticizes the Liberals for not being fast enough with assistance. How ironic!
Conservative supporters must be anxious for the upcoming leadership convention, postponed by the virus pandemic.
Ron Walter can be reached at [email protected]
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
