Report From Parliament Hill - May 10

By Prince George - Peace River M.P. Jay Hill

When our new Conservative Government took office on February 6, 2006, we finally had power to enact significant change.  Yet, it was immediately apparent that in this minority Parliament, the opposition parties intended to block many of our long-held democratic, judicial and fiscal reforms. 

Yet we didn't give up. We knew it would take respectful negotiation, cooperation and, yes, some minor compromise, in order to move forward with as much of our legislative agenda as possible.  

In a clear demonstration that our perseverance has paid off, an important government bill became law last week.  While it is far from the first piece of legislation we've successfully enacted, it holds great significance for our Conservative democratic reform agenda.

Bill C-16 sets fixed dates for federal elections in Canada.  The next general election will be held October 19, 2009, unless the current government loses the confidence of the House before then.

 Should that happen, any election following majority election wins would be held on the third Monday in October in the fourth calendar year following the previous election.

 Federal governments will no longer be able to manipulate election dates to their partisan advantage.  The bill received Royal Assent on Friday, May 3rd, meaning it made it through the House of Commons, as well as the Senate.  And that is a victory in itself.

 The Liberal opposition has been using its majority in the Senate to block our Government's democratic reform legislation.  They tried it with the Federal Accountability Act and now, Liberal Senators are blocking Bill S-4 which would limit the terms of Senators to eight years.

 All the more justification for our Government's introduction of Bill C-43 which will give Canadians a direct voice in the selection of Senators.  And it further highlights the significance of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's announcement that he intends to appoint Albertan Bert Brown to the Red Chamber.

 When Liberal Senator Dan Hays retires this summer, the Prime Minister will have his first opportunity to appoint a democratically-elected Senator who received the endorsement of more than 300,000 Alberta voters in that province's Senate elections in 2004.

 Our next challenge on the democratic reform front involves two other pieces of legislation our government introduced this week.  

During the Liberal leadership race candidates skirted federal laws to limit political donations by instead accepting over $3-million in "loans" from wealthy individuals with no guarantee they were to be paid back.  Bill C-54 will amend the Canada Elections Act to eliminate, once and for all, whether by donation OR loans, the influence of rich,
wealthy individuals from the political process.

 Meanwhile, Bill C-55 proposes to expand voter opportunity by adding two more advance polling days, one on the Sunday eight days before Election Day, and another one on the Sunday immediately before Election Day. This will give busy, hardworking Canadians, with school, work and family responsibilities, additional opportunities to vote so they can better hold their Government accountable.

 There may indeed be resistance to these measures from the opposition but I'm confident that if we "never give up", we will succeed in our ongoing quest to bring openness and transparency to Parliament.

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