"We have opposed the bill because of its omnibus nature. We insist upon having a debate on the floor of the House of Commons on each section of the omnibus bill because this should not be one bill."
It's become far too easy to throw Stephen Harper's words back at him. Yes, those are his words, delivered in 1994. Virtually every abuse of power Harper railed against during those years of Liberal majorities has now become his business as usual.
The man who opposed a bill because of its omnibus nature has now introduced his own sweeping piece of legislation. The man who once insisted on a Commons debate on every section of a bill now no longer seems interested in any debate at all.
It's an age-old pattern: Power corrupts.
The ultimate outcome is no mystery. With a single bill, the Conservatives will change nearly 70 different laws, hand environmental reviews to cabinet ministers, radically rework the Immigration Act, remove the body that oversees Canada's spy agency, rework old age security and EI, and most worryingly, decimate the Auditor General's staff. Stripping away accountability leads inevitably to corrupt behaviour. Elections have consequences: Majority parties get their way. But minority parties still have a right to shine a bright light on government plans, debate them and criticize them in public.
Attempting to turn off that light is a sinister step. It's anti-democratic. It's cowardly. And it abandons everything Stephen Harper once told Canadians he believes in.
