The Conservative government’s new Omnibus Bill C-38 is raising eyebrows and has puzzled concerned constituents; but more importantly, it has opened a portal for Canadians to actually see the disintegration of our cherished democratic process. Omnibus bills historically group together a number of bills that belong in a particular portfolio—the budget, or immigration, or justice, and so on. But rarely, if ever, do they combine several different portfolios within the same bill, as budget Bill C-38 has done… and so many different portfolios at that! Andrew Coyne of the National Post captures the essence of C-38 well:

Not only does this make a mockery of the confidence convention, shielding bills that would otherwise be defeatable within a money bill, which is not: It makes it impossible to know what Parliament really intended by any of it. We’ve no idea whether MPs supported or opposed any particular bill in the bunch, only that they voted for the legislation that contained them. There is no common thread that runs between them, no overarching principle; they represent not a single act of policy, but a sort of compulsory buffet.

To be sure, a government with a majority would likely have little difficulty passing them separately, so obediently do MPs now submit to the party whip. But there is something quite alarming about Parliament being obliged to rubber-stamp the government’s whole legislative agenda at one go.

Moreover, it utterly eviscerates the committee process, until now regarded as one of the last useful roles left to MPs.

I watched with surprise the open admission by Revelstoke’s Conservative MP, David Wilks, of how the whipping process works, filmed on May 22nd. MP David Wilks confirmed that it doesn’t matter what Party you belong to, every one of them has a three-stage “whip” process. For a level three whip, he said, “The leader and the cabinet will state ‘This is how the vote will go… and regardless, you will vote with the party…’ There is no argument.” In a level two whip, MPs are “strongly encouraged” to vote with the cabinet. Level one is a free vote. Interestingly, Mr. Wilks went on to say that he has never seen a level one vote. How sad! Even more concerning is Wilks’ admission that backbenchers have little say, even in debating the issues with the PM behind closed doors. Then why bother writing to your MP? Indeed, it is almost a waste of time to spend $300 million on an election, if MPs the people choose to represent them are merely puppets of their party! This Communiqué is not about whether we support, or do not support, the 60 or so bills buried in C-38. Rather, we want to highlight the duplicity of any Canadian political party whipping their MPs to control how they vote on issues that come before Parliament—and then telling us that we live in a democracy! Democracy is, by definition, rule by the people. But the people have no say if their elected Member of Parliament cannot represent his or her constituents in vote or voice without facing disciplinary action. We need only look to Larry Spencer, Beverly Desjarlais, Bill Casey, and others who have opposed the power structure of their parties. Mr. Harper’s majority Conservative government could easily pass these bills separately, but has chosen instead to snuff out the last dying embers of “rule by the people.” They have bypassed the committee process that would have allowed a few MPs to raise concerns on behalf of their constituents. What we have in Parliament are three party dictators, jockeying for the command position in order to invoke the party line, regardless of the cost. In this high stakes game, MPs are treated as pawns, while the Canadian people blindly play the game, falsely believing that they are participating in choosing our country’s direction. What would the CHP do differently? Our candidates are screened in advance to ensure that they agree to the protection of all innocent life from conception to natural death; thereafter, the CHP leadership would never have to whip its MPs on any vote. We would be able to place our confidence in the wisdom of our MPs and the people who elected them. CHP MPs would always have the freedom to vote according to the dictates of their consciences on every bill. With that taken care of, all CHP MPs would be able to represent their constituents on issues that are important to Canadians. They would also be able to represent the 100,000 innocent and voiceless unborn, who die each year in Canada. CHP is the only federal party committed to their protection. Now, that’s democracy…rule by the people under the guidance of a just and loving God! Visit www.chp.ca to learn more about the Christian Heritage Party’s better solutions for Canada.