Opposition parties were declaring a victory of sorts over the federal goverment's omnibus bill Friday after persuading the Conservatives to allow the legislation's MP pension-reform provisions to be passed separately.
And they expressed hope that winning the battle could help them win the larger war against the use of catch-all legislation critics decry as anti-democratic.
Speedy negotiations saw changes to the MP pension program plucked from the new budget bill in the morning and passed unanimously by the House of Commons without any further study. It was a rare about-face for the Conservatives, who earlier this year refused outright to carve out any of the changes included in their first budget implementation bill, which amended dozens of laws.
Critics had wanted that bill cracked open so its various provisions could receive more detailed study; they asked for the same opportunity with the second bill, introduced Thursday.
The Conservatives demurred, for what many thought were political purposes.
"The government initially, I think, wanted to put us in a position where we would be voting against the Budget Implementation Act for a variety of reasons and then to be able to accuse us of somehow being opposed to the cuts to MPs' pensions," said Liberal MP Scott Brison.
"We pre-empted that." It was the Liberals who suggested the pension components of the bill be separated out for a speedy vote. The New Democrats came on board when that was reduced to just the segment on cuts to MP pensions, not public-sector pensions across the board.
The Conservatives agreed. "We had an opportunity here to have that proceed through the House of Commons with unanimous consent and we were pleased to be able to do it," said government House leader Peter Van Loan.
New Democrat House leader Nathan Cullen said the all-party consent made two important points."One is proving that Parliament can work, which Canadians are increasingly believing they can't because of this Conservative government," Cullen said.
"We also proved the finance minister was a bit wrong in saying the bill could not be broken apart.
It's not true. It can."
The NDP had wanted the changes to the MP pension program put before a committee, because they feel there is a conflict of interest for MPs in deciding their own remuneration.
The alterations to the MP program will sharply increase the contributions MPs must make to their pensions and require them to wait until age 65 to collect.
Contributions which now run about $11,000 a year will rise to about $39,000.
Under the old system, MPs could start collecting a pension at age 55.
The changes could provide incentive for an exodus from politics, since key provisions won't take effect until after the next election in 2015.
So those MPs who have served the minimum six years required to collect a pension could exit public life that year and still access the old plan.
The second budget implementation bill makes changes to a number of acts and regulations, including the Indian Act and the Canadian Labour Code and the Canada Shipping Act.
