North Island-Powell River MP wanted parliamentary business to continue

North Island-Powell River MP Rachel Blaney is frustrated by the federal government’s initiative to bring business in Ottawa to a screeching halt.

Blaney said what’s happening in Ottawa is that the prime minister has moved forward with proroguing parliament.

“What that means at the most basic level is he’s pressing the restart button,” said Blaney. “Committees that were meeting are now cancelled; we’ve had several committees meeting over the last few months and all the work they have done is now stopped.

“Any legislation that has not received royal assent is now dead. Now, we’re just waiting until September 23 when the prime minister will present a new throne speech.”

Blaney said what’s frustrating for her was the cancellation of one of the four summer sittings of the House of Commons. She said since the onset of COVID-19, and the inability for parliamentarians to meet as they regularly do, the NDP wanted to have several sittings of the house during the summer, with reduced numbers, allowing members of parliament from across Canada to ask questions of the government and to hold it to account.

“Now that the prorogation has happened, it means all of the work that was being done in committee around the scandal with the WE charity, that work is now cancelled as well,” said Blaney. “What concerns me is when we shut down parliament in the middle of the pandemic and the economic crisis, and the plans being made and the committees working so hard, it’s just wrong in my opinion. It really lets Canadians down.”

Blaney said Canadians are struggling in this pandemic and a lot of folks are concerned about the many unknowns.

“What we wanted to see is the government working collaboratively with all parties to make sure we deliver the support required across this country,” said Blaney. “We know that a lot of folks are worried because CERB will be ending in the next while. We know the government has made a commitment to expand the eligibility for employment insurance. We have no idea what that is going to look like.”

Blaney said there are still resources that small businesses need as the country hits the second wave of COVID-19, which is “what most people are expecting.”

“These are some of the concerns that I have to address and it’s too bad we’re in this place,” said Blaney. “We’ll look and see what the government presents us in the throne speech and the next steps will happen there.”

When parliament resumes in September and the government tenders a speech from the throne, Blaney said she is not sure how she will vote. In a confidence motion, if all of the opposition parties vote against minority Liberal government, the government would fall, triggering an election.

“I hope all parties are waiting to see what the prime minister presents,” said Blaney. “Until I know what we are presented with, I can’t say what way I’m going to vote. It’s important to make that educated decision.”

She said she hopes the Liberals listen to people across Canada and provide parliament a set of circumstances where the opposition parties don’t have to trigger an election in the middle of a pandemic.

In terms of the prorogation, Blaney said it’s upsetting because there is work to be done and Canadians need a government moving forward.

“To me, that should be the focus,” said Blaney. “This should not be about political pandering and it should not be about politicians.

“Right now, we are seeing more and more information coming out about the WE scandal, which leads us to think there is something very corrupt happening. We need to address that and the government needs to be accountable for its decisions.”

Blaney said that money was supposed to go to students and young people around the country who were donating time to support communities.

“I know across our riding we have a lot of people, organizations, communities and small businesses that applied for funding, who did not receive it,” said Blaney. “What I am frustrated by is that bucket of money, instead of going to WE, could go into some programs that could make a big difference in our communities. My focus is making sure we have what we need to get through this very difficult time.

“It’s unfortunate that we see the Liberals picking their powerful friends over every-day Canadians.”