Conservatives Government Using Majority to keep Canadians in the Dark
Posted on October 12, 2011
OTTAWA—The Harper Conservatives must stop using their majority to limit public input and hide vital information from Canadians, Liberal House Leader Marc Garneau said today.
“This government has become increasingly paranoid and secretive since gaining their majority. They are using their new power to ram through flawed and ideological legislation and to stymie oversight and debate,” said Mr. Garneau. “They know the facts are not on their side so they are trying to halt the public conversation and hide their costing figures from Canadians.”
The most recent examples of Conservative arrogance include:
* limiting debate to 15-seconds per page on their mammoth 642-page budget implementation bill before invoking time allocation;
* ignoring public input by re-introducing copyright legislation with zero changes, despite valuable expert opinion from hundreds of stakeholders and ordinary Canadians;
* continuing to refuse to release the true cost of the F-35 stealth fighter jets and their crime agenda, each worth billions of dollars;
* obstructing public oversight by forcing the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee to hold 75% of its meetings behind closed doors; and
* banning the Auditor General from publicly discussing the findings of his Spring 2011 report.
“Whether it is the ramming through of their 642-page budget implementation bill, or their continued efforts to suppress contradictory evidence and hide the real cost of their crime agenda from Canadians, the actions of this Conservative government show an astounding arrogance and a lack of respect for taxpayer dollars,” said Mr. Garneau. “We expect this government to listen to Canadians, open its books to public scrutiny and to produce hard numbers in costing their initiatives.”
“The Harper Conservatives must stop hiding the truth from Canadians, who have the right to know what this government is doing and how it is spending their hard-earned tax dollars,” concluded Mr. Garneau.