Bill C-38, the omnibus budget bill, is a monster all right – 753 clauses impacting 70 existing laws.
It’s the old trick of lumping fiscal policy together with society-altering legislation. Here are just a few of the devastating ways the Tories are seeking to reshape the country we know.
ECOSYSTEM AT RISK
• Cabinet could overrule environmental assessment decisions.
• Cabinet could reverse outcome of National Energy Board reviews – think Northern Gateway Pipeline.
• Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act would be repealed.
• Oil pipelines would be exempted from the Navigable Waters Protection Act.
• National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy would be ditched.
• Fish habitat regs would protect only fish of “commercial, aboriginal and recreational” value.
EMPLOYEES AT RISK
• Stipulation that EI recipients can turn down work because it’s not in their field, pays less or has bad working conditions would be removed.
• Qualifying age for Old Age Security would be raised from 65 to 67.
CONSUMERS AT RISK
• Weakens monitoring: the minister could exempt a food from the Food And Drug Act.
• Would end auditor general’s oversight of Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
ACTIVISTS AT RISK
• Would amend rules for determining whether charities have engaged in political activities, threatening their tax exemption.
INFO AT RISK
• Would cancel funding for orgs that produce policy research, like Rights & Democracy, National Council of Welfare, First Nations Statistical Institute.
RIGHTS AT RISK
• Would limit oversight of CSIS by eliminating agency’s inspector general.
