CERB bill: Liberals find no opposition support for moving legislation through House

The bill, as drafted, would make small changes to the $2,000 per month benefit that has been in place since the crisis began

CERB bill: Liberals find no opposition support for moving legislation through House
OTTAWA — Opposition parties are pushing back against the Liberals new legislation to change the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, leaving the government’s plans stalled until they can find more support.

Government House leader Pablo Rodriguez held a press conference Wednesday morning pleading with the opposition for support to move the bill through the House.

“I’m calling on the other parties to set politics aside,” he said. “People are counting on us. Let’s get this done together.”

The bill, as drafted, would make small changes to the $2,000 per month benefit that has been in place since the crisis began. Anyone who refused a reasonable offer of work would no longer be eligible for the benefit. It also puts in place stiff fines and penalties for anyone found to have fraudulently applied for the benefit.

The legislation also allows for a one-time payment to Canadians with disabilities, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently announced.

Rodriguez said at this point there is no agreement even to have the bill introduced in Parliament this afternoon, which means it can’t move ahead.

“It means we are not even debating on the bill, there is no debate allowed on the bill and it will of course not be adopted,” he said.

Under the special rules the House of Commons is operating under, the government needs unanimous opposition support to introduce the bill, and the same if they want to pass it swiftly. Without support to introduce the bill, it will have to come back later this week and go through the normal, longer, legislative process.

Conservative House leader Candice Bergen said her party wants the government to bring back parliament if it wishes to move legislation.

“Trudeau chose to shut down Parliament, so it is up to him to figure out how he is going to pass bills, in a minority government, when he has basically thrown Parliament away,” she said.

Bergen said there are parts of the legislation the Conservatives could potentially support, but her party would not give the Liberals any special latitude to move the bill forward. If they want to see it passed, they should reopen Parliament in full, she said.

“We are not going to be giving any kind of special exemptions to the government. We have been clear we wanted Parliament to resume, they chose not to,” said Bergen.

Bergen said her party wants all of Parliament’s committee to return full funding to the auditor general, but said she suspects Prime Minister Trudeau won’t be willing to agree to that.

“He doesn’t want the accountability he doesn’t want democracy functioning,” she said.

Bloc Québécois Yves-François Blanchet said at his press conference that the Liberals have not been willing to actually negotiate on the substance of the bill.

“They are not asking for negotiations. They are asking us for a rubber stamp,” he said.

The Bloc has asked for a fiscal update and for Prime Minister Trudeau to commit to holding a first ministers meeting on health transfers, as two conditions for its support.

The NDP has expressed concerns about the content of the bill, particularly the proposed penalties for people caught abusing the emergency benefit.

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said Tuesday the fines and the possibility of jail time for fraudulent use of the benefit were needlessly punitive.

“It is not right to go down a path of punishing people because they needed some help, punishing people criminally because they needed some help,” he said.

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