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MPs start mini-marathon budget vote

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OTTAWA -- MPs began a voting endurance test Tuesday afternoon as Parliament readies to pass the second omnibus budget implementation bill.

The preliminary voting on opposition amendments to Bill C-45 is expected to last some eight hours.

The 450-page plus bill contains a raft of provisions that will change some 60 laws relating to taxes, the oversight of financial markets and the environment, as well as other measures still left to be implemented from the 2012 budget.

It's expected the bill will remain unamended. The opposition tabled over 1,667 amendments but almost two-thirds were tossed out by House Speaker Andrew Scheer last week. Some 47 votes are now planned.

Critics have singled out changes to the Navigable Waters Protection Act as among of the most contentious provisions. Opposition parties say the changes water down the federal protection of thousands of lakes and rivers.

Treasury Board President Tony Clement defended the provision Tuesday, saying it cuts red tape.

"We can not be in a situation where we are paralyzed by rules that are in place that did not advance the economic agenda of our society," he said. Clement also argued 11 Commons committees had scrutinized the omnibus legislation since it was tabled in October.

He said passing the budget bill was necessary to "preserve our economic advantage."

The NDP claims the omnibus bill is too big for Parliament to digest in one go and that committees didn't have time for a proper study.

Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae said the voting mini-marathon was an important statement for opposition parties to make on the omnibus bill.

"The main thing we're sending is a message to government members," he said. "Obviously, it's an inconvenience to them as much as it is to us. We're simply trying to remind government members it's their own government incompetence which has led us to this point."

Opposition parties won a single victory in October when the Conservatives caved to demands to slice off the section of C-45 that reformed MP pensions. That legislation passed.

A final vote on C-45 in the House will take place Wednesday.

The first omnibus budget bill was tabled last March. Totalling more than 420 pages, it adjusted 70 separate pieces of legislation and contained some 700 clauses.

Last June, MPs spent 22 hours voting on thousands of opposition amendments to that bill.

 

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