The ongoing debate in the House of Commons could leave some government departments in financial trouble and miss other deadlines as the fall legislative session draws to a close.
On Thursday, House Speaker Greg Fergus reminded members that House rules require them to address specific challenges in the coming weeks. He urged political parties to find ways to address these items despite the stalled debate.
The House of Commons Standing Orders require that the Government’s Supplementary Estimates (part of the legislative process to ask Parliament for additional funding to cover initiatives that are not yet funded or that require additional funding) and all opposition days ( The law also stipulates both the period during which opposition parties can operate freely. (submit your own motion) must be processed by December 10th.
Mr Fergus said: ‘As we approach the end of the current supply period, the Speaker would like to encourage the leadership of the House to keep these various principles in mind. I am confident that we can find a way to harmonize.”
The House of Commons has been suspended from normal business for weeks as opposition members have demanded the Liberal government release documents related to a now-defunct foundation responsible for providing hundreds of millions of federal dollars to green technology projects. I haven’t been able to proceed.
the It is unclear when and how the issue will be resolvedBut the issue is considered a privileged one, so it will take precedence over all other House business, including items that fall under the Dec. 10 deadline.
Peter Van Loon, who served as House of Commons leader under Stephen Harper, said the House of Commons practice may prevent the additional estimate from being passed by the deadline.
“According to long-standing parliamentary tradition, grievances trump supply,” he said.
The Liberals submitted a supplementary estimate on Monday. That includes $21.6 billion in spending that must be approved by Congress. This includes Indigenous health and education services, defence, veterans assistance, a new national dental program, and refugee medical services.
Finance Committee President Anita Anand said Tuesday that some government departments could face funding shortfalls if the estimates are not passed before the House goes on a six-week winter recess.
“We’ll be fine for the next three to four weeks, but we need to make sure that money flows to the smaller sectors and ultimately to the larger sectors that feed the government and much of the country’s business,” Anand told reporters. “There is,” he said.
Van Loon said that won’t happen unless funding is approved in the coming weeks. The government shutdown crisis that the United States has been grappling with in recent years. However, some departments will have to expand their budgets.
“Cash management is pretty normal,” he said.
“There’s a way to find those funds somewhere in the existing approved budget. … So now the bureaucrats are probably saying, ‘Okay, what programs are we not spending money on, or what programs are we going to do in the budget? Could you just take six more months off for the next three months?’
Wayne Wouters, a former Privy Council clerk and ex-Treasury committee chief, agreed that federal departments could come up with some “contingency” plans if estimates are not met in the coming weeks.
“Supplementary estimates typically represent a very small proportion of total government spending,” he said.
NDP finance critic Don Davis said his party would help the Liberals temporarily break the parliamentary deadlock to pass a two-month GST/HST holiday on some products. He said it would not permanently end the privilege debate.
Mr Wouters also suggested the government could refer to the estimates when the House of Commons returns from winter recess.
“If we are not able to meet these estimates in November or December, we may always provide supplementary estimates again in February,” he said.
Tyler Meredith, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s former economic adviser, said there are ways to put aside the privilege debate and pass certain bills.
The House of Commons agreed unanimously. Pass bill to help Jasper, Alta., begin cleaning up this summer’s wildfires While the privilege debate continues. The NDP also said it would help the Liberals pause discussions on passing the pledge bill. 2 months GST holiday on selected goods and services.
“We’ve seen evidence in previous Congresses and in this fall’s Congress that calm minds prevail and that we can get things done responsibly,” Meredith said.
So far, no opposition party has indicated any intention to suspend the privileges debate in order to pass a calculation.
What if the debate continues into next year?
Meredith warned that if supplementary estimates continue to be put on the back burner due to lengthy discussions, Canadians could begin to see the impact on government operations.
“Once that threshold is reached, departments’ ability to spend money effectively dries up, even if they have cash on hand. [without Parliamentary approval]” he said.
“In effect, we will find ourselves in a situation where the government will have to shut down certain operations.”
Mr Van Loan said if the government proved unable to pass a spending bill, it might have to admit it had lost confidence in the House of Commons and dissolve Parliament.
“The problem really begins as we get closer to the end of the year,” he says.
“If the Government themselves… claim that this makes it impossible for the Government to function, they are effectively admitting that they do not have the confidence of the House of Commons. We will have to force an election.”
The opposition era is still in Hopper.
House rules require a period of opposition days (designated days when opposition motions take priority over government business) to be established by Dec. 10. There are four such days left, but debate over privilege is preventing them from happening.
So far this fall, the Conservatives have used their time in opposition to provoke votes of no confidence. in a continuing attempt to overthrow the government and force an election.
Van Loon said it was “unprecedented” for the House of Commons not to be able to hold a day of opposition. He said it was unclear how the House would proceed, but suggested the speaker could simply decide that an opposition day would be needed in the final days of the fall session.
A statement from Mr Fergus’s office also suggested that the Speaker may step in to ensure deadlines are met.
“There appears to be no recent precedent for discussions regarding privilege issues inconsistent with end-of-supply requirements,” the statement said.
“It should be noted that in the past the House of Commons has adopted motions governing its proceedings in relation to supplies. I have a responsibility to do so.”
But in a statement in the House of Commons on Thursday, Mr Fergus suggested it should be up to MPs to decide how to proceed.
