Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to Bill C-60, the Conservatives' latest omnibus budget implementation act, as well as amendments that are now before the House.
The Liberals continue to oppose Bill C-60 for two key reasons: this legislation threatens the independence of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and it continues to raise taxes on middle-class Canadians in order to pay for the Conservatives’ wasteful spending.
At committee, the Liberals put forward several constructive amendments to help address these concerns. Unfortunately, the Conservatives refused to listen and give decent consideration to these amendments. They refused to entertain any amendments whatsoever, despite the growing evidence that Bill C-60 is in fact deeply flawed.
To give an example of just how flawed the legislation is, Mr. Hubert Lacroix, the president of CBC/Radio-Canada, took the almost unprecedented step of writing to the members of the finance committee and essentially threatening a court case if Bill C-60 passes without amendment. He said that the legislation threatens the independence of the CBC and Radio-Canada. This is what he told us in his letter:
We believe that the proposed amendments to the Financial Administration Act….may conflict with key parts of the Broadcasting Act, our corporation’s governing legislation, and as a result, would reduce the independence that is critical to our operation.
He further stated:
“[The bill]…may give rise to conflicts with the Broadcasting Act and the Charter and compromise the Corporation’s independence.
This could potentially embroil the government, our corporation, and its unions in litigation, a result that could be avoided with an amendment that protects that independence.
We have also heard from tens of thousands of Canadians who have signed petitions and written to their MPs in order to protest the way in which Bill C-60 threatens the independence of the CBC and Radio-Canada.
Unlike the government, Canadians understand that the CBC/Radio-Canada was originally set up as an independent crown corporation in order to shield it from political interference. While the government appoints the board of directors and determines the overall budget of the CBC and Radio-Canada, this cultural crown corporation has always had the independence to determine who should work there and how much they should get paid. This legislation effectively removes that independence.
Canadians have been clear. They do not want politicians to punish reporters or journalists from the CBC and Radio-Canada for asking any of us uncomfortable questions. In an effort to be constructive, Liberals tried to provide the Conservatives with options in order to address these concerns. We proposed a constructive amendment that would have excluded the CBC and Radio-Canada from the measures of Bill C-60.
We also proposed an amendment that would have simply yet clearly protected the independence of CBC and Radio-Canada from the measures in this bill so that the government could avoid a potential legal showdown, but the Conservatives would not listen to reason and consider these amendments. They seem to have become completely deaf to the concerns of Canadians.
George Smith, a professor at Queen's University, who has also served as a chief management negotiator for the CBC and Radio-Canada, also appeared before the finance committee and was clear that the changes in Bill C-60 are not just bad for labour, they are bad for business. This is what Professor Smith predicts will happen under this legislation:
Relationships between labour and management, which are fragile at best during stressful negotiations, will be strained to the point of breaking with the negative consequence of ensuring labour disputes. There will be costs to the economy. In sum, an already complex process will be complicated to the point where in my considered professional opinion it will become totally dysfunctional.
In addition to threatening the stability of CBC/Radio-Canada, one of Canada's most cherished cultural institutions, as well as endangering labour relations, this legislation actually raises taxes on Canadians. In fact, in each of the last four budgets, the Conservatives have raised taxes on hard-working, middle-class Canadian families. Their latest budget raised taxes by a whopping $3.3 billion over the next four years and a number of these tax measures are included in Bill C-60. Bill C-60 actually attacks Canada's rural and small-town economy with a tax increase on credit unions.