Poilievre says Conservatives will use 'procedural tools' to block budget unless demands are met
Conservatives call on Liberals to produce plan to balance budget, freeze carbon taxes
The Conservatives have introduced more than 900 amendments to the federal government's budget and are promising to do whatever it takes to halt its passage through Parliament unless the government meets two key demands.
"We will continue to fight for these two demands — a plan to balance the budget to lower interest rates and inflation, and no new carbon tax hikes," Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Monday.
"If the government does not meet these demands, we will use all procedural tools at our disposal to block the budget from passing, including 900 amendments, lengthy speeches and other procedural tools that are in our toolkit."
Poilievre argued deficit spending is feeding inflation and driving up interest rates and the government needs to demonstrate that it's moving toward a balanced budget.
"This is already a crisis but it will become a massive financial crisis in the next several years if we do not bring the inflation and interest rates back under control," he said.
Poilievre repeated his promise to cancel the federal government's carbon pricing program if he becomes prime minister. He said he won't ask the Liberals to go that far.
"We understand that would not be a realistic ask of this government because of their policy," he said. "However, we think a reasonable compromise in the interim [would] be for them to cancel planned carbon tax increases."
The Conservatives say they're moving to this strategy following a series of attempts to stall the budget bill's passage through the House of Commons.
Those efforts included fighting for more witnesses and introducing amendments and other tactics at committee that forced more than 600 votes before the bill could be moved to report stage.
On Friday, Conservative MP Garnett Genuis complained to House Speaker Anthony Rota that while the bill was before committee, his right to vote and move amendments, to speak and to raise points about the bill were being restricted by the Liberal committee chair.
Rota told the House Monday in his ruling that the committee had agreed to limit the timeframe for submitting amendments. He dismissed the complaints made by Genuis, saying he "fails to see how the rights and privileges of the member were breached."
The Conservatives also claimed that a vote held Friday happened at short notice and there were technical issues involving people voting virtually that frustrated the process.
Rota dismissed both complaints, saying that votes can be held on any day and MPs must be prepared for that.
He also said that his office probed the possibility of technical issues with the vote but found none. He reminded MPs that if they're going to be voting virtually, it's their responsibility to ensure they have the equipment they need in working order.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dismissed Poilievre's threat, saying the Conservative leader has "no plan for the economy, proposes nothing but cuts."
"When he's blocking the budget ... he's blocking things like the doubling of the tax credit for trades people on their tools … the anti-flipping measures that we've brought in in this last budget to protect home owners and home buyers from speculation … and he's blocking the enhancement of the Canada Worker's Benefit," Trudeau said.
"These are real-life consequences for the political and partisan games that the leader of the Official Opposition is engaging in."
On Monday afternoon, Deputy Speaker Carol Hughes tossed out more than 200 of the 904 amendments, saying they were repetitive and should have been introduced at the committee stage. She also bundled most of the remaining amendments into four groups that will dealt with together.
While the Conservatives can delay the bill, it will pass eventually if the Liberals and the New Democrats continue to vote as a block in favour of the bill.