Liberals use Harper’s past attack on omnibus bills against him

Tuesday will be a day of mischief-making for the federal Liberals.

The Conservatives are expected to introduce another omnibus budget bill any day now, but before that happens, the floor of the House of Commons will feature a debate on the past positions of Stephen Harper when it comes to these types of bills.

The old editions of Hansard are clear: He didn’t like them.

Before becoming Prime Minister, Mr. Harper was an eloquent critic of omnibus bills, and the Liberals plan on using their opposition day Tuesday to force a debate and vote on those old comments.

The motion, which will be presented by Liberal House Leader Marc Garneau, states:

“That the House agree with the comments of the Right Honourable Member for Calgary Southwest on March 25, 1994, when he criticized omnibus legislation, suggesting that the subject matter of such bills is so diverse that a single vote on the content would put members in conflict with their own principles and dividing the bill into several components would allow members to represent views of their constituents on each of the different components in the bill.”

The motion, if approved, would also order the Commons procedure and house affairs committee to study “what reasonable limits” should be placed on the use of such bills.

The comments mentioned in the Liberal motion were made on a Friday morning in the House by Mr. Harper, then 34. He moved a point of order asking the speaker to rule the budget bill of that year out of order on the grounds that it was an omnibus bill.