FIle Photo (Image Credit: CPAC)

By Aaron Schulze

House of Commons

‘They’re trying to make parliament look dysfunctional’: MP McLeod believes Liberals are anxious for an election

Mar 4, 2021 | 7:09 AM

KAMLOOPS — With accusations of obstructing legislature from the federal Liberals, and accusations of not setting clear priorities from the Conservatives, Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo’s member of parliament is providing her thoughts.

Cathy McLeod, Conservative MP since 2008, believes the Liberals are trying to make the case for an election in 2021.

“They’re trying to set things up in a way that they can say they’re being obstructed… that is absolutely wrong,” McLeod said. “They’re introducing a whole hodgepodge of bills and then, of course, they’re not debating them. In my opinion, the Liberals are playing some games so they can justify a pandemic election.”

A story from the Canadian Press over the weekend highlighted grievances from the Liberal government about the official opposition Conservatives. Liberal House Leader Pablo Rodriguez claimed the Conservatives are delaying the legislation process, such as preventing progress on the COVID-19 relief-related Bill C-14 and refusing to extend sitting hours to debate the government’s response to the Senate amendments to the MAID-related Bill C-7.

When asked if her party was obstructing legislature, McLeod said bills such as C-7 and C-14 require debate.

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“If [MAID] was important, then why did we spend all Friday debating their gun legislation when they clearly have other priorities?” McLeod said. “C-14 is an important bill. It required debate because in the past, they rushed legislation through and there have been flaws.

“The opposition and government have jobs to do. Whether it’s Liberal, NDP, Bloc (Québécois), Conservative, the government is responsible for the agenda in parliament. It has tools at its disposal for urgent legislation which it’s choosing not to exercise. They don’t seem to be following through on their priorities.”

McLeod supports measures of C-14 that are aimed to provide financial relief for businesses but said the Liberals haven’t provided a good reason as to why their maximum spending limit should be expanded.

On a potential triggered election in 2021, McLeod hopes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau doesn’t go to the Governor General to dissolve parliament. She doesn’t believe an election should take place until Canada has overcome the peak of the pandemic.

“We’re hitting about the average life in a minority government, but we’re also in the middle of a crisis,” she said. “Wait until we’re back into some kind of normalcy and the vaccination program is well rolled out. My suspicion is the current Liberal government is anxious to have an election, that’s some of the reasons they’re trying to make parliament look dysfunctional, when in actual fact, it is functioning in a hybrid form as well as any minority government.”

McLeod hopes to see a federal budget for 2021, after one wasn’t produced in 2020 due to the pandemic.

With files from the Canadian Press