Bill C-2

Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Simcoe North, was singled out in the House of Commons for voting for a tourism Bill instead of excusing himself from the vote that would directly benefit himself and his business financially (see bio).

He was accused by a Bloc Quebecois MP of an apparent conflict of interest as Bill C-2 - the Federal Accountability Act - was being debated in the House of Commons regarding motions 6 and 7 that were re-introduced to the Bill after they amended in Committee, in particular the clause that would re-add a conflict of interest clause to prohibit MP's from voting in matters that would benefit themselves financially, in which that the member of Simcoe North voted against.

Pat Martin had at 'em though - blasting the other opposition parties for sabotaging the Accountability Act in Committee, in particular the Liberals. He gave a stern warning to the Liberals that if they continued to get in the way of passing the Accountability Act that they would be exposed in Parliament and publicly. I'd love to know what in particular Mr. Martin was speaking about but way to go Pat!

James Moore, Parliamentary Secretary gave an excellent submission to Parliament today on the legal and criminal aspects of the new Act. There was particular concern about a clause in the Bill that may infringe on a criminal proceeding and independence of the Canadian judiciary so it was taken out - to which the Liberals wanted it kept in (perhaps to create a wrench in possible future proceedings?)

The Liberals are pushing for more time to go through the clauses as they saw they are trying to make "good laws". The Liberals voiced concerns that Bill C-2 shouldn't be ammended to Bill C-11 because it was never officially recognized by giving it Royal Ascent - but if they checked the information noted on the link - they would see that it had Royal Assent on the 25th of November 2005.

This is one problem I see with Bill C-11

Another major amendment is the inclusion of segments of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) within the scope of the bill. In the original bill, the RCMP, along with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Communications Security Establishment, was excluded from the definition of “public sector.”

In the current bill members of the RCMP, including special constables and those employed in a capacity similar to that of a member, are considered public servants.

Hmmm...

So who is monitoring the RCMP - the Department of Justice?