Harper and the Cons are reaching new lows. Harper has persuaded the unelected Conservative majority in the Senate to not respect the the will of the elected House of Commons. Harper's disrespect for our democracy is mind boggling. Somehow Harper has found a way to set an even worse precedent then the prorogation decision.
The NDP's call for abolishing the Senate is looking better then ever.
Defeating legislation passed by House unprecedented, opposition parties say
Layton argued Harper had no right to use his "unelected senator friends" to kill the bill, which he called the will of the House, and said it was the first time that a bill passed in the House was defeated in the Senate.
"He's lost his moral centre," Layton said. "He's fundamentally undemocratic, Mr. Speaker. Let's be clear about it, that's the truth. He broke his promise to bring our troops home, which this House asked for. He broke his promise to have votes on the use of our troops in foreign wars.
"He broke his promise never to appoint unelected senators, and now, he's using them to subvert the will of this House. It's never happened before. It should not be permitted, and where is his democratic impulse?" said Layton.
'Another ambush move'Earlier in the day, another NDP MP called it "another ambush move" by the Harper government.
"I'm still reeling from the shock, but after no debate, no consideration at all, all of a sudden in another ambush move by Stephen Harper, the Senate voted yesterday to kill the climate change [bill] without debate," said Bruce Hyer, MP for Thunder Bay-Superior North.
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Mitchell later told reporters in Ottawa that it was an unprecedented move to defeat a bill that had been passed by Parliament.
"They would defeat a bill in the Senate that was passed in the House of Commons by a majority of elected members of Parliament," he said. "Not only did they defeat it but defeated [it] before it even got to a committee stage, where it could have more airing."
