Retired social studies teacher Bill Perrin couldn't help but think back to the talks he used to give his students at Kelly Road secondary school.
He would remind themhow lucky they were as Canadians to have a federal system of government that also give a voice to the opposition.
Now, with the Conservative government poised to pass its massive and controversial Bill C-38 omnibus budget bill, Perrin is not so sure of his political beliefs and made his concerns known Saturday afternoon by joining the Stand Against A Blackmark Budget protest.
"I taught for 32 years and I almost feel like I've been lying to my students," said Perrin, standing in front of the constituency office of Peace River-Prince George Conservative MP Bob Zimmer.
"I always told them how important the whole parliamentary procedure was, especially the role of the opposition, and I think the opposition is being muzzled. We're getting closure basically before the bills are put forward.
"This bill has so much, and it's not going to be debated fairly. It's showing the biggest weakness of our parliamentary system, that if you have a big majority, you can do what you want. The opposition is there to offer some sort of balance, constructive criticism, and they're not even being allowed to do that. At the federal and provincial levels over the years I've been amazed at how the opposition is so meek and their role in the whole process has been usurped."
Organized by leadnow.ca in 70 locations across Canada, Saturday's Prince George protest drew about 60 sign-waving participants. Leadnow is trying to convince at least 13 Conservative MPs to break party ranks and vote against the omnibus bill.
"I am ecstatic with the turnout," said local Leadnow organizer Karen Anderson. "Everybody's passionate and lots of people spoke about why they're here and that's terrific. This is going on at least 70 ridings across the country and there are a lot of people worried about this. The Canadian Association of Municipalities [Saturday] morning easily passed a motion to take the fisheries part out of the budget and I don't think this will get rubber-stamped."
Among a wide range of environmental, labour and immigration changes, Bill C-38, if it passes, will: raise the minimum age of old age security from 65 to 67; bring down tougher rules on repeat employment insurance beneficiaries; shift the power to conduct environmental assessments to cabinet ministers; reduce protections for endangered animals; shift the focus of the Fisheries Act away from protecting habitat in favour of commercial business ventures; scrap the Canadian Enviromental Assessment Act; and repeal Fair Wage and Hours of Labour Act.
"The sweeping agenda that's contained in Bill C-38 is not in line with the values and interests of most Canadians and so we're raising awareness that government is trying to put this through in a huge budget bill and not giving these issues a thorough review," said Nadia Nowak.
"If we're thinking about the longterm interest of Canadians and considering the need to have a healthy environment as well as address the issue of climate change, we really need to be thinking about having strong environmental regulations today so that we can protect the future."
Nowak was among a small crowd clustered at Dick Harris's Cariboo-Prince George constituency office on Quebec Street and later joined the larger gathering at Zimmer's Seventh Avenue office. Neither MP was in attendance.
Katrine MacLean of Quesnel is worried Bill C-38, known officially as the Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, will pave the way for projects like the Northern Gateway Enbridge oil pipeline, and will put our fish and waterways at risk.
"This is a catastrophe in the making and I'm totally against what the Harper government is doing, it's killing our democracy," said MacLean. "People should have a chance to discuss it and they're not doing that.
"The pipeline that's going through is going across some of these streams that have blue-listed [endangered] species. The bill will literally kill our whole Environment Act, and it's not just about fish. When you kill the Fisheries Act, it affects otters, beavers and waterfowl nesting sites. We have to get our democracy back."
For Mark Earle, the goal of his protest Saturday was not to totally derail all 70 proposed legislative changes but to try to convince the government to break out pieces of the bill and treat them separately, allowing more time for debate.
"Bill C-38 is just an abuse of our system and it's a small thing for me to show up and be part of democracy," said Earle. "We have a parliamentary system that is meant to examine the laws being put in place and their impact and C-38 can circumvent that. It's unreasonable to say that we must get this done in this time. Full examination takes time and you can't determine that before the fact. This does not respect our traditions and the way I think our country should be governed."
