Published by Senator Art Eggleton on 16 March 2009
I was troubled by the story Liberals Rush Budget Through To Avoid EI Holdup (front, March 13) because it says the Liberals in the Senate were using "delaying tactics" on the budget. The Senate had the bill for five days, while the House of Commons had the bill for five weeks.
Our responsibility to review the legislation is no less than that of MPs. Before we received the bill, the Liberal leadership consulted with the Conservatives and we were told that dealing with the bill by the end of March would be appropriate.
However, during Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's appearance before the Senate finance committee last week, it came to light for the first time that the bill contained a provision allowing the five-week extension of EI benefits to flow to Canadians once the bill received royal assent instead of on April 1, as was previously indicated.
It is unfortunate that the government had failed to disclose this information until then.
Once we became aware of this fact, we decided to expedite the passage of the bill.