How the Liberals’ increasing use of ‘Omnibus’ legislation is diminishing the role of Parliament
“It is not the purview of an appointed Commissioner to ascertain the intent of Parliament in pursuing legislation; indeed, future interpretations of legislative intent, undertaken by judiciary and administrative bodies, will look to the will of Parliament in passing legislation. The notion of passing off undefined concepts to a Commission is not a democratic process and lacks the transparency that citizens of a democracy require.”
MPs Greg McLean and Rick Perkins in our letter to the Commissioner of Competition
The Competition Bureau has announced a public consultation to gather stakeholder feedback relating to the interpretation and application of the new “greenwashing” provisions of the Competition Act. This consultation will inform the Bureau’s development of enforcement guidance about environmental claims.
Rick Perkins and I wrote to the Commissioner of Competition to provide our input, and to question his role in defining the Act’s purview – a role that is traditionally undertaken by Parliament.
Quite simply, the Commissioner should not be trying to ascertain the intent of Parliament. It is the role of the Commissioner to issue “enforcement guidelines, bulletins, and policies to provide further clarification and interpretation of Canada’s laws and regulations … to do this effectively requires well defined legislation from Parliament along with rigorous debate in the House to guide legislative intent…. In the absence of well-defined legislation Parliamentary debate and jurisprudence the Competition Commissioner does not have the necessary tools to issue legitimate opinions. In fact, in doing so, the Commissioner moves beyond your mandate into the realm of legislator.“
The Commission has no ability or part to play in defining such legally undefined and non-existent concepts. At this point, this is ‘guesswork’ on the part of the Commission. Canadians expect and deserve more in the development of the statutes that govern us. This puts the Commissioner in an untenable position of trying to determine the unexpressed intent of Parliament.
The legislation contained in Bill C-59, which amends the Competition Act, is vague and undefined, and was never debated in Parliament nor examined in Committee with witness input. Those who will be impacted by the legislation have no idea what standards they are being held to, how they will be judged, and who will do the judging. Those important decisions are the responsibility of Parliament, but this government has passed the task off to the Commissioner, who is supposed to guess at the intent of Parliament. This not only usurps the role of Parliament, but is a disservice to those who will be impacted by the legislation.
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