MPs from the region say the federal budget implementation bill that's been criticized for affecting so many other federal acts contains those statutes to ensure the budget works.“It's a case of if you're going to work your way through the budget … that these are the things that have to be done,” said Red Deer MP Earl Dreeshen.Dreeshen said he attended a four-and-a-half-hour technical briefing session on the budget implementation bill, known technically as Bill C-38 and commonly as the omnibus budget bill.That technical briefing helped Dreeshen and other MPs understand why things like changes to Old Age Security, environmental assessment requirements and even cross-border arrest powers for the United States were in the bill.“Even the Green Party was, ‘Oh, I see,'” Dreeshen said.The statutes in Bill C-38 will help the government implement the budget, Dreeshen said. “We have to make sure we are as lean as we possibly can be,” he said, pointing to the market woes in the Eurozone as a reason to keep Canada “flexible” during these financially turbulent times. The federal budget helps create certainty in the Canadian marketplace, he said.When asked why the changes to Old Age Security, which bumps the eligible age for the program from 65 to 67 starting in 2023, were in the budget implementation bill, Dreeshen said it's partly in reaction to the increased life expectancy in Canada.“People plan on working longer,” Dreeshen said. He said the tax dollars being put into the health-care system help keep people alive longer.Residents are also spending more time going to school before they start working, Dreeshen said. He said this affects the budget and argues that most people would rather see more tax dollars spent on health and education instead of Old Age Security.Bill C-38 contains a clause that is a separate act called the Canada Environmental Assessment Act that reduces the number of federal environmental assessments, leaving most of the responsibility to the provinces.Dreeshen said the change won't affect the quality of the assessments, just reduces the amount of overlap between federal and provincial reviews.“It isn't going to change any of the rigour that is associated with the environmental reviews,” Dreeshen said. “This was an opportunity for people to say we don't need to have the reviews going on for years and years.”There's a section which allows U.S. federal law enforcement agents participating in operations across the border to arrest Canadians while in Canada – Dreeshen said the section also allows for Canadians to do the same in the U.S. The reason for its inclusion in the budget implementation bill is to help with trade, Dreeshen said.“We have to have trade taking place across the border,” Dreeshen said.Employment Insurance was hit by changes as part of Bill C-38. Changes included applicants having to accept jobs within an hour commute from their home and that pay between 70 to 90 per cent of their previous wage.“The key thing is to define what is suitable work,” Dreeshen said. “The objective of EI is to make sure you have an opportunity to find work.”The changes will help get people to consider other jobs, Dreeshen said. He said in parts of Western Canada the demand for employees is “dramatic.”The budget implementation bill has drawn fire from opposition parties and the public for its changes. Dreeshen said he hasn't heard much criticism from his constituents except for questions about what they hear in the media.“It isn't done in a vacuum,” he said of the budget development process. He said the budget was developed in consultation with communities.Wild Rose MP Blake Richards said the short title of the bill, which is the Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, shows what the bill's intentions are.“The title of the budget says everything,” Richards said.Bill C-38 changes the federal Fisheries Act. Part of the changes involve repealing language that prohibits protection of fish habitats unless the habitat is part of a commercial, recreational or Aboriginal fishery in major bodies of water.Richards said this change is being made so the water bodies being protected are “actually fish habitat.” He said he's heard examples of projects being held up because of drainage ditches falling under the protections in the act.The reason for this change being in the bill, Richards said, is because everything in the implementation bill is designed to help provide jobs and boost the economy. This helps pave the way for speeding up some project.Another section of the budget implementation bill increases sanctions on charitable groups that use more than 10 per cent of their revenues on political advocacy.“You want to ensure that charitable donations and the tax credits that apply to them … are used for charitable purposes,” Richards said.Some advocacy sees groups trying to delay certain projects, Richards said. When asked if the move was an attempt to muzzle political opponents of the Conservatives, Richards said: “Not at all.”Richards said the chopping of the inspector-general of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service in the budget implementation bill was probably the result of a review that showed the outside oversight of CSIS could be dealt with in another way.Both Richards and Dreeshen said the environmental assessment changes included in the bill are to avoid a duplication of processes. Richards said by having one review for one project, a timeline can be established for a project and helps increase prosperity.The Fair Wages and Hours of Labour Act was repealed as part of Bill C-38. The act had ensured companies bidding on federal contracts had to pay fair wages and overtime. Richards said the act was put into place before there were good provincial standards for wages and other employment standards.“Essentially it was something that was done 80 years ago,” Richards said. The act caused enough red tape that only larger companies could usually submit a bid on federal contracts, Richards said, and repealing the act will allow the process to be open to more companies. He said having a more open bid process will help save taxpayers money, the reason for the repeal's inclusion in the bill.On the changes to Old Age Security, Richards said that with the boomer generation coming up to retirement age, the program was going to comprise 25 per cent of all government expenditures.“Obviously that was unsustainable,” Richards said. He noted the two-year bump in time to receive Old Age Security doesn't take effect until 2023.Richards has had some calls and emails from constituents with concerns about the bill.“I think for the most part people are supportive of it,” he said of the general reaction he's heard from the public.Bill C-38 has made its way through the House of Commons, including a marathon voting session that went overnight, during which opposition parties introduced several amendments to the bill, which were voted down by the majority Conservatives.It has passed through the Senate and is now law.Other legislative changes include repealing the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act and eliminating a 280,000-application backlog under the federal skilled-worker program by amending the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
