TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT

Posted on 05/17/2016 | About Canada

The chief government whip, who was the man in charge of organizing Liberal votes in the House of Commons is breathing a little easier after narrowly averting disaster on the government's proposed Air Canada legislation.

Andrew Leslie says the Liberals learned a lesson yesterday when the NDP, supported by the Conservatives, pulled a procedural trick to bring about a snap vote on Bill C-10. Speaker Geoff Regan ended up having to break a 139-to-139 tie, voting with the government, as Liberal MPs raced back to Parliament Hill from around the city, many of them stuck in traffic. Even Liberal MP Doug Eyolfson, who voted against the bill on second reading, supported the government this time, saying he did not want to take part in a procedural stunt.

The proposed changes to the Air Canada Public Participation Act would remove the requirement that the airline keep its maintenance operations in the cities of Winnipeg, Montreal and Mississauga. The new legislation would instead allow Air Canada to locate those operations anywhere in the provinces of Manitoba, Quebec and Ontario.