Reality check: The forgotten clauses of shame

Tonight, Conservatives are ramming through a budget bill that cuts OAS, EI and Health Care transfers – and turns back the clock by decades on environmental protection.

But as the vote starts on hundreds of clauses, let us not forget some of the other reckless changes being rammed through in the Conservatives' Trojan Horse budget bill.

• reduces the power of the Auditor General to hold government accountable to Canadians
• removes independent oversight from 12 key government agencies
• eliminates organizations that produce independent policy research
• dissolves the Public Appointments Commission
• repeals The Fair Wages and Hours of Labour Act
• removes federal contractors from the protection under The Employment Equity Act
• weakens food and drug regulations and places at the discretion of the Minister of Health
• repeals The Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act
• downloads responsibility for most environmental assessments to provinces
• gives final say over pipeline projects to Conservative cabinet ministers

And Conservatives tried to quietly sneak all these changes through in their 400+ page budget bill -- with little to no consultation with the people affected.