Reality check: Ignatieff’s “time machine” highlights absent Liberal opposition

Today Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff tabled a private members bill like none other.

As the Liberals’ release says:

“Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff today tabled a private member’s bill that calls on the Harper government to repeal the flawed pay equity measures included in the 2009 budget implementation act.” – Liberal Party press release, 29 October 2009

That’s right, Ignatieff’s bill calls on Stephen Harper to un-do regressive provisions of a budget Ignatieff and his party just helped to pass.

Problem is, helping Harper scrap pay equity for women is just one of the Conservative initiatives Liberals haven’t been able to say no to.

Vote after vote on issue after issue, for 79 times, Ignatieff and his Liberals have helped pass Conservative bills they said they were against -- not to make parliament work, but just to prop up the Harper Conservatives in exchange for nothing.

So, as a service to Mr. Ignatieff, here is some other “time machine” legislation he may want to consider:

• An Act to take back $60 in corporate tax cuts for every dollar invested in workers;
• An Act to have not really ruined sensitive ecosystems by changing the Navigable Waters Act;
• An Act to stop cutbacks to important services and programs, with promises of even bigger cuts to come;
• An Act to have not really green-lighted a $3-billion Sponsorship-style slush fund;
• An Act to pretend we never helped reestablish rights-violating Security Certificates;
• An Act to un-do an attack on public sector collective bargaining rights;
• An Act to not have undermined academic freedom by skewing the qualifications for academic grants.
• An Act to not vote in favour of a budget that supports the HST on BC and Ontario families, raising taxes on everything from vitamins to funerals.