Dan Knight

Conservatives and the Bloc demand cabinet face the hot seat before C-4 moves forward and open an investigation into offshore billions

Something unusual just happened in Ottawa. The Finance Committee, usually a rubber stamp for the Liberal swamp actually drew a line in the sand.

Here’s the story. The Liberals jammed through their so-called affordability bill, C-4. And they didn’t wait for debate. Instead, they used a procedural shortcut called a Ways and Means motion. What does that mean? In Ottawa, a Ways and Means motion is the tool the government uses to make tax changes legally binding the moment the motion passes in the House of Commons even before the bill has gone through committee hearings or votes in Parliament.

So right now, the tax hikes, credits, and changes in C-4 are already in effect. Canadians are paying under these rules today. Yes, MPs on the Finance Committee are “studying” the bill, they’ll hold hearings, hear witnesses, and go through it line by line in what’s called clause-by-clause review. That’s normally the stage where MPs can debate and amend legislation. But with C-4, it’s happening after the fact.

Think about that. Implementation first, scrutiny later.

But this week, the opposition finally said: enough. Conservatives and the Bloc forced a new rule: no clause-by-clause until the ministers show up. Finance, Housing, Environment. One hour each. Separate panels. No ministers? No progress.

Why did they have to do this? Because the government has been stalling for months, refusing to commit to dates. Instead of ministers showing up in person, Liberals kept offering up everyone but the actual decision-makers, deputy ministers, senior bureaucrats, even departmental staff. The excuse? The ministers were “busy” all summer on so-called budget consultations which mostly looked like taxpayer-funded travel and photo-ops. Bloc MPs literally laughed when Liberal MP Ryan Turnbull tried to pass that off as a defense. And they were right to laugh.

For once, bureaucrats don’t get to hide behind their bosses’ schedules. The ministers themselves now have to sit in the hot seat, face MPs directly, and explain their decisions.

And it gets better. The committee also voted to launch a probe into offshore tax havens, the globalist money-laundering operations where billions vanish every year while small businesses get crushed by CRA audits. Remember the Panama Papers? The Paradise Papers? We learned then that Canada’s so-called revenue agency cut sweetheart deals with the rich, let corporate giants off the hook for billions, while squeezing ordinary taxpayers for every penny. Well, now Parliament is going to drag this into the light. Six meetings minimum. Finance officials. CRA brass. The Parliamentary Budget Officer. Even law-enforcement experts in financial crime. Imagine that… accountability.

And of course, the Liberals tried to stall it. They buried language in the motion that said the tax-haven probe could only begin “after the conclusion” of the affordability study, code for months of delay while ministers played hide-and-seek with their schedules. Why would they want that? Think about it: this is the same government hinting at cuts, floating austerity, telling Canadian public sector to brace for restraint. Yet at the same time, they show zero urgency in chasing down up to approx. $50 billion a year leaking into offshore tax shelters. Why on earth wouldn’t they want to plug that hole before they slash programs or raise taxes? But the opposition caught it, ripped it out, and forced a rewrite: the tax-haven study runs at the same time as C-4. No more excuses.

So what does this tell you? It tells you two things. First, the Liberals will rig process any way they can to avoid scrutiny, implement first, answer questions never. And second, when opposition MPs actually use the tools at their disposal, the swamp can be forced to act. Billions are at stake. Billions that should be lowering your taxes, funding real infrastructure, protecting Canadians instead of vanishing into shell companies in Barbados.

So the question is simple: will this committee have the courage to follow through? Or will the Liberals and their media allies smother it in delay and jargon until the public forgets?

One thing’s for sure: the smell of panic is back in Ottawa. And for taxpayers who’ve been bled dry while watching global elites hide their fortunes offshore, that’s very good news.