abinet’s budget bill last night cleared the Commons finance committee after 29 days and 667 roll call votes in a month-long Conservative filibuster. MPs protested the omnibus bill introduced or amended 51 different Acts of Parliament.

The finance committee in a final clause-by-clause review of Bill C-47 the Budget Implementation Act voted until midnight Monday, then resumed at 9:04 am Eastern yesterday and remained in continuous session with brief breaks to attend the washroom and Question Period. The committee finished its work on the bill at 7:31 pm.

“It’s been a long couple of days,” said Conservative MP Philip Lawrence (Northumberland-Peterborough South, Ont.). “We’re in a bit of a low trust environment,” he added.

“I think we’re good but I do like my coffee,” said Liberal MP Peter Fonseca (Mississauga East-Cooksville, Ont.), chair of the finance committee.

Clerks attended the committee in shifts to conduct roll call votes on 681 clauses. Conservative MPs asked that several clauses be slowly read into the record:

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