Resumen de Omnibus Bills in Theory and Practice

Louis Massicotte

• There is no concise definition of what is an Omnibus Bill. O�Brien and Bosc (2009) state that an omnibus bill seeks to amend, repeal or enact several Acts, and is characterized by the fact that it has a number of related but separate �initiatives�. The latter word is an improvement over the previous edition, by Marleau and Montpetit, that spoke of separate �parts� � plenty of bills are divided into Parts, without being omnibus bills at all. This article looks at the use of omnibus bills in Canadian provinces, the United States and in the House of Commons, particularly Bill C-38 the Budget Implementation Bill. It argues that the extensive use of omnibus bills is detrimental to the health of our parliamentary institutions.