It was nearly 10:30 p.m. in Ottawa when Conservative minister Tony Clement typed the words, "The House debate is getting a tad rambunctious!"
The message was posted to Twitter Tuesday as MPs, for the second late night in a row, exchanged a war of words over the contentious budget bill.
The House called it a day at midnight, just a few hours before everybody was expected back on the Hill for their weekly caucus meetings -- and with a looming marathon, around-the-clock voting session, which is expected to begin this evening.
MPs will be voting on more than 800 of the 1,000-plus amendments the opposition proposed to the sweeping omnibus budget bill. Voting will get under way once the clock runs out on the 10 allotted hours of debate. And once it begins, it won't stop until every amendment is either carried or defeated -- a process expected to last anywhere between 18 and 26 hours.
So that's pretty much the outlook for the next couple of days; a lot of "yeas" and "nays," ultimately with the majority Conservatives expected to defeat every amendment.
Once that business is wrapped, the budget bill will still have several legislative hurdles to pass before the government can tuck it away -- eight hours at third reading and one final vote in the House, and then being booted over to the Senate for more scrutiny.
Debate on the budget bill will be briefly interrupted this evening for votes on three pieces of private member's business -- NDP MP Jack Harris' motion calling on the government to bolster the country's search and rescue program, Liberal MP Scott Brison's request to have the finance committee study income inequality in Canada, and Conservative MP Roxanne James' bid to stop offenders from submitting vexatious or frivolous complaints.
As the debate wages on in the Commons, Auditor General Michael Ferguson will be preparing to release two highly-anticipated reports - one on MP spending, and another on Senate spending.
The wheels on these reports started turning in spring 2010, when Ferguson's predecessor, Sheila Fraser, requested information to study MP spending and expense requests, but got shot down. The public outcry over the rejection eventually prompted a change of mind. So now, two years later, the Office of the Auditor General is prepared to release the findings following a review of the tens of millions Parliament spends each year.
Later this evening, the Liberals are expected to officially announce the rules and timeline for the party's leadership race, and Ottawa will once and for all know whether Bob Rae, who has been acting as interim leader since shortly ofter last year's May election, will be able to run.
With several cancellations today, the list of House committee meetings is thin:
- International trade is looking at the situation in Ukraine as well as the role the private sector plays in achieving Canada's international development interests.
- Human resources continues its simultaneous studies of ways to address labour shortages in high demand occupations, and ways to address barriers to filling low-skilled jobs.
Finally, in the Senate, national finance is continuing its pre-study of the budget bill with two meetings and about half of a dozen witnesses scheduled today.
Follow Amy on Twitter.
© Global News. A division of Shaw Media Inc., 2012.