OTTAWA—Billions of dollars in promised aid for Canadians hit by the impact of COVID-19 got hung up Tuesday over opposition refusal to give the Liberal government free rein to spend without parliamentary approval.

A House of Commons session to approve the legislation — meant as a non-partisan show of support for Canadians struggling through the health and economic crisis — went off the rails just as quickly as it began.

The wrinkle? The Liberals’ bid for broad tax-and-spend powers without the need for Parliament’s OK.

As the ranks of Canada’s unemployed swelled even more Tuesday, the Commons session was recessed and negotiations moved behind closed doors to sort the political disagreement over the draft legislation.

“Canadians need support to get through this. Fast,” Government House Leader Pablo Rodriguez tweeted soon after the Commons broke.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said earlier that his party would back the economic measures proposed by the Liberals to help individuals and businesses but warned the government against going “too far” in seeking new tax-and-spend powers.

“Our hope is that they will stay focused on providing assistance to Canadians, not focused on a power grab, not focused on giving themselves unprecedented new powers,” Scheer said.

More than six hours after the session started, MPs returned briefly to the chamber to extend the day.

“I just asked the House to not adjourn. We need to continue negotiating to get this done. Canadians need and expect all parties to put politics aside and work together to deliver the support they crucially need. We will continue doing exactly that,” Rodriguez tweeted.

Liberals had added elements to the draft bill to grant cabinet broad power to tax and spend through to December 2021.

One draft of the legislation, viewed by the Star, could allow cabinet to unilaterally make decisions that are now subject to the debate and approval of MPs. On taxes for example, cabinet ministers would have the power to make decisions on their own until “before 2022.”

The legislation also gives the finance minister broad powers until the end of 2021 to borrow money for the payment of “any amount in extraordinary circumstances, including in the event of a natural disaster or to promote the stability or maintain the efficiency of the financial system in Canada.”

The legislation would also allow the minister to wield financial power to shore up outside entities, with the ability to purchase securities, make loans and extend lines of credit and guarantee “any debt, obligation or financial asset.”

It would create the “Public Health Events of National Concern Payments Act,” which authorizes all money required to do anything, including making payments to provinces and territories, in relation to that public health event.”

Once public, the measures were denounced by politicians and Canadians, who took to social media as an unnecessary power grab.

With the controversy brewing, Trudeau felt compelled at his daily briefing to declare his “unwavering commitment” to democratic values.

“We will protect and uphold our democratic institutions as we deliver support to Canadians as quickly as possible,” the prime minister said.

Asked about the need for new powers, Trudeau declared that the fast-moving nature of the crisis required “extreme flexibility and rapidity of response by governments.

“We’ve been in close discussion with the opposition parties to find a way to both get that flexibility to be able to get measures out the door and keep in place our democratic institutions and the values that are so important to us all,” said Trudeau, who arrived late for his news conference because he was on the phone speaking to the opposition leaders.

Trudeau agreed to remove the section of legislation that would give cabinet unilateral taxing powers but left the spending powers in place.

“There are several aspects of the government’s legislation that are undemocratic — removing one does not solve the problem,” Scheer said later in a statement as talks continued.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh urged the government to put forward only the aid measures for quick approval. “There’s no reason why we can’t pass all the things we agree on,” Singh told CBC News.

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The standoff puts in limbo the government’s aid package, that includes enhanced GST credit, a temporary boost to the Canada Child Benefit and the provision of a wage subsidy for some small businesses, as well as the promised income support payments to workers who lose income because of COVID-19.

And the delay in delivering aid came on a day when more bad economic news broke. WestJet announced that it was shedding 6,900 jobs out of its 14,000-strong workforce in response to its drastically reduced flight schedule. And Bombardier announced that it was suspending non-essential work at its Canadian locations, including its aircraft and rail production facilities in Ontario and Quebec.

Nationwide, the Public Health Agency of Canada Tuesday reported 2,176 cases of COVID-19 and 25 deaths from the virus.

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