OTTAWA — The Speaker of the House of Commons has given a green light to more than 800 proposed opposition amendments to the Conservative government’s so-called omnibus bill.

But Andrew Scheer said he intends to restrict the number of votes on proposed changes to the controversial budget implementation legislation, known as Bill C-38.

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“There are few precedents to guide the Speaker in dealing with this type of situation,” Scheer told the House as he spelled out his ruling.

“In my selection of motions, in their grouping and in the organization of the votes, and I have made every effort to respect both the wishes of the House and my responsibility to organize the consideration of report stage motions in a fair and balanced manner.”

Scheer’s ruling means the House will have to hold between 67 and 159 votes on a single piece of legislation. At a rate of roughly four or five votes an hour, it’s not as onerous a workload as it could have been, but it could still mean some late nights for MPs.

“The Speaker was put into what I would consider an almost impossible situation,” said NDP House leader Nathan Cullen.

“His ruling will confirm, though, that the opposition still does have some tools to hold government to account, that the government’s not going to get away with this one easily, that they are going to have to pack their jammies as well.”

The structure of Bill C-38 itself falls within the bounds of correct parliamentary procedure, Scheer said in response to a request from Green party Leader Elizabeth May that the bill be ruled out of order.

“It’s an unfortunate ruling,” May said of Scheer’s decision on C-38, saying it does nothing to prevent future omnibus bills from abusing parliamentary procedure.

The Liberals and the NDP together initially proposed more than 1,000 amendments to the bill, which is more than 400 pages long and changes more than 70 laws.

Opposition parties complained the legislation goes too far, but the government insisted the bill is necessary to create jobs and keep the economy percolating.

The Liberals had asked the government to pull items relating to fisheries, environmental assessment, EI and old age security and introduce them as separate bills.

The Canadian Press