Kody Blois

Mr. Speaker, Greeting · 62 wordsit is great to be back. I hope you had a great summer with your constituents in the Montreal area. I had the opportunity to engage with the people I have the privilege of representing, and it is great to bring their voices to Parliament. I hope all of my colleagues had an opportunity to do the same throughout the summer months.Greeting Procedure · 26 wordsI will be splitting my time this morning with the hon. member for Davenport. Today, we are here to talk about the building Canada strong act, ProcedureThanks · 32 wordsbut I would be remiss if I did not take 30 seconds, given the fact that I was in my constituency this summer, to recognize some tremendous young athletes from my community.Thanks Anecdote · 37 wordsI am a former fast pitch softball player. I do not know if any members in the House have played fast pitch softball. It is a sport played mostly in smaller and rural communities across the country.Anecdote Claims · 85 wordsI want to put into the Hansard that Nova Scotia had four medals on the men’s side in four different categories.¹ At the under-17 level, the Brookfield Elks, with a number of athletes from my riding, won the Canadian championship.² At the under-20 level, the Brookfield Elks won a bronze medal.³ At the under-23 level, the Nova Scotia team, again, composed of many athletes from Kings—Hants, won a silver medal, ⁴and at the top level of senior men’s softball, East Hants won a bronze medal.⁵Off point Procedure · 10 wordsI want to make sure that is on the record.Procedure Thanks · 19 wordsWe are proud of our athletes and certainly proud of the work they are doing at the national level.Thanks Positioning · 19 wordsOn to more important things, we were elected as a government to focus on building a more resilient economy.Positioning Claims · 22 wordsWe know there are headwinds and challenges globally. We are facing tariffs from the U.S. administration, which is changing its trade policy, Positioning · 23 wordsbut the focus of the Prime Minister and the government has been to focus on controlling what we can control as a country.Positioning Claims · 123 wordsThe Prime Minister and the Minister of Transport have made very clear that the building Canada strong act is the most important piece of economic legislation the government has introduced to date to really focus on driving projects that matter in the national interest of the country, such as the modernization of key trade corridors, including ports, across this country, ⁶and to also look at our supply chains and the way our labour context works in this country. Generally, collective bargaining has worked very well, but in some key strategic areas, we want to ensure there are additional measures and initiatives that can ensure that both the employer and the union representing workers can get to a deal that is fair for parties. Positioning · 20 wordsWe feel it is incumbent on the government to actually establish the initiatives and supports to help make that happen.Positioning Claims · 12 wordsThose are the three pillars of this very important piece of legislation. Procedure · 19 wordsI will take us through why that matters, and I am going to start on the regulatory permitting piece.Procedure Claims · 49 wordsMany members of the House would agree with me that Canada has what the world needs. We are an agricultural superpower in our ability to help feed the world. We have a major potash industry that is, in fact, the largest in the world.⁷ It is global in nature. Reasoning · 9 wordsWe need to get that supply to the world. Claims · 15 wordsWe have the energy the world needs. We have the ability to fuel the world. Reasoning · 70 wordsAgain, whether that is in pipeline access or the ability to get energy to world markets, we have to have the supply chain to make that happen. We have to be willing, particularly at this moment when Canada is being called upon by countries around the world, to be even more of a secure energy supplier. We have to work on the major projects that help drive our economy forward. Claims · 18 wordsWe can talk about critical minerals, whether from the perspective of a military application or of clean energy. Anecdote · 31 wordsAs one of the younger members of the House, I think about the future that I would like to leave for my future family, our constituents and people around the world.Anecdote Claims · 40 wordsCritical minerals are going to be a really important part to our clean energy future. However, Canada has an outsized role globally to make sure those critical minerals are available to our allies and that we have alternative supply chains. Reasoning · 26 wordsThat requires us, as parliamentarians, and certainly as a government, to make sure the regulatory conditions are in place so we can drive that process forward. Claims · 61 wordsWhat the government is proposing is essentially one window, one regulator and a one-year review once the proponent has submitted all the necessary information to the federal regulator.⁸ Members of Parliament will remember that our government introduced Bill C-5 for this type of principle on major national projects.⁹ There have been 17 major projects that have been referred to the MPO.¹⁰ Thanks · 50 wordsWhile I am on my feet, I would like to recognize the work of Dawn Farrell, someone who has great experience in the private sector and who is doing very important work to lead that agency and help ensure that we can advance projects that are in the national interest.¹¹Thanks Claims · 65 wordsSome members of Parliament have rightly asked if that is a good principle for major national projects. They have asked about how we take those principles and how we could ensure that perhaps mid-sized projects and projects of more local or regional interest could also have the same principles applied regarding the rigour in which we are trying to move processes forward quickly without shortcuts. Reasoning · 50 wordsI think it is important for Canadians at home to understand the values that underpin not only how we want to ensure environmental safety and participation with indigenous groups in this country, but also the desire to make sure we can create certainty for businesses to invest in this country. Claims · 91 wordsWe are trying to reconcile all that and to do so on a more expedited timeline, and that is exactly what we are proposing today. What that looks like is that as opposed to having multiple line departments, such as Transport Canada, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, perhaps ECCC or, of course, indigenous engagement through Crown-Indigenous Relations, we should find a way to have it under one federal project review.¹² While there could be a multitude of federal departments that would perhaps under current legislation have a role and responsibility, Reasoning · 41 wordsand we do not want to take away that expertise or that understanding of why those elements are important for projects, we have to be able to find the way to make it under one federal project review, not multiple ones, Claims · 162 wordswhich is just challenging for the proponents trying to advance them. It is also challenging for indigenous communities. I have the privilege of representing three of them.¹⁹Off point One piece of feedback I have had in the seven years I have been involved in Parliament is that if we have ongoing consultation through multiple line departments, this does create a capacity challenge to ensure that indigenous communities are actively participating and have the resources to make sure they can share their perspective, as per our constitutional requirements in this country. Therefore, one thing this legislation proposes is a Crown consultation hub.¹³ This is the idea that in consultation, the multitude of federal departments that may have a say on a federal permitting decision could actually go through one body to engage with the nation in question to be able to provide the multitude of different perspectives we may need, as opposed to a series, a multitude, of departments playing that out over time. Positioning · 12 wordsThis is what we would, I guess, refer to as common sense.Positioning Reasoning · 43 wordsWe think this is something that would reconcile the interests of ensuring that indigenous communities are engaged and we are meeting our constitutional requirements, with, at the same time, providing the proponent and a federal regulator with the ability to make that happen. Claims · 57 wordsInstead of a multitude of departments, it would be the Canada Energy Regulator, the Canada Nuclear Safety Commission or the Impact Assessment Agency. One of those three agencies would have the purview to make all the federal decisions, with engagement from federal departments, with the goal of having a one-year decision once all applicable information is submitted.¹⁴ Positioning · 3 wordsThat is incumbent.Positioning The ask · 24 wordsWe as parliamentarians across the House, I hope, can recognize that is important. It is something we have to be able to push forward. Procedure · 7 wordsOn supply chain certainty, we have heard, ProcedureClaims · 62 wordsand I have heard, commentary outside the House that the bill is trying to limit the ability to strike in this country. Let me say that this is simply not the case. What the bill is proposing is to put additional measures in terms of mediation support, such as a special mediator when there are complex cases between an employer and labour.¹⁵ Procedure · 8 wordsI go back to the point I made, ProcedurePositioning · 65 wordswhich is that we have what the world needs, we have an obligation and we are in a critical moment for this country. We as a government feel it is absolutely incumbent to ensure that we are putting all the resources possible to be able to get to a resolution between the employer and the union.Vague promise We understand the importance of labour in this country.Positioning Claims · 23 wordsAt the same time, we are putting critical provisions around the utilization of section 107, which is held by the Minister of Jobs.¹⁶ Positioning · 39 wordsWe feel that is an appropriate balance to make sure we are protecting the constitutional rights of workers and at the same time trying to ensure we are putting the resources to get the best deal at the table.Positioning Claims · 97 wordsWhen we look at the legislation and the proposals from the government, we see there is actually a proposal to put 100 additional resources, this being full-time equivalents, to the Canadian Industrial Review Board.¹⁷ Again, this is a mechanism where, if parties get to an impasse, we could be trying to provide assistance to ensure that there is good-faith bargaining and that we could get to an outcome that matters for employers and also matters, most importantly, for the workers and the people who drive our economy across this country. There is a lot in the bill, Aside · 9 wordsand I wish I had more than 10 minutes, AsideOff pointClaims · 38 wordsbut last is a modernization around port governance. Ports play an extremely important role in our country, and the provisions in the bill would allow for additional discretion for port boards in their capacity to make regulatory decisions, ¹⁸Positioning · 23 wordswhich we think is streamlined and the right way to go. At the end of the day, the bill is about building Canada.Positioning Procedure · 9 wordsI look forward to taking questions from my colleagues.Procedure