Discussion · Government Orders
Sébastien Lemire Bloc Québécois
“I oppose this bill. There is no real emergency to rush it through. It lets the government ignore local communities, the environment, Indigenous rights, and workers whenever it labels a project as a national interest.”
“Mr. Speaker, I listened to the speech by the member for Edmonton Centre, and I have serious doubts about the notion of people power, particularly when looking at her title. She is the Minister responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada, fair enough, but she is also the Minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience. We can all agree there is no real emergency here though, because Donald Trump’s presidency is likely to have been long over before a single drop flows from the new pipeline. As for the “community resilience” part, that really fascinates me. It is like an honoris causa for someone honourable. I do not understand the point of it, especially if the aim of the bill is to steamroll these communities, whether in terms of environmental rights, indigenous peoples’ rights, workers’ rights or the people’s right to be consulted. If a region is declared to be of national interest, the authorities can steamroll anything they want. What, then, is the point of a Minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience?”
Mr. Speaker, I listened to the speech by the member for Edmonton Centre, and I have serious doubts about the notion of people power, particularly when looking at her title. She is the Minister responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada, fair enough, but she is also the Minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience. We can all agree there is no real emergency here though, because Donald Trump’s presidency is likely to have been long over before a single drop flows from the new pipeline. As for the “community resilience” part, that really fascinates me. It is like an honoris causa for someone honourable. I do not understand the point of it, especially if the aim of the bill is to steamroll these communities, whether in terms of environmental rights, indigenous peoples’ rights, workers’ rights or the people’s right to be consulted. If a region is declared to be of national interest, the authorities can steamroll anything they want. What, then, is the point of a Minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience?