Discussion · Government Orders
Alexis Deschênes Bloc Québécois
“This bill gives the government too much power. It lets ministers decide what counts as the national interest, but they have never even defined what that means. Now they want to expand that power from single projects to entire regions.”
“Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for that excellent question. I have no comment. I am simply overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of this discretionary power. Section 4.1 of Bill C-5 states that cabinet will, by order, define what is in the national interest. Those 28 cabinet ministers were going to tell us that. However, that order was never issued. Before even defining what the national interest is, the government is going even further by telling us, in Bill C-39, that it used to be projects of national interest, but now it will be regions of national interest.”
-
Reply to a debate question
Relevance 100 of 100
Of this reply, 100% addressed the question or point raised.
See full analysis
Official Hansard
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for that excellent question. I have no comment. I am simply overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of this discretionary power. Section 4.1 of Bill C-5 states that cabinet will, by order, define what is in the national interest. Those 28 cabinet ministers were going to tell us that. However, that order was never issued. Before even defining what the national interest is, the government is going even further by telling us, in Bill C-39, that it used to be projects of national interest, but now it will be regions of national interest.