Discussion · Government Orders
Elizabeth May Green
“I oppose this bill. Between this bill and an earlier one, the government is gutting environmental laws and letting cabinet approve projects without proper rules. It throws away decades of progress on how to plan projects properly, and it wastes money.”
“Mr. Speaker, Bill C-39 does not have to gut the Endangered Species Act, and it does not have to gut the federal Impact Assessment Act, because Bill C-5 has already done that, and Bill C-5 is in place, allowing maximum discretion for whenever a project is dreamed up by cabinet with no guidelines or criteria. As for a project in the national interest, it is allowed to exempt that project from the application of all the other acts that are mentioned, except the specific ones that I will mention in my speech that it is not allowed to exempt. Bill C-5 and Bill C-39 together mean bulldozing through decades of progress in knowing how to plan a project to succeed. This is reckless fiscal irresponsibility.”
Official Hansard
Mr. Speaker, Bill C-39 does not have to gut the Endangered Species Act, and it does not have to gut the federal Impact Assessment Act, because Bill C-5 has already done that, and Bill C-5 is in place, allowing maximum discretion for whenever a project is dreamed up by cabinet with no guidelines or criteria. As for a project in the national interest, it is allowed to exempt that project from the application of all the other acts that are mentioned, except the specific ones that I will mention in my speech that it is not allowed to exempt. Bill C-5 and Bill C-39 together mean bulldozing through decades of progress in knowing how to plan a project to succeed. This is reckless fiscal irresponsibility.