The Environment

During question period on the environment, members discussed a government bill (referred to as Bill C-39, the Building Canada Strong Act legislation) that would change how environmental assessments and project approvals work. Gabriel Ste-Marie of the Bloc Québécois urged the government to heed its own National Women’s Liberal Commission, which he said had called for limits on the Prime Minister’s powers to exempt or shorten environmental assessments and Indigenous consultations, for independent verification of any claimed urgency, and for reports to Parliament on skipped assessments. He said the Prime Minister was using a temporary tariff crisis to gain lasting powers to approve projects such as pipelines without full review. Responding for the government, Julie Dabrusin said environmental assessment standards had not been changed and that the government continues to protect the environment, while arguing that major projects, such as clean electricity and doubling the power grid, must be built to reach a net-zero economy.Written by AI from the debate. Updated .

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2 statements

Julie Dabrusin, Minister of the Environment, Climate Change and Nature

Liberal
“We have not lowered our environmental standards. We are protecting the environment. At the same time, we need to build big projects like clean electricity, including doubling the power grid. We will do this work while keeping the environment safe.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I want to once again reassure everyone that we have not made any changes to the environmental assessment standards. We are protecting the environment. It is very important to continue to do that. However, we need to build major projects, such as clean electricity projects. We have to be able to do that. We have to be able to help Hydro-Québec, for example, so that we can double the capacity of our electrical grid. We will do this work, and we will do it right so that we protect the environment.

Julie Dabrusin, Minister of the Environment, Climate Change and Nature

Liberal
“We still protect the environment in everything we do. We need to build big projects to get clean energy and reach net-zero emissions, and we can do that while protecting the environment.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I am going to say something again because I think it bears repeating. We continue to respect the environment and ensure that we protect it in everything we do. However, we must undertake major projects for the environment to secure clean energy and achieve a net-zero economy. That is what we are doing. We are going to do it, and we are going to do it right. We are going to do it while protecting the environment and pursuing major projects, such as clean energy.

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