Official Hansard
Mr. Speaker, today I rise to speak to Bill C-39, the building Canada strong act. Last year, we asked Canadians for a mandate to build a stronger, more resilient and more prosperous Canada. This legislation is the latest step in our work to turn that promise into action. It is important to consider the legislation in the context of the time in which we live right now and where Canada finds itself as a country. These are challenging times for Canada. For generations, our economy has been built on a north-south axis. Canada and the United States are long-time friends, neighbours and allies. We have the world’s longest undefended border. We fought side by side in two wars. We share language and culture, comedians and hockey players. We vacation in each other’s countries. We pop across the border for groceries or to fill up the gas tank. We have built highly interconnected joint shared economies. More trade flows north-south than east-west. In Detroit and Windsor, car components will go back and forth several times before rolling off the assembly line. Lumber will leave British Columbia, harvested from our vast forests, and come back to Vancouver as furniture. This relationship has worked because of shared values, principles and interests; because of stability; and because of the shared belief that we need each other and that disputes between friends, when they arise, can be resolved amicably. However, those days are over. We see an administration in the United States that no longer shares our values and principles and no longer sees Canada as in its national interest. It values chaos over stability and is unpredictable. Even if we accept that the current relationship is an aberration and not the new status quo, the fact is that this administration and the trade war it has foolishly launched have made one stark truth painfully clear: An economy built on one trading partner, one critical relationship, with all our eggs in one basket, is an economy built on a foundation of sand. Even if we see a return in the United States to a predictable and principled relationship built on shared principles and shared values, we still cannot, and must not, go back to the way things were. The United States will always be our most important trading partner and an important ally. We share too much geography and too much culture. As President Kennedy famously said when addressing this House of Commons in 1961: Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners. And necessity has made us allies. However, this does not mean we cannot build a more resilient economy, one that does not just sell to one partner. As the Prime Minister has said, Canada has what the world needs. Building Canada strong means building a more confident Canada, a more robust Canada and a Canada that looks to global markets with confidence in who we are and what we bring to the table. A stronger Canada is a more resilient Canada that does not rely on just one trading partner. As former prime minister Pierre Trudeau said at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., in 1969, about America: Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered the beast, one is affected by every twitch and grunt. It will not be easy. America is right there. Building new supply chains, entering new markets and learning new regulatory environments is not easy. It takes time and investment. That is how we build Canada strong, and that is what this bill is all about: how we can accelerate project approvals while upholding indigenous rights and the highest environmental standards, how we can build and strengthen economic resilience through stronger supply chains, and how we can modernize and protect labour rights for the workforce that will build Canada strong. Let us start with project approvals. We have spoken about setting the goal of one year, one decision. Bill C-39 would establish the framework necessary to ensure that the federal government can get to a yes, or a no, on major project evaluations within one year of a complete project submission. How does that happen? It happens by running the necessary project evaluations and assessments concurrently rather than consecutively. That just makes sense. It does not mean lowering standards at all, which is important to note. It means doing the same rigorous evaluations and holding projects to the same high standards, just making the process more efficient. The bill would also ensure that indigenous consultation is embedded in the process, because indigenous free and informed consent is not just another box to tick. It is our obligation. Let us turn to reinforcing economic resilience. How can we keep Canada moving? With this bill, Canada would create strategic trade corridors and establish a dedicated transportation project office to keep the trade flowing. It seeks to modernize our ports with new digital trade strategies and updated port governance so that our ports would be better positioned to compete with the world. It seeks to provide clear and predictable rules to attract long-term capital investment. We want partners to invest in Canada not just for today but for future generations. Businesses have choices about where they invest their capital. They want jurisdictions that offer predictable processes, transparent regulation and a level of certainty. That is what these changes seek to support. Finally, let us turn to labour rights. I believe firmly in the collective bargaining process. Unions have fought for many of the rights that today’s workers take for granted, like the 40-hour workweek and paid sick leave. I believe the best deals between management and labour are made at the table. Bill C-39 seeks to strengthen protections for unionized and federally regulated workers. This bill seeks to empower collective bargaining by making Labour Code amendments that would help parties address workplace issues earlier and reach negotiated agreements faster, while protecting the fundamental right to withhold labour through job action. We are boosting federal enforcement capacity by funding 100 new health and safety officers, which will increase inspection capacity by 70%. The legislation also aims to clear backlogs at the Canada Industrial Relations Board through the hiring of 26 new staff. This legislation would establish transparency and guardrails around the government’s use of section 107 to end a labour disruption, by making it a requirement for the minister to consider independent mediator reports and national interest impacts before any decision to intervene. Intervention in a labour dispute should be the rare exception, the last resort. As I have said, the best, most durable and longest-lasting agreements are made at the table with management and labour negotiating fairly and in good faith. However, if intervention is deemed necessary, the process and the reasons must be transparent so that Canadians can decide whether the action was truly necessary. Building Canada strong is not easy, and it is not glamorous. It will not be done by the government. It is Canadians who will build Canada strong. It is the Canadian household that chooses to eat saskatoon berries with their breakfast, grill Alberta beef for dinner and have Ontario peaches for dessert. It is the Canadian business that decides to sell into a new market or procure raw materials from a supplier in a new country. The role of the government is to create the environment that makes it easier, predictable and more profitable to choose Canada. That is what this bill seeks to do, and by supporting it, we are helping Canadians to build Canada strong.
