PETERSON: All that is required, to stop a project from proceeding, is for the Minister to form an opinion that the proposed project would cause ‘unacceptable’ environmental effect
February 11, 2019:
Canada’s
assessment process has survived perfectly well
since the mid-1970’s without
Ministers exercising such draconian power.”
Oil Sands Action supporters showing support at Edmonton Oilers game on January 23rd |
Suits and Boots today called on Canada’s Senate to adopt 18 key amendments that it says
are the next best thing to killing outright the proposed resource sector
environmental assessment legislation.
In a post on the
group’s website Suits and Boots founder Rick
Peterson urged Canada’s Standing Senate Committee on , which began its review of Bill C-69 last week, to
embrace recommendations put forward by independent, Toronto-based environmental
assessment litigator Andrew Roman.
“It’s been
our position all along that C-69 should be killed,” said Peterson, “and it’s even more so the case after reading
Mr. Roman’s final recommendations that were posted over the weekend”.
“But it’s
clear that the majority government in Ottawa is pulling out all stops to ram
this legislation through both the Senate and the House before Parliament rises
in June, and Mr. Roman himself believes there is not time in this Parliamentary
sitting to address all the areas that need to be fixed”, stated Suits and
Boots founder Rick Peterson.
He continued, “If
that’s the case, his recommendations provide a clear, concise and the best
possible path to mitigating the mess that both C-69 and the Canadian
Environmental Assessment Act have created for investment in Canada’s resource
sectors. His 21-page summary of 18 recommended amendments, each supported with
a Rationale for Amendment, is essentially an IKEA-like C-69 policy manual for
the Senate.”
Mr. Roman has more than 45 years of experience in
environmental, electricity, constitutional and competition issues. He has
appeared before all levels of court in Canada including the Supreme Court, and
has represented and advised federal, provincial and municipal governments,
large and small corporations, environmental groups, First Nations and
individuals.
Mr. Peterson said five comments in Mr. Roman’s
paper are key in supporting the campaign to #KillBillC69 or at least amend it:
On the “draconian power” given to the Minister of
Environment and Climate Change: “All that
is required (to stop a project from proceeding) is for the Minister (Catherine McKenna) to form an
opinion that the proposed project would cause ‘unacceptable’ environmental
effect…. Canada’s assessment process has survived perfectly well since the
mid-1970’s without Ministers exercising such draconian power.”
The politics of assessment hearings: The federal environmental assessment process “has recently become less
expert, less science-based, more populist, political and polarized.”
On Gender Based Analysis: “Why this is relevant to a proposed pipeline is not self-evident…This
is a policy, not a law, and as such cannot apply to a private sector program,
initiative or service.”
How C-69 will put taxpayers at risk: “C-69 is likely to socialize pipeline projects so that only
governments – in reality, taxpayers – will take on the cost and risk of
proposing any kind of pipeline.”
The ambitious scope of C-69: “Don’t try to use the adversarial pipeline project assessment process
to correct Canada’s and the planet’s environmental, social and political
problems that bear little relationship to the proposed project.”
“It’s clear
that Mr. Roman’s testimony would be valuable to the Senate committee members,”
said Mr. Peterson. “We’re urging our
3,500 members across Canada to phone and email the 14 Committee members and
asking them to have both Mr. Roman as well as Suits and Boots testify before them in the weeks ahead.”
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