Richard Neufeld: Some Provinces are calling Bill C-69 unconstitutional and a federal infringement on provincial jurisdiction, and others calling for its outright defeat
The year 2019 has been
rough on the Trudeau Liberals. The Prime Minister has been accused of
interfering in a criminal prosecution involving SNC-Lavalin. Even the Liberals
most recent re-election budget has generated little interest from Canadians
and, surprisingly, the media. Things aren’t so sunny in Trudeauland these days.
In the midst of all
this, the government is pursuing its legislative agenda and urging Senators to
pass Bill C-69 which seeks, among other things, to replace the with the Impact Assessment Agency and replace
the National Energy Board with the Canadian Energy Regulator.
I bet many Canadians have never heard of C-69. Yet, this bill has the potential
of totally disrupting our energy and natural resources sectors. I don’t fault
anyone for disregarding this legislation since it’s rather technical in nature
with more than 350 pages. Quite honestly, it would probably put most people to
sleep.
Senator Richard Neufeld |
However, I urge Canadians to pay attention to
it because its impacts are far-reaching. Bill C-69 (along with government bills
C-48 and C-68) will further erode Canada’s competitiveness in terms of
attracting capital into our resource development sector. It threatens the very
fabric of our Canadian prosperity.
If Canada can’t get major projects off the
ground – like pipelines, high-frequency trains, bridges, clean electricity
projects and transmission lines, marine terminals – we risk serious harm to our
economy.
Naturally, this implies less good-paying,
family-supporting jobs for Fred and Martha – your everyday Canadians – and less
revenues from royalties and taxes to fund our country’s many social, health and
education programs. And don’t get me started on trying to reduce Trudeau’s
year-over-year deficits.
Senators recognize the significance of this
bill and the sweeping impacts it can have on our economy and our environment,
which is why we have taken the extraordinary step to take this bill on the
road. The Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources is traveling to Western Canada for five full days of public hearings this week in
Vancouver and Calgary, Fort McMurray and then Saskatoon yesterday (April 11th)
and Winnipeg.
Some argue this decision to travel is
unnecessary – like environmentalists who are likely concerned we will further
expose the negative impacts of this bill. I, on the other hand, feel this was
the right decision considering the witness testimony we’ve heard in Ottawa.
In fact, the Committee has already held more
than 30 hours of hearings in Ottawa and heard from dozens of witnesses
including premiers and ministers, industry, indigenous representatives, and
other stakeholders. Some of the testimony is seriously troubling.
Over the course of our meetings, many issues
have been raised and given us much to consider in terms of amendments including
on matters related to predictability and certainty for proponents; assessment
timelines; regulatory independence; inefficient bureaucratic red tape;
ministerial discretion; the lack of a designated project list; factors to be
considered when assessing a project; poorly defined concepts; the removal of
the standing test; and more.
For those who argue that Conservative
Senators are stalling the passage of this bill, or that the Committee doesn’t
need to hear from so many witnesses, I would simply say that more than 40% of
the witnesses who appeared at the House of Commons committee represented the
Government of Canada in some capacity.
To my astonishment, there were no pipeline
companies, no port authorities, no natural gas companies, and no resource
sector service businesses or local Mom-and-Pop shops who would be impacted by the
bill.
The Liberal-dominated committee heard from
zero provincial governments. Of course, this does not surprise me. Based on my
calculations, 9 out of 10 provinces have concerns of various degree regarding
this bill, some calling it unconstitutional and federal infringement on
provincial jurisdiction, and others calling for its outright defeat.
It has become increasingly clear that this
bill must be further amended and Conservative Senators are determined to make
that happen – not as a delay tactic but rather as an attempt to partly satisfy
some of the concerns we’ve heard and, ultimately, to try to make this work for
Canada.
While the Ottawa bubble has been captivated
by the SNC-Lavalin scandal (and rightfully so), the Prime Minister has another
thing coming if he thinks the Senate’s Official Opposition will sit idle and
let this high-consequence, high-controversy bill pass without putting the
spotlight on its many flaws.
After all, that’s the role of the Senate – to
take a sober, second look at legislation and try to improve it.
Bill C-69 needs serious improvement and I’m
committed to making it better because Canadians deserve better.
The Honourable Richard Neufeld is a Senator for British Columbia. He is a member of three Senate Committees: Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources; National Finance; and Arctic.
Prior to his appointment to the Senate in 2009, he served in the British Columbia Legislative Assembly from 1991 to 2008 as MLA for Peace River North. He was Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources from 2001 to 2009.
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