Greenpeace was on Parliament Hill this week to warn of the dangers posed by Bill C-5 (the Building Canada Act) and urge legislators to take it back to the drawing board.
The minority Liberal government – with the support of the Conservatives – are bypassing regular Parliamentary procedures to rubberstamp legislation that fast-tracks vaguely-defined “national interest” projects. Bill C-5 would allow Cabinet to sidestep long-standing environmental protections, silence communities, and violate Indigenous rights in order to ram projects through to the benefit of multi-billion dollar corporations.
Even a Liberal MP is saying that his government “is proposing to shut down democratic debate, curtail committee scrutiny and jam the bill through the legislature” in a way that would make former prime minister Stephen Harper “blush.”
Greenpeace supports fast tracking climate solutions, but in its current form this bill will only accelerate conflicts (see our assessment here). We’re supporting proposed amendments to the bill and some measures to increase transparency and accountability were adopted, but the bill is still deeply flawed so we need to keep the pressure on. We are asking the Senate (the house of ‘sober second thought’ within our Parliamentary system) to send this rushed bill back to the House of Commons for proper consideration.
We need to keep telling PM Mark Carney: moving fast in the wrong direction doesn’t take us anywhere we want to be!
We need to get this right.
Discussion
Not cool carney
In the form it is written now this is a dangerous bill. It needs to involve much more public input and to be revamped. So important that it not be pushed through without this happening
Climate change is #1 threat to the planet. Trump is a close second.. Fossil fuel, greedy cooperations, opportunistic developers are willing to discount nature, land and ocean, snuffing out life and destroying the environment, anything to push their agenda. I was relieved Mark Carney is the PM and know he is aware of the impact and environmental cost of pipelines, etc. I hope he would take another considered look before rushing potentially dangerous Bill C-5. through . Thank you for attention .
Canada does not need any more oil pipelines. Alternative energy corridors between provinces with environmental restrictions. All new natural resources extraction companies must have all clean operations in place and an up front cleanup deposit must be given to the federal government. If after the company closes and the surrounding water ways and land is contaminant free they get back the deposit. If not they forfeit the cleanup cost. This would be millions of dollars. Make the new companies accountable. All indigenous people must be part of all negotiations with the government when any new company is proposing a new project on or near their land. Bill C-5 needs to have a more thought put into it before approval and include much of what is written above.
I am extremely disappointed in the fact that this government, in its first major act, saw fit to ram through Bill C-5 to the disadvantage of Indigenous groups, nature and the environment. You seem to want to cause as much damage as you can, under the guise of 'Building' Canada. Bill C-5 MUST go back to the drawing board!