Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said Monday that Prime Minister Mark Carney’s decision to ram his government’s major projects bill through the House of Commons this week represents a “new low” in contempt for Parliament.
May told a press conference she hasn’t seen anything like it since the Conservative government under Stephen Harper pushed a major omnibus bill through more than a decade ago.
May said she was “shocked” by Harper’s decision to bring in and fast track C-38 in 2012, a bill that was 400 pages long and “destroyed 70 environmental laws.”
“This is worse,” she added.
“It appears to me — and it remains to be seen — that Mr. Carney’s new majority coalition is Liberal-Conservative, delivering (Conservative Leader) Pierre Poilievre’s policies with a more friendly face.”
May spoke outside the House of Commons foyer Monday morning alongside First Nations leaders, NDP MP Gord Johns and lawyers from environmental groups — all of whom raised concerns about the legislation and the pace at which it’s sprinting through the Commons.
Grand Chief Linda Debassigé of the Anishinabek Nation said First Nations have “not been consulted on this bill appropriately or adequately.”
“This bill presents serious concerns that, in our view, creates a path forward for any government to create legislation that undermines the rights and interests of our First Nations people,” she said.
Soon after the press conference, the Liberals passed a closure motion with the support of the Conservatives to speed through study and debate of Bill C-5 by week’s end.
Government House leader Steven MacKinnon defended the government’s haste Monday, arguing it has public buy-in since the bill delivers on major Liberal campaign promises from the recent election.
“We just had the ultimate democratic test, and you know what we heard?” he said during debate in the House. “Get this country moving. We need a response to the threats coming from down south.”
The bill is now set for an unusually fast two-day study by the House transport committee Tuesday and Wednesday….
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