Latest news with #BlocQuébécois
National Observer
5 days ago
- Business
- National Observer
Senate prepares to pass controversial Bill C-5
Prime Minister Mark Carney's controversial Bill C-5 is all but guaranteed to become law, but politicians have one last opportunity to make changes to the bill. Over the next three days, senators will make speeches about the bill — which removes barriers to internal trade and grants cabinet the ability to override most environmental laws to approve major projects — and propose amendments. Barring any unusual happenings, Canadians can expect the bill to become law by Friday at the latest. Carney's decision to rush the bill through the House of Commons drew the ire of the Bloc Québécois, NDP and Green Party, but the Conservatives' support allowed Carney to force it through the House before summer vacation. Some senators are unhappy with the speed, too. 'If you're gonna have a chamber of sober second thought, … it probably makes more sense to let us actually do our job of sober second thought rather than paint us into a corner this way, where we have really been denied the opportunity to carry out our parliamentary obligations,' Sen. Paula Simons told Canada's National Observer in a phone interview. Sen. Paul Prosper previously told Canada's National Observer the expedited process 'doesn't seem to align with the seriousness of this piece of legislation.' Due to the truncated timeline, the Senate won't get to study the bill in committee. Instead, an unusual 'committee of the whole' took place last week where all senators sat in the chamber and questioned federal ministers and other witnesses. But the bill has changed since that session. Late Wednesday night, opposition MPs introduced a series of changes to place some limits on the extraordinary powers Bill C-5 would give cabinet. In a marathon committee meeting, the Bloc Québécois and Conservatives worked together to increase transparency and reporting requirements in the bill and prevent the government from overriding more than a dozen laws, including the Indian Act, Criminal Code and Canada Labour Code, to name a few. 'If you're gonna have a chamber of sober second thought, … it probably makes more sense to let us actually do our job of sober second thought rather than paint us into a corner this way," Sen. Paula Simons told @ However, cabinet can still override important environmental statutes, including the Fisheries Act, Species at Risk Act, Canadian Navigable Waters Act, Canadian Environmental Protection Act, Migratory Birds Convention Act and Impact Assessment Act. The same goes for regulations, including wildlife area regulations, marine mammal regulations, two migratory birds regulations as well as port and mining effluent regulations. But senators won't be able to question witnesses about the changes or study them in any depth. On Wednesday at 2 p.m., the Senate will read Bill C-5 for a second time, start debate and begin to deal with any proposed amendments. If an amendment is made, the bill must go back to the House, which ended its session for the summer and won't resume until fall. The Senate is holding unusual hours this week in order to dispense with Bill C-5 before it rises for the summer recess on June 27. Senators will resume debate Thursday morning at 9 a.m., instead of the usual 1:30 p.m. start. Simons said the amendments made last week have made the bill 'more palatable' and the Conservatives' support suggests, generally speaking, the Senate is unlikely to delay the legislation. 'When the government and opposition agree to something, it develops more momentum,' Simons said. 'I think there are a lot of senators who are unhappy but I think there's also a feeling that this is a new government with a mandate, with very wide support in the House — and that at the end of the day, it is not the Senate's job to oppose legislation just because we don't care for it.' The Senate has a right and responsibility to call out and defeat legislation that is 'prima facie unconstitutional' and Simons isn't convinced Bill C-5 meets that bar. But Indigenous leaders have raised countless concerns about how the proposed legislation will trample on Section 35 constitutional rights and treaty rights. The Assembly of First Nations, Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta, Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, Chiefs of Ontario and other Indigenous groups all objected to the bill and the lack of consultation when the government was drafting it. On June 16, Sen. Prosper said he plans to put forward a Senate amendment to slow down C-5 in 'hopes that more rational minds prevail in terms of consulting with Indigenous groups.' That amendment has not yet been introduced and it's not clear if he still intends to introduce it. The proposed legislation would have consultation with Indigenous Peoples occur before a project is designated for fast-tracking. Then, with that conditional approval, the necessary environmental or impact assessments would take place to figure out how to minimize the impact and impose conditions on the project. 'At the end of the day, we state our concerns, those concerns become part of the public and legal record,' Simons said. 'Testimony at committee of the whole can be used in court to bolster an argument. So, we still have a function.' She said there's nothing senators hate more than being called 'a rubber stamp.' 'So, when you narrow our capacity to do that work, it makes us feel like we're not giving Canadians value, value for money, I guess.' Nine environmental organizations are calling on the Senate to pass amendments that curtail cabinet's ability to override laws and regulations. 'We support responsible national interest projects,' Theresa McClenaghan, executive director and counsel at the Canadian Environmental Law Association, said in a press release. 'But those projects must be carried out under a legal framework that is environmentally sound, democratically legitimate, and constitutionally robust. Bill C-5, as currently written, fails on all three counts.' If the Senate doesn't do a fulsome study and amend the proposed legislation, projects will 'face more opposition and legal challenges, rather than finding an expedited route to approval.'
Calgary Herald
21-06-2025
- Business
- Calgary Herald
Opinion: How Mark Carney is offering CEOs a chance to rebuild trust with Canadians
After last month's throne speech, Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet lamented that he feels Prime Minister Mark Carney 'sees himself culturally as the CEO of Canada.' With his background in corporate finance, it's no surprise Carney has been likened to a stereotypical finance boss. Article content But is bringing CEO-type leadership to the federal government a bad thing, particularly at such a precarious moment for our country economically? Article content Article content Article content Canada has been starved of this style of leadership. But this goes beyond a culture change in Ottawa. Carney is also opening the door for CEOs to take on critical leadership roles in the execution of his agenda. With his aggressive economic development platform and the charge to 'build, baby, build,' our prime minister has turned on the CEO bat signal. Article content Article content Not since the depths of the pandemic has business had such an extraordinary opportunity to contribute to the greater good, and for CEOs to offer leadership that offers impact well beyond their workforce. Article content However, the unfortunate reality is that Canadians don't trust their business leaders. The latest Edelman Canada Trust Barometer results, released in March, revealed that only 37 per cent of Canadians trust business leaders — 16 points lower than the average of the 28 countries the firm studies, ranking them near the bottom of that list. Article content Article content How have our business leaders run so afoul of Canadians? Rationalizing food inflation in front of a parliamentary committee doesn't help, nor does the massive gap between CEO compensation and that of the average worker. It also doesn't help that two-thirds of Canadians feel business leaders are actively trying to mislead them, according to the recent Edelman study. Article content This crisis of trust is made worse by the fact that most Canadians feel the system is failing them — that no matter how hard they work, the next generation will not be better off. Business leaders have become a lightning rod for that grievance. Article content It is in this context that CEOs are trying to make sense of the role they should play in a country that needs more from them. And they should play a role. While there have been some well-documented missteps that have led to this extraordinary level of distrust, for years the data has pointed to a growing expectation that they step up and step into the current void.
National Observer
20-06-2025
- Politics
- National Observer
Bill C-5 passes the House of Commons vote after accelerated process
The federal government's controversial Bill C-5 is off to the Senate next week for a truncated study. Opposition parties amended the proposed legislation to ensure the government cannot override certain laws (including the Indian Act, Canada Labour Code and Criminal Code) but most environmental law and regulations can still be circumvented if a project is deemed 'in the national interest.' The bill would grant cabinet the power to override laws and regulations to get major projects built. In a marathon committee meeting Wednesday evening, the Bloc Québécois and Conservatives worked together to increase transparency and reporting requirements in the bill and prevent the government from overriding more than a dozen laws. But the government can still override important environmental statutes including the Fisheries Act, Species at Risk Act, Canadian Navigable Waters Act, Canadian Environmental Protection Act, Migratory Birds Convention Act and Impact Assessment Act. The same goes for regulations including Wildlife Area Regulations, Marine Mammal Regulations, two migratory birds regulations as well as port and mining effluent regulations. MPs had their last chance to amend the bill Friday afternoon in the House of Commons. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May tried to add the Species at Risk Act to the list of laws cabinet cannot override. The Liberals and Conservatives defeated May's motion, with Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith breaking rank and voting with the Bloc Québécois, Green Party and NDP. Erskine-Smith has been critical of Bill C-5 and previously voted against his own government's order to limit debate on the bill, which would also remove some federal barriers to internal trade. The Liberals and Conservatives voted together not just on the bill itself, but also on a motion to ensure the bill cleared the House of Commons before MPs leave Ottawa for the summer. Parliament will resume sitting in mid-September. MPs ended up voting on the bill in two parts, as originally requested by the Bloc Québécois. NDP MP Jenny Kwan made the request again today, and the Speaker of the House decided to split the bill into two different votes — one on the internal trade components and one on national interest projects — both of which passed. 'This legislation is an abomination' The Bloc Québécois, NDP and Green Party say the major projects bill is undemocratic because of the unprecedented powers it grants cabinet and lack of respect for Indigenous rights. The Chiefs of Ontario and many Indigenous leaders mobilized on Wednesday for a rally on Parliament Hill calling on Carney's government to drop bill C-5 and do it right this time. On June 16, Sen. Paul Prosper said he plans on putting forward an amendment to slow C-5 down if and when it gets to the Senate in 'hopes that more rational minds prevail in terms of consulting with Indigenous groups.' Elizabeth May, in the bill's final moments before the House of Commons, reiterated what many have said since it was introduced: that the speed of the bill and the vagueness of its application means much now rests on what exactly the government decides to do with it. 'There are many great projects … I'd love to see move ahead: east-west-north-south electricity grid, a passenger rail and bus interlinked system,' she said. 'There are many projects in the national interest, but we don't know what they will be and the factors in the bill are not requirements. We could have a great project that we all want to see go ahead — or we could have a nightmare." In the end, May — the sole MP to vote against both parts of the bill — did not mince words. 'This legislation is an abomination and one that will be a stain on the reputation of this government and of our Prime Minister.'
CTV News
20-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
House of Commons passes Liberals' major projects legislation
Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Thursday, June 19, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle Most MPs have voted in favour of the second part of the Liberals' one Canadian economy act, which grants the government sweeping powers to approve major projects that are deemed to be in the national interest. This is a breaking update. More to come... Members of Parliament will hold two separate votes on the government's major projects bill Friday, after the House Speaker ruled the legislation has two distinct parts. Bill C-5, also known as the One Canadian Economy Act, contains measures to tackle internal trade barriers and gives the government sweeping new powers to approve major projects. A closure motion the government passed to limit debate says the House won't adjourn Friday until debate wraps up on C-5 and votes are held. Friday is the final day of the House sitting until September. The Liberals promised during the election campaign to pass a law to break down interprovincial trade barriers by Canada Day. Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday called the legislation the 'core' of Canada's domestic economic response to U.S. tariffs. The Bloc Québécois called for the bill to be split to allow MPs more time to study the measures that deal with major projects, but the government refused to do that. The interprovincial trade portion of the bill has broad support from all parties. On Friday, New Democrat MP Jenny Kwan asked House Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia to hold separate votes on third reading. The House Speaker has the power to divide legislation if the government is seeking to enact or amend more than one law and there is no common element connecting the provisions. In his ruling, Scarpaleggia told the House the bill has two distinct parts without a clear common element. 'While they are ultimately designed to strengthen the Canadian economy, they deal with different issues that could very well stand independently from one another. Moreover, there is no direct relationship or cross-reference between the two parts of the bill,' he said. The ruling means that two votes will happen in the House of Commons on third reading. It's expected that both votes will succeed. The Liberals are pushing the legislation through the House of Commons with the support of the Conservatives and look to have it passed by the end of the day. Then it will be sent to the Senate, which is set to wrap up its examination of the bill by June 27. The legislation was amended Thursday to withdraw the power it gave cabinet to sidestep the Indian Act after weeks of criticism from First Nations leaders and following a marathon committee hearing on Wednesday. With files from Kyle Duggan and Alessia Passafiume This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 20, 2025
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Major projects bill expected to pass before MPs leave for the summer
OTTAWA — If you blink, you might miss it. Prime Minister Mark Carney's controversial major projects bill was set to finish its dash through the House of Commons today — the final day of the sitting before summer — with support from the Conservatives and not-so-quiet grumblings from the other opposition parties. 'Usually, on the last day of sitting before the summer, everyone is smiling, we're in a good mood, we pat ourselves on the backs. But today, I would say that's not really the case,' said Bloc Québécois MP Xavier Barsalou-Duval during a speech on Friday. The final vote on Bill C-5 in the House is set to happen shortly after 5 p.m. before making its way to the Senate for a final adoption expected within a week, on Friday, June 27. The legislation has two parts. The first, which has more support across party lines, aims to eliminate internal trade and labour mobility barriers in Canada. The second part, which would give cabinet sweeping powers to approve natural resource and infrastructure projects deemed in the national interest, has raised considerably more concerns. Indigenous communities, environmental groups, opposition parties and even some Liberal MPs have said they are uncomfortable with the lack of consultation with First Nations, Inuit and Metis people prior to tabling the bill, but also the extent of the powers that would give the government of the day the power to ignore other federal laws for five years. 'Pretending that this unprecedented power grab was ever discussed in the election is a sham, and we can add an 'e' to that. It's a shame,' said Green Party leader Elizabeth May. C-5 was rushed through committee earlier this week. Despite that, opposition parties managed to pass amendments which include exempting a number of laws — such as the Indian Act and the Conflict of Interest Act — from being ignored when considering major projects and publishing a list of national interest projects with timelines and costs. 'These amendments matter,' said Shannon Stubbs, energy and natural resource critic for the Conservatives when describing the changes in the House. 'They bring transparency, accountability, more certainty, more clarity and integrity to a bill that originally had none.' Stubbs said despite those changes, 'major concerns' remain. She cited the need to prevent ministers from removing projects from the national interest list at any time but also add in the bill clear timelines to approve projects to increase certainty for investors. On Friday, opposition parties claimed a small victory. NDP MP Jenny Kwan, with the help of the Bloc's Marilène Gill, argued the Speaker of the House should divide C-5 into two distinct parts so that MPs could vote on the portions on internal trade and major projects separately at third reading. Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia granted their request. 'While they are ultimately designed to strengthen the Canadian economy, they deal with different issues that could very well stand independently from one another,' he explained. The passage of C-5 concludes in a dramatic way a packed four-week spring sitting that saw Carney's government table significant omnibus bills, very fast, but adopt very few. The government tabled C-2, the Strong Borders Act, which seeks to secure the Canada-U.S. border, fight organized crime and fentanyl and boost the fight against financial crimes. It is facing criticism for sweeping new powers that would allow officials to obtain information without a warrant and for restricting the asylum claim process, among others. It also tabled C-4, the Making Life More Affordable for Canadians Act, which includes some of the government's campaign promises on affordability like a middle-class tax cut and removal of the GST on new homes for first-time homebuyers. However, the bill has been criticized as it also seeks to exempt federal political parties from modern privacy laws. Unlike the major projects bill, C-2 and C-4 were not fast-tracked, meaning that they will continue to make their way through the legislative process during the fall sitting. Interestingly, the first legislation to pass all stages in this new Parliament was not a government bill. Last week, MPs unanimously approved C-202, a Bloc bill to protect the supply management system which regulates the price and production of dairy, poultry and eggs, from future trade deals. That same bill was stalled in the Senate in the last legislature and ended up dying on the order paper when the election was called. This time, the Senate approved C-202 on division, and it is now awaiting royal assent. National Post calevesque@ Doug Ford apologizes to Ontario First Nations for his 'passionate' comments 'We have to get that balance right': Liberal MPs express worries about major projects bill Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.
