Senate adopts Carney's fast-tracked major projects bill — well before Canada Day deadline
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That means that Carney will make good on his election campaign promise to eliminate all federal barriers to interprovincial trade by Canada Day to have 'one Canadian economy.'
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The legislation has two parts. The Act to enact the Free Trade and Labour Mobility in Canada, which had support across party lines in the House of Commons, aims to eliminate internal trade and labour mobility barriers in Canada.
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The Building Canada Act, which would give cabinet sweeping powers to fast-track natural resource and infrastructure projects deemed in the national interest, has raised considerably more concerns from Indigenous peoples and environmental groups.
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To speed up the legislative process, the Senate conducted a 'pre-study' of C-5 last week as the bill was being studied in a House of Commons committee. It was adopted at third reading in the House by a majority of MPs last Friday.
Amendments were made to the bill by opposition parties in a bid for more transparency and to exempt federal laws such as the Indian Act from being circumvented to approve major projects. Still, some Indigenous groups claimed their treaty rights might not be respected.
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Mi'kmaq Senator Paul Prosper attempted to stall the rapid adoption of C-5 by moving an amendment that the bill include the principle of 'free, prior and informed consent' from First Nations, Inuit or Métis peoples before nation-building projects can move ahead.
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'I am confident that, by investing a few more months into this bill and ensuring that rights holders had an opportunity to share their thoughts and offer renditions, we would have seen this bill pass with overwhelming support. But I suppose now we will never know.'
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Quebec Senator Pierre Dalphond argued that the government had to take 'bold action' quickly with C-5 to reinforce Canada's economy and create jobs, given the current trade war caused by U.S. President Donald Trump and the layoffs occurring as a result.
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'I trust the courts to stand firm and intervene if the government falls short of its obligations to our Indigenous peoples,' said Dalphond, a former court of appeal judge.
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Prosper's amendment was defeated, as were all the other proposed amendments in the Senate. Having the upper chamber propose amendments to C-5 would have forced MPs to return to the House to vote on them before the bill could receive royal assent.
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