ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE, ÉQUITERRE, DAVID SUZUKI FOUNDATION, ECOJUSTICE, WEST COAST ENVIRONMENTAL LAW, GEORGIA STRAIGHT ALLIANCE

Ottawa | Traditional, unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg People – Civil society groups are demanding meaningful parliamentary review of omnibus Bill C-39. 

Prime Minister Carney’s federal government has signaled its intent to refer Bill C-39 to a yet-to-be-established special legislative committee, bypassing the existing expert standing committees and potentially their processes, such as calling independent experts. 

Civil society groups are urging that instead the bill be divided into its distinct parts to be studied by the relevant House of Commons Standing Committees. For example, the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development (ENVI) should study Part 1 of the bill. They are also asking that committees call environmental, labour and First Nations witnesses in order to understand the full implications of this complicated bill. 

Bill C-39 is 243 pages long and amends 18 statutes and four regulations, enacts a new law and repeals a law. The bill will have far-reaching implications related to the environment, public health and safety, workers’ rights and trade and transportation. Its many provisions require careful, expert scrutiny that cannot be adequately addressed through a single newly formed committee alone. It is essential that there be a robust committee stage review involving independent expert witnesses, including from environmental, Indigenous, trade and legal organizations. 

Environmental laws are not red tape. They exist to protect Canadians and the environment we love and rely on from irreversible ecological harm. The Bulldoze Nature Bill would be devastating for nature, climate and Canadians. Ultimately, Members of Parliament should reject the bill and protect our communities, ecosystems and wildlife. 

 

QUOTES:

Julia Levin, Associate Director, National Climate, Environmental Defence 

“Prime Minister Carney’s government has a track record of bypassing parliamentary norms that exist to ensure proper accountability and transparency. Canadians deserve better. The Bulldoze Nature Bill spells disaster for communities, nature and wildlife across Canada. We urge Members of Parliament to vote against this bill and oppose the government’s extinction agenda.” 

Lisa Gue, National Policy Manager, David Suzuki Foundation

“Ottawa’s move to ‘streamline’ processes will steamroll environmental protections. Bill C-39 bulldozes protections for nature, public health and workers rights. Ramming it through Parliament only underscores how little confidence Ottawa has in the bill to withstand proper reviews. Members of Parliament must vote against this bill.”

Marc-André Viau, Director of Government Relations, Équiterre    

“The government should listen to the advice of his current Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government who, back in 2012 when facing a Conservative omnibus bill that weakened environmental protection from fish habitat to the Navigable Water Protection Act, much like C-39 does, said ‘these bills should have been separated.’”

Anna Johnston, Staff Lawyer, West Coast Environmental Law

“Bill C-39 sets out a sweeping deregulation agenda that could lead to reckless project approvals and put Canadians, nature and the climate at risk. Its breadth and complexity as well as the magnitude of harm it could cause warrants careful scrutiny so Parliamentarians truly understand the Bill’s implications for communities and the environment. Rubber stamping projects isn’t in the public interest, and rubber stamping legislation isn’t in the national interest.”

Muhannad Malas, Law Reform Director, Ecojustice

“Bill C-39 is rewriting Canada’s environmental rulebook while expanding the extraordinary ‘Henry VIII’ powers created by the controversial Building Canada Act (Bill C-5) legislation. That is a massive amount of change being pushed through with far too little scrutiny. If the government truly believes these changes won’t weaken environmental protections as it claims, it should welcome, not sidestep, standard parliamentary study.”

Beatrice Frank, Executive Director, Georgia Strait Alliance

“Bill C-39 is part of a dangerous new regulatory regime this government is attempting to establish, in tandem with Bill C-5, that would be catastrophic to the Salish Sea and the critically endangered Southern Resident killer whales. In this rush to push through harmful major projects and legislation like Bill C-39, we are losing sight of what’s truly important: healthy ecosystems, rich biodiversity, and a functioning democracy, all of which is at stake in this perilous moment.”

 

Background Information

  • When bills pass second reading in the House of Commons, they move to the committee stage — where MPs typically hear expert testimony, study the text, propose amendments and draft a report. That job normally falls to standing committees, which exist from one Parliament to the next.
  • The last time a legislative committee was formed to study a government bill was in 2012, under Stephen Harper’s majority Conservative government. Across Harper’s nine years in office, legislative committees were struck 11 times to move along government bills. The last time a Liberal government struck such a committee was in 2005.

Additional links 

 

ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE (environmentaldefence.ca): Environmental Defence is a leading Canadian environmental advocacy organization that works with government, industry and individuals to defend clean water, a safe climate and healthy communities.

Ecojustice uses the power of the law to defend nature, combat climate change, and fight for a healthy environment. Its strategic, public interest lawsuits and advocacy lead to precedent-setting court decisions, law, and policy that deliver lasting solutions to Canada’s most urgent environmental problems. As Canada’s largest environmental law charity, Ecojustice operates offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa and Halifax. 

The David Suzuki Foundation (DavidSuzuki.org | @DavidSuzukiFdn) is a Canadian environmental non-profit organization, founded in 1990. We operate in English and French, with offices in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. We aim to collaborate with many different people in Canada, including Indigenous leadership and communities, all governments, businesses and individuals to find solutions to create a sustainable Canada through scientific research, traditional ecological knowledge, innovative policy and legal solutions, communications and public engagement.

West Coast Environmental Law (wcel.org) is a non-profit group of environmental lawyers and strategists dedicated to safeguarding the environment through law. West Coast works to transform environmental decision-making and strengthen legal protection for the environment through collaborative legal strategies that bridge Indigenous and Canadian law.

Georgia Strait Alliance is a marine conservation and systems change organization grounded in environmental justice that mobilizes and supports collective action to protect the Salish Sea region. Our vision is a Salish Sea teeming with life, where thriving and just communities live in balance with the environment.

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For more information or to request an interview, please contact:

Lauren Thomas, Environmental Defence, media@environmentaldefence.ca

Nicolas Zorn, Équiterre media@equiterre.org

Brandon Wei, David Suzuki Foundation, bwei@davidsuzuki.org 

Shayoni Mehta, Ecojustice, smehta@ecojustice.ca

Anna Johnston, West Coast Environmental Law, ajohnston@wcel.org 

Beatrice Frank, Georgia Strait Alliance, beatrice@georgiastrait.org