Republished with permission from The Hill Times.

With Parliament now in full swing, the federal government keeps forging ahead with its reckless plans to bulldoze through major projects like the west coast oil pipeline and Roberts Bank megaport expansion, no matter the cost to nature and wildlife. It is truly an extinction agenda.

Last month, the federal government tabled its “Bulldoze Nature” bill (also known as Bill C-39, the Building Canada Strong Act) — which could spell disaster for communities and the environment across Canada. The bill would implement sweeping changes to decision-making on industrial projects, effectively gutting environmental and public oversight. 

Although Prime Minister Carney and Members of Parliament may try to claim that the bill isn’t dangerous for endangered species at risk of extinction, the reality is quite the opposite.

When the contents of this bill were first proposed in PM Carney’s Getting Major Projects Built discussion paper, there was one especially egregious aspect that got a lot of attention: a change that would have weakened one of the most important protections under the Species at Risk Act (SARA), the ‘jeopardy test’, in order to allow Ministers to authorize projects even if they could risk extinction for endangered wildlife. 

Information that government sources leaked to the Toronto Star revealed that the change to the jeopardy test was conceived with the southern resident killer whale in mind. This suggests that Cabinet ministers know that the west coast oil pipeline and the Roberts Bank megaport would be disastrous for endangered orcas. But they want to authorize the projects anyway, and so proposed weakening SARA in order to do it. 

Unsurprisingly that did not sit right with Canadians. Environmental Defence, alongside over 26,000 Canadians, voiced strong opposition to the government’s plans, including the changes to wildlife protections.   

In response to all of that public pressure, the government did not change the jeopardy test.  But the troubling part is that endangered wildlife isn’t actually any safer. 

The “bulldoze nature” bill has a lot of concerning elements that could still risk endangered wildlife.

For example, it gives Cabinet the power to pre-approve pipelines and create “regions of national interest”, where all sorts of projects would skirt environmental laws entirely — including species protections. These new powers would leave Canadians in the dark about potential harms to their health, environment and vulnerable species. It would also make it practically impossible for the government to meaningfully consult Indigenous communities on major projects, which is constitutionally required.  

Plus, PM Carney has had a backup plan all along. He still has the Building Canada Act, which he passed last year. This law lets Cabinet designate major projects as being in the “national interest”. That designation allows Cabinet to fast-track projects, and skirt laws designed to keep our communities, nature and wildlife safe. And yes, that includes the Species at Risk Act — the very law they just promised not to weaken. 

Earlier this month, the government designated the pipeline as being “in the national interest.” We are expecting that the Roberts Bank megaport will be designated later this month as well.. If either of these projects goes ahead, let alone both, the impact on endangered wildlife like the southern resident killer whale will be devastating. 

And let’s be clear: if the federal government was really serious about protecting endangered wildlife, they would amend the Building Canada Act and the Building Canada Strong Act so that projects couldn’t get around SARA.

Environmental laws are not red tape.

As Canadians, we know the importance of these laws. We value nature and wildlife. It’s one of the things that unites us. That’s why these plans to fast-track destructive megaprojects are so unpopular. 

MPs should be paying attention. Polling that Environmental Defence commissioned earlier this month found that most respondents would be less likely to vote for an MP that supports PM Carney proceeding with these plans.

We are urging this government to abandon their extinction agenda. There is no undo button for ecological damage. Once the places and wildlife that we love are gone, we don’t get them back. And if they are lost, Canadians won’t forget who let it happen.