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House Hansard - 110

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 7, 2022 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 110 - Oct/7/22
Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)
  • Oct/7/22 10:16:08 a.m.
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  • Re: Bill S-5 
Madam Speaker, I would like to express my gratitude to my colleagues in other parties who have held back so I could ask this question. Further to the excellent points made by the hon. member for South Okanagan—West Kootenay, I want to direct the hon. parliamentary secretary to the observations filed by the Senate's Standing Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources that accompanied the amendments. They are to the point and they say very clearly that we do not have a right to a healthy environment in Bill S-5, no matter how much the propaganda tells us we do. I will quote from point 4 of its important submission: This committee would like to state their concern that the right to a healthy environment cannot be protected unless it is made truly enforceable. This enforceability would come by removing the barriers that exist to the current remedy authority within Section 22... The point closes with this sentence: “As Bill S-5 does not propose the removal or re-evaluation of these barriers, this Committee is concerned that the right to a healthy environment may remain unenforceable.” Is the government prepared to do what the Senate committee has challenged it to do and what Canadians expect it to do?
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Context: House Hansard - 110 - Oct/7/22
Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)
  • Oct/7/22 10:29:35 a.m.
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  • Re: Bill S-5 
Madam Speaker, I thank my many colleagues who gave me this chance to ask questions. I would like to thank my hon. colleague for Cloverdale—Langley City, and I agree that there are many sections of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act that need amendment, which are not dealt with in Bill S-5. I hope we can bring them forward soon. I have actually been working on the bill for 35 years, since I helped prepare it for first reading in 1987, but that dates me pretty badly. However, one of the things that needs fixing is that we are not addressing genetically-modified organisms, which are in part 6 of CEPA and definitely need updating. We are also not dealing, as the hon. colleague said, with improvements to ocean dumping, but I want to come back to the point that I made in the first question. A right to a healthy environment is not a right if it is not enforceable. Is the government open to getting rid of the two-year period, create the right to a healthy environment and fix the enforceability sections of CEPA so that Canadians have the right to a healthy environment? A right that is not enforceable is no right right at all.
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