SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 197 - May/15/23

Mr. Taylor Bachrach (Skeena—Bulkley Valley, NDP)

May/15/23 5:36:05 p.m.
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Re: Bill S-5

Madam Speaker, it sounds as though the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan is supporting the bill, which is good, because I know in 2017, the Conservatives wrote a dissenting report in which they expressed opposition to this idea of the right to a healthy environment. My question is around labelling. It seems like a big missed opportunities in this bill would be to have clauses requiring the labelling of products that contain toxic substances, including personal care products that contain substances with a risk of causing cancer, reproductive harm and other such harms. Does he agree that this is a missed opportunity in the bill we are debating?

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Context: House Hansard - 197 - May/15/23

Ms. Monique Pauzé (Repentigny, BQ)

May/15/23 5:47:20 p.m.
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Re: Bill S-5

Madam Speaker, my colleague started his speech by paying special tribute to the work of non-governmental organizations. However, most, if not all, of the amendments that were moved by the Green Party, the NDP and the Bloc Québécois, based on input from the environmental groups, were brushed aside by the government and the official opposition. I think a lot remains to be accomplished if we hope to really modernize the Canadian Environmental Protection Act and protect the public's health and the environment.

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Context: House Hansard - 197 - May/15/23

Mr. Peter Schiefke

May/15/23 5:48:05 p.m.
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Re: Bill S-5

Madam Speaker, once again, I thank my colleague, the member for Repentigny, for her exceptional work on the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development. I was fortunate to work with her. We worked well together and collaborated closely with the community and environmental groups that came to share their ideas. I think that all of the parties and the Government of Canada did a great job of including most of these groups' recommendations in Bill S‑5. I believe that extremely positive changes will follow for all Canadians. Of course, there are other things we could do, but I think that we have made a lot of progress in terms of protecting the environment for the good of Canadians. I am very proud of the work we did.

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Context: House Hansard - 197 - May/15/23

Mr. Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre, GP)

May/15/23 5:50:40 p.m.
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Re: Bill S-5

Madam Speaker, I am sure the member for Vaudreuil—Soulanges would agree with me that the right to a healthy environment needs to be more than a bumper sticker. I wonder if he would share to what extent he is similarly disappointed that reasonable amendments from many parties, including from the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands, which would have ensured that the right to a healthy environment is not just considered but protected, were not accepted?

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Context: House Hansard - 197 - May/15/23

Mr. Peter Schiefke

May/15/23 5:51:16 p.m.
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Re: Bill S-5

Madam Speaker, I know my hon. colleague is a strong advocate, and I very much enjoy working with him and having discussions about how we can improve environmental protection in Canada. I would be honest to say that I would like to have seen more robust inclusion of a right to a healthy environment in this piece of legislation. I would be lying if I said anything different, but this is a huge improvement. Every time we put forward a piece of legislation in this House, we need to be doing right by Canadians by moving the needle forward and always advancing. That is what we have done here. Hopefully, by working with the hon. member and other members in this House as this moves forward and is reviewed every couple of years, we will be able to do that in the years to come.

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Context: House Hansard - 197 - May/15/23

Ms. Monique Pauzé (Repentigny, BQ)

May/15/23 6:05:42 p.m.
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Re: Bill S-5

Madam Speaker, the right to a healthy environment is set out in the bill's preamble. Therefore, it does not apply to other laws. Does my colleague believe that the government lacked the courage to establish a real right to a healthy environment in its modernization of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act?

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Context: House Hansard - 197 - May/15/23

Mr. Terry Duguid (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Lib.)

May/15/23 6:16:56 p.m.
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Re: Bill S-5

Madam Speaker, some people think the deputy House leader and I look alike, but I beg to differ; he is much better-looking. I want to thank the hon. member for raising the issue of a right to a healthy environment. We had 50 hours of deliberations in committee. I sat through most of them. I just want to assure the hon. member that no one from industry raised a concern. There were some concerns raised by environmental groups. I would just assure the hon. member that the implementation framework would last about 24 months. There would be deep consultation and there would be transparency. We will get back to the member with the plan. There would be deep consultation with the provinces, indigenous governments and stakeholders. This is to answer that very question she asked about how a right to a healthy environment would be implemented, and to provide clarity.

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Context: House Hansard - 197 - May/15/23

Ms. Andréanne Larouche (Shefford, BQ)

May/15/23 6:47:44 p.m.
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Re: Bill S-5

Madam Speaker, we are discussing a bill to establish the right to a healthy environment. However, this bill does not actually give Canadians such a right. In its current form, Bill S‑5 does not really give citizens a way to assert this right. Does my colleague acknowledge that this would depend on the government's goodwill or lack thereof? At the moment, it seems reasonable to question whether certain government actions show that it really wants to move in the direction of a meaningful right to a healthy environment.

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