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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 318

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 27, 2024 11:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 318 - May/27/24
Mr. Gabriel Ste-Marie (Joliette, BQ)
  • May/27/24 8:03:59 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-49 
Madam Speaker, Bill C‑49 has passed the committee stage. We now see that the government has chosen not to implement a real environmental assessment process for future energy projects. These offshore projects ought to undergo robust, effective, transparent environmental impact assessments to ensure that they are part of proper marine spatial planning to identify and prevent adverse cumulative effects and contribute to sustainability. Does my colleague believe that the government should adopt such a measure? Why was it not done in Bill C‑49?
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Context: House Hansard - 318 - May/27/24
Ms. Kristina Michaud
  • May/27/24 8:51:49 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, robust, effective and transparent environmental impact assessments should be conducted for every offshore renewable energy project. Unfortunately, what we are seeing is that the Minister of Natural Resources and the Minister of Environment are refusing to include these types of environmental assessments in this bill. For us, it is quite simple. We cannot support such a bill.
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Context: House Hansard - 318 - May/27/24
Ms. Kristina Michaud (Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, BQ)
  • May/27/24 10:04:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I was saying that the Bloc Québécois studied this bill in good faith. The same can be said for a lot of Canadians and organizations that made serious, carefully-considered and reasonable recommendations. Unfortunately, the Liberals rejected all of the improvements proposed by environmental groups, energy experts and lawyers specializing in environmental governance. At the end of the day, the government decided against implementing any real environmental assessment process for future energy projects. I know that New Democrats want to do more to fight climate change. They want the energy transition to move in the right direction. Does my colleague agree that new projects should not be subject to any environmental assessments?
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Context: House Hansard - 318 - May/27/24
Mr. Taylor Bachrach
  • May/27/24 10:05:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if I understand correctly, listening to the interpretation, it is: do I believe that no environmental assessments should be carried out for new projects? I am missing the question a little bit, but I think that the member and I share a desire to have a strong and effective environmental impact assessment process. If good-faith amendments were brought forward at committee that led in that direction, and they were not carried as part of the bill, then that is certainly disappointing. However, when it comes to the overall thrust of this legislation, I think it is to get the renewable energy industry off the ground in the maritime provinces and, overall, that is something that is heading in the right direction. Now, the details, of course, are always what matter. When it comes to the impact on the environment, there is a lot of talk about streamlining, cutting red tape and all of these things, but that cannot come at the cost of the integrity of the review process.
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