Hon. Patricia Bovey: Senator Plett, as a Manitoban, may I ask my fellow Manitoban a question along the lines of Senator Dupuis’s question?

In trying to achieve a green economy, the ultimate goal, I believe, is for the future of the planet. Yes, this bill asks my region, the West, and gives the minister responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada a mandate and framework to consult — not tell — the provincial First Nations, Métis and municipal governments, as well as businesses and civil society, to prepare for the changes we need in order to meet our net-zero emissions by 2050. If that’s the case and our provinces are ahead of others, isn’t there a responsibility to share that so we can come up with a national framework?

I do happen to believe it’s a laudable goal for the future of the West. I’d like to know if you agree with me on that laudable goal, and that consultation and developing a framework isn’t necessarily about the federal government telling the regions what to do; maybe it’s about the regions informing the federal government what to do.

Senator Plett: Thank you, Senator Bovey. I’m not opposed to the federal government coming and asking Saskatchewan and Manitoba and Alberta, “What can we do to help?” That’s not what they are doing. They don’t need a bill to come and offer their help and their advice. They can just simply offer it.

The premiers have been begging the Prime Minister for a first ministers’ meeting on health. They have been begging, and he hasn’t accepted. Why doesn’t the Prime Minister, if he wants to put his weight behind this bill, go to Manitoba, go to Saskatchewan, go to Alberta, meet with the three premiers and say, “What can I do to help?” instead of, “Here is what I’m going to do”? That’s the difference, Senator Bovey.

In this case, it was MP Carr. I say that respectfully because MP Carr had every right to present a private member’s bill. I have a problem when the Prime Minister puts his weight behind it, but it’s not the first government where a prime minister has put his weight behind private members’ bills, and it probably won’t be the last. But it’s when you get the feeling that the federal government is trying to tell us when we know far better than they do.

Senator Bovey: I don’t disagree with you at all that Saskatchewan and Alberta have made fine strides in those aspects of the work. But surely, because we’re a nation of regions, each region is going to approach the green economy from a different perspective given what they do and where they are and what their climates are, et cetera.

I fail to see why this bill that the Honourable Jim Carr put forward doesn’t open up that discussion, with our region, to me, being a very important part of a national discussion, and if we’re doing things better than other parts of the country because of where we are, wonderful. Perhaps there is a way that we can all push it a little bit further. When our kids and grandchildren — don’t you agree? — when they make buildings out of LEGO, they need all the pieces of LEGO to create that building. I’m contending that this particular bill is part of that building.