Senator Cotter: If I may, I have a jurisdiction question, Senator Tannas. The language in the preamble speaks to the inherent right of First Nations and the like, along the lines that Senator McCallum had raised earlier, but the bill is actually structured to be a delegation under the Criminal Code, so I’m curious about that.

Another dimension of this is that the structure of the bill says that when a First Nation gives notice to Canada that it intends to establish a gaming regime on its reserve, that First Nation, for the purposes of gaming, is deemed to no longer be part of the province in which it’s situated. It struck me as a unique provision that First Nations, for certain purposes, are deemed not to actually be part of the province anymore. I wonder if you could speak to those jurisdictional questions.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. Bill C-69 was and is legislation designed to affirm the importance of proper environmental overview of projects. The Government of Canada respects the Supreme Court’s decision and is considering the guidance that the Supreme Court has provided. The Supreme Court made it clear that important sections dealing with federal jurisdiction remain constitutional and has provided guidelines for moving forward.

The government and the minister have announced that they will be adjusting the legislation to bring it into conformity with the Supreme Court’s decision and will continue to provide the leadership on environmental issues that this country needs and deserves.

Hon. Denise Batters: Senator Gold, last week, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the vast majority of Bill C-69 and the entirety of its regulations are unconstitutional. The act has almost 200 sections, and the Supreme Court found only 10 sections acceptable. The court held that the “’designated project’ scheme . . . exceeds the bounds of federal jurisdiction.”

Bill C-69 was an unmitigated disaster from the start. The Trudeau government itself proposed 150 amendments at the House of Commons committee stage. The Senate passed almost 200 more, and the government accepted 99 — mostly government — amendments. Now, Minister Guilbeault says they will do their homework and tweak it a bit.

Enough, Senator Gold. Stick a fork in it; it’s done. It’s time to repeal the whole bill. When will the Trudeau government finally admit their colossal failure on Bill C-69?