The Toronto Star reports, “The Harper government has launched the biggest overhaul ever of federal environmental protections as part of a massive (421-page) bill to implement its March 29 budget.” The article notes that the legislation:
– empowers the federal cabinet to give the go-ahead to pipelines and other major energy projects regardless of the conclusions of regulatory hearings on the feasibility of the projects.
– provides timelines for environmental hearings on pipelines and will block participation in the hearings by those not directly affected by the project…
– permits Ottawa to bow out of the environmental approval process in cases where a provincial government could hold the needed regulatory hearings.
– (alters) the process for issuing permits under the Species at Risk Act (allowing the National Energy Board to permit activities that kill or harm endangered species).
– (streamlines) the Fisheries Act … so only major bodies of water used for commercial, recreational or aboriginal fisheries will be protected.
– scraps the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act, putting an official end to Canada’s commitment to the international agreement to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
It also:
– changes Employment Insurance benefits
– cracks down on charities engaging in political activity
– axes Ottawa’s spy watchdog
– introduces changes that beginning in 2023, will gradually increase the age of eligibility for Old Age Security payments to 67 from 65.
In terms of changes to the Fisheries Act, Postmedia News reports, “The government’s new wording will state that ‘no person shall carry on any work, undertaking or activity that results in serious harm to fish that are part of a commercial, recreational or Aboriginal fishery, or to fish that support such a fishery.’ The government defines ‘serious harm’ as ‘the death of fish or any permanent alteration to, or destruction of, fish habitat’. And the minister will make decisions on allowing harm to fish based on their ‘contribution…to the ongoing productivity of commercial, recreational or Aboriginal fisheries.’ Critics say the government is changing the law to make it easier for companies to advance major projects like Calgary-based Enbridge Inc.’s $5.5 billion proposed oilsands pipeline to the B.C. coast. The pipeline goes over an estimated 1,000 waterways and Ashfield acknowledged that some of them won’t fit the definition of a stream that is part of either of the three fisheries.”
Timeline
May 2-May 4: the bill is debated in the House of Commons
May 4: the bill is voted on for the first time
tbd: the bill goes to committee for review, and then to a final vote in the House of Commons
June 8: the last sitting day of the House of Commons before the summer break
More soon.