Bill C-20 (Historical)

An Action Plan for the National Capital Commission

An Act to amend the National Capital Act and other Acts

This enactment amends the National Capital Act to
(a) modify the governance structure of the National Capital Commission and increase its transparency;
(b) clarify the National Capital Commission’s responsibilities, including those regarding planning and sound environmental stewardship;
(c) establish the boundaries of Gatineau Park;
(d) enhance the National Capital Commission’s regulation-making powers;
(e) remove the requirement that the National Capital Commission seek Governor in Council approval for real estate transactions;
(e.1) require the National Capital Commission to provide the Governor in Council with a description of the boundaries of the Greenbelt; and
(f) harmonize that Act with the civil law regime of Quebec.
This enactment also amends the Official Residences Act to clarify the National Capital Commission’s responsibilities regarding official residences. As well, it makes consequential amendments to other Acts.

Business of the House

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Mr. Speaker, boy, have I mellowed. I would not have said such nice things about the Badger even just a few short years ago, but I have mellowed and have become so quiet and soft-spoken since I arrived on Parliament Hill.

I would like to the thank the House leader for the official opposition for his questions.

With respect to Bill S-10, it is an incredibly important piece of legislation that goes after people who traffic in drugs, sell drugs to our children and who traffic in date rape drugs, which is something that is incredibly serious in many parts of the country. We want to see that bill passed and we will move forward on a path to allow it to be passed.

With respect to the bill on human trafficking, we want to see that passed. Again, it is an important piece of legislation. We do not want to provide the Liberal Party with an early opportunity to kill that good piece of legislation. I know they are anxious to kill legislation that is tough on crime, but we are going to stay focused.

Getting back to the business of the House, we will continue today with the Bloc opposition motion.

The parties are currently negotiating a way to proceed with Bill C-59, An Act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (accelerated parole review) and to make consequential amendments to other Acts. This is a modified version of what makes up part of Bill C-39, a bill that has been at the public safety committee since October 20, 2010. This is an important piece of legislation. The thrust of it has already received agreement in principle from this House. We will be continuing the negotiations on it, or dances, depending on how one defines that, with all parties on this issue.

Given that Bill C-59 will prevent fraudsters from getting out of jail after serving only one-sixth of their sentence, I hope there is sufficient support to move on this initiative without further delay. Tomorrow, therefore, we will either debate Bill C-59 or a procedural motion relating to Bill C-59.

Following Bill C-59, the government intends on calling Bill C-42, Strengthening Aviation Security Act; Bill C-46, Canada-Panama Free Trade Act; Bill C-55, Enhanced New Veterans Charter Act; Bill C-20, An Action Plan for the National Capital Commission; Bill C-8, Canada-Jordan Free Trade Act; Bill C-57, Improving Trade Within Canada Act; Bill C-50, Improving Access to Investigative Tools for Serious Crimes Act; and Bill C-12, Democratic Representation Act.

I could come back with more if we could get all of these bills passed on Monday.

That is the agenda for next week.

[John Baird, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, we are working hard to make Parliament work. I know that when it comes to Bill C-49, the Liberal House leader and his caucus want to kill Bill C-49. They do not want to send it to committee. We will call Bill C-49 for debate. We will call it for a vote and we look forward to members going on record to take their positions on that very clearly.

The government continues to make Parliament work and has been able to move our legislative agenda forward this week. I thank all members of the House for passing Bill S-6 Serious Time for the Most Serious Crime Act, which would get rid of the faint hope clause, and make its way through the House of Commons. I think that was a good day. There were a number of victims' representatives in the gallery and I was very proud of that, as I think all members should be. We also passed Bill C-48 Protecting Canadians by Ending Sentence Discounts for Multiple Murders Act, which will move to the other place.

Today we will continue the debate on the report stage of Bill C-46 Canada-Panama Free Trade Act, Following Bill C-46, we will call Bill S-10 Penalties for Organized Drug Crime Act, and Bill C-55 Enhanced New Veterans Charter Act.

Next week we will continue with the unfinished business from this week, plus Bill C-57 Improving Trade Within Canada Act; Bill C-50 Improving Access to Investigative Tools for Serious Crimes Act; Bill C-12 Democratic Representation Act; and Bill C-20 An Action Plan for the National Capital Commission, .

To respond to the Liberal House leader's question, we will have opposition days scheduled for Tuesday, February 8 and Thursday, February 10, which would be for the Bloc Québécois.

I also will be giving priority to any bill that is reported from committee so that we can continue to move the legislative agenda forward.

[John Baird, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, before I respond to the hon. member's question, I want to say that at our House leaders meeting just two weeks ago, the government raised the issue of one of the Liberal members calling a minister of the Crown a “slime” five times.

The House leader for the Liberal Party is seeking to raise the decorum and the quality level of debate in this place. The member is a senior member of the Liberal shadow cabinet. Before I answer the normal Thursday question, I wonder if the member could update us on where we are on that.

The House leader of the official opposition has also been very passionate in wanting to reduce the amount of heckling in this place and yet we was rather egregiously heckling the Minister of Finance yesterday on Walkerton. I spoke with the member who represents that constituency and that community takes great offence at the continuing vilification of the name of their town. Maybe we will get that next week with the slime comment.

Today we will continue the opposition motion from the Bloc Québécois.

Friday we will debate Bill C-41, strengthening military justice, and Bill C-43, the RCMP labour modernization.

On Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday of next week we will call Bill C-49, action on human smuggling; Bill C-47, sustaining Canada's economic recovery; Bill C-22, protecting children from online sexual exploitation; Bill C-29, safeguarding Canadians' personal information; Bill C-41, strengthening military justice; Bill C-43, the RCMP labour modernization; Bill C-54, child sexual offences; Bill C-33, safer railways act; Bill C-8, Canada-Jordan free trade agreement; and, Bill C-20, an action plan for the National Capital Commission.

Thursday will be an allotted day for our friends in the New Democratic Party.

National Capital Act

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities has considered Bill C-20, which would amend the National Capital Act and would protect Gatineau Park and describe its boundaries. Bill C-20 includes a number of mechanisms that would enable the NCC to eat into Quebec territory in the Outaouais region and override Quebec's jurisdictions.

In letters from minister Benoît Pelletier, in 2007, and minister Claude Béchard, in 2009, the Government of Quebec clearly indicated to the federal minister that it opposed this attack on Quebec's territorial integrity. These letters were read by parliamentarians during the study of Bill C-20, but the NDP members, the Liberals and the Conservatives ignored them. They also disregarded all of the amendments by the Bloc Québécois that would have ensured respect for Quebec's territorial integrity. What is worse, there is nothing here about consulting Quebec. That is scandalous and unacceptable.

Transport, Infrastructure and Communities

[Merv Tweed, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the fifth report of the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities.

This report concerns Bill C-20, An Act to amend the National Capital Act and other Acts.

The committee has studied the bill and has decided to report the bill back to the House with amendments.

Business of the House

[John Baird, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, today we are debating the NDP opposition motion.

Pursuant to any order adopted by the House earlier today, the vote on that opposition motion will take place on Tuesday, November 16 at the end of government orders.

Tomorrow the House will have the occasion to debate at second reading Bill C-32, Copyright Modernization Act, and the backup bill, should debate conclude at second reading, will be Bill S-9, Tackling Auto Theft and Property Crime Act, which I know is a key priority of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada.

Next week, as the member opposite said, is a constituency week. I encourage all members to remember and recognize the sacrifices made by the men and women of our armed forces, on November 11.

When we return on Monday, November 15, we will call a number of bills, including Bill C-3, Gender Equity in Indian Registration Act, Bill C-31, Eliminating Entitlements for Prisoners Act, Bill C-35, Cracking Down on Crooked Consultants Act, Bill C-20, An Action Plan for the National Capital Commission, Bill C-28, Fighting Internet and Wireless Spam Act, Bill C-22, Protecting Children from Online Sexual Exploitation Act and Bill C-48, Protecting Canadians by Ending Sentence Discounts for Multiple Murders Act. We would also consider calling other bills that may have returned from committee by the time we return.

Thursday, November 18, shall be the next allotted day.

In closing, I wish all members a productive constituency week.

[Simon Dubé]

I'm not aware of any direct communication between ministers and provincial ministers. Personally, I was with Madame Marie Lemay, the CEO of the National Capital Commission, in Québec about a month ago, in early October. We briefed a few officials from the provincial government and the intergovernmental secretariat in Québec City about Bill C-20, about what it is about. So it was a good discussion. At the end, they did indicate that they needed to continue discussions among themselves and they would let us know if there would be anything else.

I haven't heard from them directly since then, and I'm not aware of any further ministerial correspondence on that topic.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Welcome to Bill C-20, an act to amend the National Capital Act and other acts.

The witness again today, on behalf of the Department of Transport, is Simon Dubé. Welcome again.

When we last adjourned we had moved on to clause 11, and the first amendment on clause 11 is government amendment G-7.

Mr. Jean.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

The ruling of the chair is that the introduction of the notion of employment is a new concept and beyond the scope of Bill C-20. I will therefore rule it inadmissible.

[Simon Dubé]

In Bill C-20, the definition is this:

“Gatineau Park” means the area whose boundaries are described in Schedule 2;

[Simon Dubé]

Currently in the definition section of the bill, the words “Gatineau Park” refer to schedule 2 in Bill C-20. Schedule 2 is that detailed cadastral boundary. It's in the bill currently before this committee.

[Simon Dubé, Director, Portfolio Management, Crown Corporation Governance, Department of Transport]

Currently the National Capital Act provides for the executive committee, and what's being proposed in Bill C-20 is to remove that specific committee and leave the commission to decide on what committee it needs to undertake its business. I'll just note that over the past number of years, despite the provisions in the National Capital Act for an executive committee, there hasn't been any such committee meeting formally.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, meeting number 31. Our orders of the day are pursuant to the order of reference of Tuesday, May 25, 2010, Bill C-20, An Act to amend the National Capital Act and other Acts.

Joining us today from the Department of Transport, we have Monsieur Simon Dubé, director of portfolio management, crown corporation governance.

When we adjourned the last meeting we were debating a BQ amendment to clause 3 by Monsieur Nadeau, and because he's not here and I know he wants to participate, I'm going to ask the committee that we stand clause 3 for now and we'll move to clause 4.

I'd like to ask the committee that we stand clause 3 until Mr. Nadeau returns, and we'll move on with the other clauses and move forward. Clause 3 is where we were left debating. We were talking about the number of people on the committee. If everybody is good with that, we'll move to clause 4.

(Clause 3 allowed to stand)

(On clause 4)

Does everyone have the amendment package? We do have extras if you don't have them.

There are no amendments to clause 4.

(Clauses 4 to 7 inclusive agreed to)

(On clause 8)

We have a Liberal amendment.

Monsieur Proulx.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Can I have that microphone turned off, please?

I want to thank you for being here.

Committee members, we're going to meet on Tuesday to review Bill C-20. I've reserved the last 15 minutes for a subcommittee meeting so we can plan the future schedule of the committee. Okay?

The meeting is adjourned.

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

We've had an explanation from the witness saying that the intent is to eventually describe or create the text for schedule 2.1. I think that just to include the greenbelt or “la ceinture de verdure” in Bill C-20 is a big step forward, with the understanding that the NCC, in a future that I hope will be near, will arrive at a description of the greenbelt. So we will be voting in favour of amendment G-2.