Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to thank all our witnesses for being here.
I'm going to start with Mr. Legge of the Business Council of Alberta.
I appreciate the concern regarding ministerial condition-changing powers. I believe they need more disciplined safeguards. I'm going to refer to the Building Canada Act, because I know Pacific link is something that your council probably supports.
Essentially, clauses 100 and 101 of the bill expand the designated Building Canada Act minister's ability to add, remove or amend conditions, including conditions attached to certain authorizations granted before a project was added to schedule 1.
I call this the “He loves me, he loves me not” clause, because it depends on which day and which condition, as a minister can radically change a project. I think that's the one you were referring to in your comments.
Would you be more supportive of having some important safeguards around that, so that, essentially, once a project is scheduled, like Pacific link, it can't end up becoming something it wasn't originally intended to be just by fiat of the minister?