You were very clear during your presentation. You say that the bill would raise the level of uncertainty and the risk of litigation, and would thus prevent you from playing your stewardship role, as you put it. I would call you a champion of project development monitoring.
I see this bill, especially from a Quebecker's point of view, as the New Democrats trying to pull the wool over Quebec's eyes. It appears that the bill is clearly interfering in provincial areas of jurisdiction. As it was shown earlier, the bill's scope is overly broad, and I find that fact extremely worrisome.
I would like to hear what you think about this quote from a Shipping Federation of Canada submission presented to us by an industry representative:
[...] we are concerned that Bill C-469 would enable anyone to challenge any regulatory standard at any time, thereby trumping the existing regulatory process and creating regulatory unpredictability.
As my colleague Blaine Calkins said, we have spent decades implementing an extremely strict and complex environmental regulatory framework. Now, a new element is being added to the framework and is creating a kind of a “twilight zone” situation. As things stand, anything is possible. It seems that the bill will create a potential risk for developers like yourself who want to carry out sustainable development projects.
What's your reaction to this situation? Could it negatively affect investments? Could this bill compromise the funding provided for sustainable development projects?