Evidence of meeting #36 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was rights.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:30 p.m.
Senior General Counsel and Executive Director, Environment Canada, Legal Services, Department of Justice
What I'm saying is that, if you read the bill, clause 16 should apply when federal authorization or federal action is required, which is the case when there is an environmental assessment under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency.
5:30 p.m.
Conservative
Steven Blaney Conservative Lévis—Bellechasse, QC
That means that once the project has gone through all the different legal steps, both provincial and federal, and has been accepted, any Canadian, whoever he or she may be and at any time, as the Shipping Federation of Canada has pointed out, could come along and say that the proposed project could cause significant environmental harm, and create additional delay—in other words, compromise the completion of the project.
5:30 p.m.
Senior General Counsel and Executive Director, Environment Canada, Legal Services, Department of Justice
Someone could bring an action against the federal government for breaching its obligations under clause 16, or sue the project developer. That is possible.
5:30 p.m.
Conservative
Steven Blaney Conservative Lévis—Bellechasse, QC
Do you agree with me that, when we are talking about major projects involving mining, hydroelectric power, sustainable development, peat development or wind energy, there is no doubt that projects of this kind will never have 100% support. There will definitely be people—for example, a competitor or a competing energy supplier—with different interests who will say that they would prefer the project not go forward.
This afternoon, the commissioner for Ontario told us that Ontario has restrictions. If someone will profit from a project not going forward, no intervention will be possible. However, in the bill under consideration, the competitor can come along and say that he thinks this will result in significant environmental harm, and therefore put a stop to the project.
5:30 p.m.
Senior General Counsel and Executive Director, Environment Canada, Legal Services, Department of Justice
I will not go as far as to say that this would put an end to the project, but a competitor could certainly bring an action. At that point, it would be up to a court of law to determine whether the parameters set out in the legislation have been met or not.
5:30 p.m.
Conservative
5:30 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Bezan
I want to thank all of our witnesses for coming in today. I really appreciate your expertise and input as we wrap up our study on Bill C-469.
Mr. Melaschenko, Madam Roussel, and Mr. Nielsen, thank you very much.
Not all committee members have gotten their amendments in. I request that you get them in by first thing tomorrow morning so that we can circulate them to other committee members for due consideration and give our clerk and analyst time to put together the packages so we can have a fruitful debate as we go through the clause-by-clause study, which begins on Wednesday.
Is there a motion to adjourn, please?
Thank you, Mr. Woodworth.
We're out of here.
The meeting is adjourned.