Mr. Chair, clause 21 provides that a plaintiff bringing an environmental protection action against the government may only be ordered to pay costs “if the action is found to be frivolous, vexatious or harassing” and that it may be entitled to counsel fees, legal fees, regardless of whether they are used, whether that person or organization has used counsel.
Chair, I think that's of great concern, or should be. The provision would lead to plaintiffs being awarded fees for counsel even if counsel was not used. That would act as an incentive to bring a lawsuit against the government, creating a more adversarial relationship between government and the public.
We've heard clearly from the different witnesses that this is supported not by Canadians generally but by special interest groups. Of course, members of the coalition have regularly been seeing and consulting special interest groups. Is this good for Canada? No. It removes the Federal Court's existing discretion, which is shocking, toward costs against a plaintiff only if the action is frivolous. They have that discretion now. That will be removed.
Chair, what it would actually do is create an incentive. In what way? Well, the person or entity that brings this action against the government would be able to profit. If they do not have counsel and they take the action themselves, they will profit from this action. Again, we heard that the likely groups are special interest groups that would be taking this action. So they can actually profit from this.
So here we have coalition members supporting new legislation that would supersede every other piece of legislation that was developed through consultation in the interests of Canadians, in the interests of a sustainable development--that principle--that we just passed. Under this bill, which is a special interest group bill, they could take American-style litigation against the government and profit for it. We had a vote in the House--I think it was a couple of months ago--on sustainable development. At the same time as the NDP introduced this bill--at the same time--they voted against sustainable development. So we see a trend--