Thank you, Chair.
I wanted to summarize my opposition to the bill.
The Osler analysis of Bill C-469 was that it “encroaches on areas of provincial environmental jurisdiction”; it “does not allow for the social, economic, and environmental pillars of sustainable development to be balanced appropriately”; it overlaps with aspects of existing legislation; and it removes numerous safeguards.
We heard from the witnesses, and they said that it was not good policy for Canada. They believed it was fundamentally flawed and that it could not be amended into good policy.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce said that the lack of legal clarity will chill any investment consideration, that a fundamental precondition of commercial development, wealth creation, and economic acceleration is..... They said that it had completely failed the test of being a good bill and they don't support it.
We've heard there's been no aboriginal consultation on this. We've heard now that it creates classes of people that the bill will apply to; it limits judicial discretion; it's anti-sustainable-development; it creates American-style litigation; it duplicates, creates red tape, and kills jobs.
So it is not good for Canadians. It's not good for the environment. It is good for special interest groups.