Thank you, Madam Chair.
I was going to speak to this, but I'll do it once in response to Ms. May's amendment, with which I heartily agree.
In our system of government, Parliament is supreme. That is the foundation of our constitutional system. It's also Parliament's responsibility to scrutinize spending and the activities of the executive branch of government.
In my view, I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that Bill C-15 contains a serious threat to Canada's democratic foundations. As Ms. May just pointed out, part 5, division 5, clauses 203 to 209, would give federal ministers sweeping powers—what are colloquially now known as the Henry the VIII powers—to exempt any individual, corporation, partnership, association or organization from the application of any federal law or regulation, with the exception of the Criminal Code. This means that things like labour standards, health and safety rules, environmental protections, indigenous rights, privacy laws and many more could be set aside at a minister's discretion. In our view, these powers undermine the separation of powers by allowing the executive to override laws adopted by Parliament, without transparency or accountability.
Legal experts have been clear that this is not regulatory sandboxing, as Ms. May has just eloquently pointed out. It is a dramatic departure from the narrow, transparent sandbox models used elsewhere in Canadian and international law.
The bill introduces vague justifications like “competitiveness” and “economic growth”, terms that are so broad that they could be used to suspend almost any law or regulation. These provisions, in the New Democrats' view, do not streamline regulation. They erode the rule of law and create a two-tier system where laws passed by Parliament can be suspended for political convenience, even if they might be otherwise meritorious.
Finally, the government, in our view, has failed to justify why it needs these powers. If the current government truly believes that these extraordinary powers are necessary, it should introduce stand-alone legislation that can be studied in depth and debated thoroughly to make sure that the regulatory sandbox provisions are carefully crafted in public by parliamentarians, not buried in a 600-page omnibus budget bill or perhaps negotiated in backrooms, which may be the case right now.
To conclude, in order to protect democratic governance, the rule of law, the constitutional order and parliamentary supremacy, division 5 of part 5 must, in our respectful submission, be removed from Bill C-15.
Thank you for your time, colleagues.