Mr. Chair, I move that Bill C-47, in clause 2, be amended by adding after line 18 on page 23 the following:
48.1 When the carrying out of a project is allowed by the Commission, any new or revised land use plans applicable to the project do not apply to the licences, permits or other authorizations required to be obtained by the proponent.
Mr. Chair, this was actually a recommendation brought forward by the mining industry to ensure some certainty over what they are doing. In the understanding that the development of resources is a cooperative effort between the land owner—government—and the resource owner—government—and industry, this was something that would give some certainty to the industry that this would occur in the fashion that would be useful to them, that they wouldn't be undercut by changes to land use planning processes that may impact upon the business they are doing.
It also suggests that if there are changes, there is some protection given to industry as well, that they can negotiate on those changes by the fact that they do have the ability to hold back. In the spirit that you understand, we're not opposed to development, and we're not opposed to people coming in and doing work on the land, and their interests have to be protected as well.
What we have here is an amendment that I'm sure all of us around the table can agree on in principle. Perhaps the Conservative members may not want to support it because they have a reluctance, it seems, to think that anything within this bill needs improvement.
I would leave it at that. I'm hoping we will get the support for this amendment as with all the other amendments we're putting forward in good faith.