Madam Speaker, previous governments gave the ports sweeping powers, including the right to override land use decisions and the right to assess and approve their own projects. It is the opinion of many that we need to change the environmental assessment process to make it completely independent, transparent, inclusive, and consultative.
As well, we feel that the port needs to make consultation more meaningful in affected communities. The port's current process only affects a project in isolation and does not consider the cumulative impact of the many heavy industrial projects under review.
Many also believe that the federal government should put in place a completely independent, science-based, overriding assessment process to review the cumulative impacts, as these projects need to be dealt with on a collective basis. These views are shared by many, and we want public accountability for Port Metro Vancouver.
I am calling on the government to act. The government has the ability to do that, to take those authorities and put them back in the place--