Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, the minister, for her intervention. Even though we profoundly disagree with this legislation, I know the minister's heart is in the right place. She and I both share a deep respect for the environment, and we all want to do right by the environment, because we have future generations that depend on us to get it right.
I want to point the minister to the mandate letter from her Prime Minister, directed to her. It says:
We have also committed to set a higher bar for openness and transparency in government. It is time to shine more light on government
It goes on to say,
As Minister, you will be held accountable for our commitment to bring a different style of leadership to government. This will include: close collaboration with your colleagues;
That is presumably in this House. It will also include:
meaningful engagement with Opposition Members of Parliament,
That is me, members of the Conservative Party, the NDP, the Bloc, and the Greens.
This legislation, all 370 pages of it, an omnibus bill, was tabled last Thursday, at 10 o'clock in the morning. At 10:45 in the morning, the minister and her staff had arranged for a briefing from environment officials. Who was included in that briefing? It was the media and stakeholders. Who was excluded? It was members of Parliament, who were not given a briefing until five to six hours later.