moved for leave to introduce Bill C-205, An Act to amend the Impact Assessment Act.
Mr. Speaker, it is my great honour to stand today to table my bill, an act to amend the Impact Assessment Act. I want to thank the member for Edmonton Griesbach, my colleague in the NDP Alberta caucus, for agreeing to second this bill. I also want to thank the members for Victoria and South Okanagan—West Kootenay for assisting and supporting me with this legislation. This bill is vital and timely and I look forward to the support of all parliamentarians to pass this legislation.
This bill is about protecting our cherished Rocky Mountains and fundamental protections of our water, our wild spaces and our endangered species. This bill recognizes the incredible work that indigenous leaders like Latasha Calf Robe and the Niitsítapi Water Protectors have done to defend our land. This bill is about environmental protection, activists like Kevin Van Tighem, Lorne Fitch and so many others who have fought tirelessly against corporate interests that will destroy our environment for money.
Coal is not our future. When this bill becomes law, all proposed coal mines will trigger federal environmental impact assessments, regardless of size. This is vital. While I am pleased that the former minister of environment and climate change adopted this policy, we need this embedded into law so that no future government can put the beautiful Canadian Rocky Mountains and eastern slopes at risk ever again.
I am going to finish with the words of my favourite Alberta artist, Corb Lund:
This is my prairie, this is my home
I'll make my stand here and I'll die alone.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)