What a shameful lack of consideration for the public. Mr. Speaker, this is very concerning.
The Liberals' condescending approach is to push projects through without any real discussion. That breeds mistrust, even with respect to potentially positive initiatives to support things like the fight against climate change and transportation for Canadians, and especially for Quebeckers.
What we are seeing is that the government is sabotaging its own momentum. Instead of moving forward, it is backtracking. Obviously, we are calling on the government to hold serious consultations with mayors, citizens, farmers and businesses. We are talking about their lives and the place where they live, but so far, no public consultations have been held in Mirabel, or at least no meaningful consultation, and so we are waiting for some new dates and locations.
There is a new new process that will increase accountability when it comes to consultations. Every consultation process must have a record of proceedings. People have the right to know what is being said and it needs to be archived somewhere. People's concerns need to be documented.
It is very worrisome to see a project worth tens of billions of dollars start out like this. Obviously, I would add to that Bill C-5 and Bill C-15, among others, which will allow the government, and therefore Alto, to circumvent the provisions of the Expropriation Act.
Let us come back to the 1969 experience. It has shown how deeply the federal government already traumatized an entire population, even without the excessive powers granted by these bills. Imagine what they will be able to do now with these bills. Imagine how far they will go, especially considering that Bill C-15 gives significant powers of expropriation and the right of first refusal to Alto, among other things, in order to speed up the construction of high-speed rail.
By trying to move too quickly, there is a risk that things will once again go off the rails. Rushing things and doing them poorly seems to be the government's modus operandi when it comes to major projects. We will certainly also refuse to allow selective use of the Impact Assessment Act, because we need impact assessments that are worthy of their name, that are comprehensive and that allow for genuine consultation. We are currently seeing exactly the opposite from the government.