Pam Goldsmith-Jones

[Impact Assessment Act, March 2nd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, it does not surprise me that the member opposite does not value the importance of early public engagement and early engagement with indigenous peoples. That is a fundamental commitment of our government, and that is what will allow us to not be surprised, to not be responsible for excluding important voices, and to begin these discussions on a strong foundation.

[Impact Assessment Act, March 2nd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to put today's debate in a broader context. When we formed government, it was very clear that there was a lack of confidence in the National Energy Board, there was a lack of confidence in the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, there was a lack of confidence in the Navigation Protection Act, and there was a lack of confidence in the Fisheries Act. It had been shaken dramatically by the previous government.

Therefore, we put an interim process in place to be consultative, to be more inclusive of indigenous views, and to add conditions to ensure that these projects could go forward, because they were really a long way along in terms of making a final decision. We then took 14 months to consult coast to coast to coast and to bring together and integrate multiple players and multiple imperatives so that our decisions with regard to the natural resources sector were rooted in engagement, environmental protection, and indigenous reconciliation.

[Impact Assessment Act, March 2nd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Repentigny.

I am very pleased to join this important debate. Bill C-69 is a generational opportunity to realize the full promise of Canada through the resources of our land and the resourcefulness of Canadians. It is an opportunity to achieve a lasting balance. This is not easy, and this debate is most timely and most important.

We are at a pivotal moment. Climate change is the great challenge of our generation. The natural environment signals this to us, of course. It also plays a critical role in assisting us to manage climate change, and it will be the measure of the balance we achieve. The natural environment restores us in our daily lives. Our ingenuity and investment in clean technology and innovation are fundamental to the way forward as we continue to build success in the natural resources sector.

As we debate this bill, a new wave of resource development is before us, with more than 650 billion dollars' worth of projects either under construction or planned over the next 10 years. This is not insignificant. This means good, sustainable jobs and new economic opportunities for the middle class. Therefore, it is imperative we have a modern environmental and regulatory system, one that is open, transparent, and effective, a process that views public engagement as an asset, that is critical toward earning public confidence in government decision-making

This is what Bill C-69 achieves. Bill C-69 is based upon better, clearer rules in order to recognize and achieve greater protection of the environment, fish, and waterways; the centrality and importance of positive relations between Canada and indigenous peoples; collaboration between the federal government and the provinces and territories; more investment in Canada's natural resource sector; and finally, the importance of earning public trust every day.

Bill C-69 strives to integrate Canada's economic and environmental goals to advance indigenous reconciliation and to ensure that worthy projects go ahead in an environmentally sustainable manner. This cannot be accomplished on our own. We can work together better. The provinces and territories are key regulators. Indigenous peoples are central to Canada's economic development. Project proponents make key investments in our innovation economy. Bill C-69 anticipates and accommodates multiple players and multiple imperatives. It is an integrative bill that provides a strong foundation for decision-making.

Beginning with a commitment to the fundamental principle of one project, one assessment for major resource projects, Bill C-69 creates the way in which all parties are part of one process. Industry is asking for environmental processes that are timely and rooted in science, and regulatory reviews that are efficient and offer greater certainty. The general public and indigenous communities are asking for early and meaningful engagement to identify priorities. All of this would be coordinated by the new impact assessment agency.

Canadians are right to expect that impact assessments consider more than environmental impacts. This has been a long-standing criticism of the previous approach, and we should be proud of sustainability advocates from coast to coast to coast. Bill C-69 proposes that major new resource projects be viewed in the wider context of economic, social, and health impacts of ongoing development, as well as environmental impacts. The bill also expands the opportunities for Canadians to participate in the process, improving public funding for citizens to do so, and communicating our own efforts and decisions in language that is easy to understand and readily available.

Bill C-69 would help to renew and improve Canada's relationship with indigenous peoples, supporting new partnerships by improving the consultation process and ensuring clear accountabilities between indigenous peoples and the crown.

Finally, Bill C-69 would enhance how science and data are weighed, and how this contributes to a decision.

We believe that Bill C-69 responds directly to the reasonable expectation on the part of the general public, that policy-making should incorporate input from thorough public consultation, expert reviews, parliamentary studies, and open deliberation.

Bill C-69 is about environmental assessments and regulatory reviews that make resource development better and more sustainable. Our proposals for modernizing the National Energy Board build on this. Under the Canadian energy regulator act, the NEB would be replaced by a new federal energy regulator that would remain headquartered in Calgary, where it belongs. The new federal regulator would be based on the principles of modern, effective governance, more inclusive public engagement, greater indigenous participation, stronger safety and environmental protections, and more timely decisions.

The modern regulator would reflect Canada's changing energy needs and desires with an expanded mandate to review traditional and renewable sources of energy, including offshore, wind, and tidal. It would have the required independence and proper accountability for our clean-growth energy future in the 21st century.

Drawing upon the best energy data and the latest trends to inform its decisions, the new regulator would operate with shorter timelines for project reviews. For major new energy projects, the proposed Canadian energy regulator would collaborate with the new impact assessment agency to provide its own recommendations in a single final report. For all other projects, the new federal energy regulator would retain its existing responsibility to review.

Ultimately, our goal is to ensure that sound resource projects are built. We believe that this calls for a modern environmental and regulatory system that promotes common values and ensures shared benefits. Canada can achieve the public good by ensuring that projects are built in a responsible, timely, and transparent way, creating good jobs and a stronger middle class. We are rising to the challenges of our times by driving economic growth, building investment certainty, advancing indigenous reconciliation, and achieving sustainable solutions. We are restoring public confidence and combatting climate change. We are creating inclusive prosperity.

I am very proud to support this legislation, and I hope all members will join our government in approving better rules to build a better Canada.

[Squamish Men's Shed, February 28th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the new horizons for seniors program works with local organizations to support seniors to volunteer, to participate, and to raise our awareness of seniors' issues. The Squamish Men's Shed is one of these organizations. It has created a communal space to help with isolation for men by bringing them together in a safe workshop with high-quality tools. What could be better than that?

Last week, I met Ernie, David, Dennis, and Mike over coffee. Everything they make is for the community, from cut-outs of birds and fish for children and a bat condo for the watershed society to a library book box, and for the hospice society, a blackboard for a “before I die” bucket list. These men are having fun. They love getting together seven days a week.

Yes, people have to be 55 and male to join, and yes, everyone is welcome to wear the T-shirt and support the men of the Squamish Men's Shed in service to one another and the community.

[Business of Supply, February 12th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, there is not a single day I have spent in Ottawa that I have not been devoted to restoring lost protection from the previous government with regard to the Fisheries Act, with regard to the navigable waters protection Act. These are the loud, clear, strong, practical, pragmatic, and reasoned voices of British Columbians working in concert with our resource sector.

What has been redone is the Fisheries Act. What has been done in the first instance is a national price on carbon. What has been redone or invented is the oceans protection plan, a $1.5 billion historic investment in marine safety, and that is not to mention the $1.4 billion added back into the fisheries budget. Those are the things that British Columbians care about.

This is very tough for British Columbia, but I feel that in the end we have come up with a balanced decision that respects our neighbours in Alberta and all Canadians.

[Business of Supply, February 12th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I would remind the hon. member that it was the courts that killed northern gateway explicitly because of the previous government's failure to consult. I have spent my time explaining the confidence we had to rebuild as a result of the previous government's egregious actions in gutting the Fisheries Act and the Navigable Waters Protection Act, in closing the Kitsilano Coast Guard base, and in not acting to ensure that the west coast of Canada was protected in consideration of adding additional tankers.

I certainly believe my colleagues are capable of this. In the interests of British Columbians who seem to be at odds for the moment, we, as federal members of Parliament, have an obligation to work together for the greater good.

[Business of Supply, February 12th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, British Columbia's commitment to the Four Host First Nations and the green games had never been seen before.

Four years later, we hosted the games in Vancouver, and my special assistant was seconded from Calgary, Alberta. Her name was Wendy Tynan. She was an unbelievable partner, and her father was involved in Alberta House.

It was a real revelation to me that the public art installation in Alberta House was a digital readout of the price of oil that day. This is what Albertans wanted their guests to see. Cheers would go up spontaneously when the price went up, no matter what.

The reason I am mentioning B.C. House and Alberta House is not to oversimplify or waste anyone's time. It is to explain the challenge of governing for all parts of Canada, and the fundamental elements of the Trans Mountain decision.

I will begin with what are vital considerations for British Columbians. We take our responsibility for environmental protection and advocacy seriously. It is a public trust.

The previous federal government abandoned the public trust with regard to the natural environment, marine safety, and public engagement. It gutted the Fisheries Act and the Navigable Waters Protection Act. It closed the Kitsilano Coast Guard station. It diminished the importance of maritime safety and our capacity for proper protection on the west coast. It forsook the public's genuine and abiding interest in providing input to the National Energy Board. It muzzled scientists. It simply failed to recognize what it had done to the soul of those of us who lived on Canada's coastlines and the respect we had for the natural environment.

Every member of Parliament from British Columbia on the government benches arrived here to advocate for the protection of our coasts and marine ecosystems, and our government is unequivocal in its commitment to the protection of Canada's waters and marine ecosystems.

In November 2016, the Prime Minister launched the $1.5 billion oceans protection plan in Vancouver. This historic national investment will protect Canada's marine environments, improve marine safety, and ensure responsible shipping. It will provide indigenous communities and coastal communities with new opportunities to protect, preserve, and restore Canada's oceans and sea routes.

Under the OPP, we reopened and expanded the capacity of the Kitsilano Coast Guard station, which will now house two inflatable rescue boats, as well as a specialized pollution response vessel. As well, the Coast Guard's 24/7 response will be strengthened to protect Canada's waters and to lead in responding to marine emergencies.

To ensure world-leading marine safety and spill response, we are deploying two large heavy-tow tugs in British Columbia, the first coming into service this year, and the next one, next year. They are capable of towing commercial tankers and large container ships.

No doubt, members will remember when a Russian cargo ship, the Simushir, lost power in the fall of 2014 and began drifting toward Haida Gwaii. An Alaska-based tugboat, the Barbara Foss, was refuelling nearby, and was able to tow the cargo ship to safety. We simply lacked that capacity. The oceans protection plan addresses that.

We will also have new indigenous community response teams in B.C., offering training for search and rescue, environmental response, incident command, and for a greater role in marine safety.

Through the OPP, we are investing in British Columbia and across Canada to establish a world-leading marine safety system, and to expand the scientific foundation for spill response.

We have marshalled research capacity in labs in B.C., Alberta, Ontario, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland to spearhead wide-ranging new chemical and biological research into the behaviour and effects of dilbit in marine environments, and to build world-leading ocean modelling capacity to underpin risk-based spill response planning. We are also providing additional funding in science and research to improve technologies that will mitigate and prevent marine incidents.

In B.C., we are also establishing environmental baseline assessments at the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert in order to assess how human activities may impact our marine ecosystems over time. By doing this, we will better understand coastal ecosystems and the potential effects of regional marine vessel activity on the environment. I know this is central to the concern of the Government of British Columbia.

Certainly, our government's interest in developing the Department of Fisheries and Oceans lab in West Vancouver into the Pacific science enterprise centre and the partnerships that are already happening there, are entirely focused on science research and community engagement with regard to critical questions of marine ecosystems.

In 2016, an integrity review of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans was conducted and as a result, $1.4 billion was added to the base budget, reflective of the need to restore the devastation of the cuts made by the previous government and in order to carry out core functions of the fisheries department.

We wholeheartedly endorse the Cohen Commission recommendations and have now adopted 64 out of 75. We are working to implement wild salmon policy, at long last. We moved swiftly to ensure the salmon enhancement program was intact.

With respect to our commitment to marine protected areas, we are over halfway to our goal of 10% of Canada's coastlines by 2020.

Last week, the Minister of Fisheries announced the new Fisheries Act, to restore lost protections removed by the previous government. I look forward to debating that tomorrow. It is an exciting opportunity to advocate for wild salmon and the end of open-net salmon aquaculture, as I have mentioned in the House before.

The OPP and the renewed fisheries budget mean that $2.9 billion have been invested for coastal communities and the nation's waterways. We are devoted to working with the government of British Columbia on all of these initiatives. We know that by recognizing and balancing regional interests, we build the national interest.

Canada is a world-leading trading nation. Our economy and the ability to create good middle-class jobs depend on our ability to access and serve global markets, supported by our ability to access foreign markets through responsible shipping. We have to be committed to protecting Canada's coastlines and to every Canadian whose livelihood depends on the economic viability of Canada's waterways and natural resources.

Our government has consulted extensively. In 2015, in his mandate letter, the Minister of Transport was asked to legislate a tanker ban on the north coast of B.C. arising directly from concerns there. We listened. In January of 2016, we introduced a set of interim principles to improve on the process of assessing pipelines and projects. Public comment expanded, and we listened. In November 2016, our government rejected Enbridge's proposal for the northern gateway pipeline and endorsed the Trans Mountain project, attaching 157 conditions.

This demonstrates a balanced approach, a thorough approach, and one that has been achieved by acting in good faith.

It is the federal government's legal responsibility to ensure marine, rail, and pipeline safety, which we will uphold and endeavour to ensure reflects broad considerations and benefits most people.

The OPP, the new Fisheries Act, and the government's decision on the Trans Mountain project contribute substantially to strengthen the environment and the economy. There is no question that moving forward with Trans Mountain has been a difficult decision to make, and an even harder one for many to accept, particularly many in my community. However, now is the time to focus on the legislative strides we are taking to protect the coastal environment, wild salmon, ocean health, to tackle climate change, and embrace opportunities for innovation and renewable energy as we transition to a low-carbon economy.

I look forward to working with all British Columbians, Albertans, and Canadians toward our shared goals.

[Business of Supply, February 12th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Cloverdale—Langley City.

In consideration of the opposition day motion before the House, I would like to highlight recent contributions made by the people of British Columbia to national public policy with regard to the environment and climate change, fisheries, oceans and the Coast Guard, transportation safety, and indigenous inclusion as a common thread throughout. Because of the engagement and leadership of this government, British Columbia has made great strides forward.

We are striking a better balance for Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

To begin, however, I would like to talk about the Olympics for a minute, partly because it is topical but mainly because my involvement in the games over the years has helped me to understand British Columbia and Alberta better, both with respect to domestic interests and international trade, as well as in the development of good public policy.

In 2006 in Torino, Italy, the Vancouver organizing committee for the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games hosted Canada House. I was part of the senior delegation because I was the mayor of West Vancouver, and ski and snowboard events were going to be held on the local mountain.

In Torino, Canada House was the single most popular venue that people wanted to visit. They lined up for blocks, from all over the world, to see the Squamish Nation carved front doors, to feel the pillars made of timber from B.C.'s majestic forests, and to experience Coast Salish culture.

[Canada 150 Pin, February 6th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, at the end of January, in our constituency office in Horseshoe Bay, West Vancouver, we had the most lovely gathering of people nominated by their friends and neighbours to receive a Canada 150 pin for emulating what it means to be Canadian.

They are Buddy, conservationist; Jane, artist; Coyote, healer; Dianne, nature lover; Susan, Canada's West; Rick, CBC's Early Edition; seven year olds, Jonathan and Quinn, generosity; Vicki, human rights; Byrdie, citizenship; Terry, Métis culture; Margy, for selflessness; Minoo, for diversity; Michael, for gratitude; Catherine, for inclusivity; Bill, for civic engagement; Anne, volunteerism; Chris, kindness; and Gerry, connecting us.

I congratulate them. They are our shining lights. On behalf of each and every member of Parliament, we salute them, and we salute Canada 150.

[Canada Elections Act, February 5th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I certainly can. Today, the Prime Minister's open town halls are open invitations to all Canadians to bring all points of view to him. I have never experienced something as open as this and it is a stark contrast to what we experienced with the previous government.

That is why Bill C-50 is part of also increasing participation, also increasing access, also being available to journalists and questions. I cannot count the number of times with the previous government that I was so let down because of not being able to ask, as a public office holder myself, the former prime minister a question about things that matter so much to Canadians.