Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  My comment will be almost the same as the one made by Mr. Vaughan. Indeed, if we do not perform analyses before promoting or going forward with a project, we run the risk of having to foot the bill later. If we do not do rigorous and complete environmental assessments, we are goi

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Sopuck. I believe that once our legal memoranda have been circulated, you'll have a more nuanced understanding of the position we're taking. I haven't suggested that habitat protection is going to be eliminated in any respect. What I've suggeste

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  Clearly, the legal opinion of lawyers at Ecojustice is at odds with the opinion of the minister, but at the end of the day this isn't about a matter of law; this is about a matter of philosophical and policy direction for the environmental governance regime Canada has. This is ab

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  The simple answer is that environmental assessment is patchy across this country. Some provinces do it reasonably well; other provinces do it relatively poorly. It would require a province-by-province and territory-by-territory analysis of the various laws in question. But it's c

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  Yes, certainly Ecojustice will be advising anyone who is seeking our services that if this legislation is passed there will be increased risks to fish habitat and the potential for harm to fish habitat pursuant to any number of activities in specific waterways.

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  Ecojustice's legal opinion is that the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act is going to be significantly weakened if these proposed amendments are approved. Ultimately—

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  Certainly. Thanks for the question, Ms. Leslie. As I mentioned, back in 1977 an important decision was made to amend the Fisheries Act to allow for habitat protection. That has enabled the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to engage in protection of potentially harmful activit

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  Sure. We don't know whether there are going to be environmental assessments now for such projects as offshore drilling in the Arctic and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This is a matter of great concern. It's not about process for process's sake; it's not about consultation just to co

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  Thank you, Chair, and thank you, members. I appreciate the opportunity. My name is Will Amos. I'm a lawyer and professor. I work with a charitable organization called Ecojustice. We have offices in Calgary, Vancouver, Ottawa, and Toronto. We consider ourselves to be Canada's l

Natural Resources committee  Certainly. In 20 seconds or less, the issue of leasing is critical to the issue of energy security in this country, and it's critical to the issue of offshore regulation. It's unfortunate that the National Energy Board hearing cannot and will not go into that issue, and it's unf

Natural Resources committee  There is certainly a major difference between what was suggested with that unanimous motion in terms of a review of unconventional oil sources and the current National Energy Board's review, which is much less comprehensive. If you're asking me to answer the question of what woul

Natural Resources committee  This is a highly political question, obviously. It is made more complex by the fact that, so far, the jurisdiction over the Gulf of St. Lawrence is not quite clear. We are all waiting for information from the federal and Quebec governments about negotiations and requirements rela

Natural Resources committee  If your question is directed to spill response in particular, I think it's a challenging question. I think the NEB recognizes it's a challenging question, and that's why it's front and centre in the Arctic offshore hearing. Specifically, the NEB has indicated that in the scope

Natural Resources committee  I can do that.

Natural Resources committee  Sure, I can do that. To conclude, there's a lot of action happening in the United States, a lot of response to BP, and that's understandable. Why isn't there the same level of response here in Canada? The U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, proposed yesterday the establ