The federal government has passed its 425-page budget implementation bill, one that Westlock – St. Paul MP Brian Storseth says is an important piece of legislation for Canadians moving forward.
Now awaiting approval in the Senate, federal MPs voted 157-135 on June 18 to adopt the legislation, known as Bill C-38, at third reading. According to Storseth, the biggest changes implemented in the bill involve regulatory reform.
“I believe this is one of the most substantive budgets that I’ve seen in my generation in regards to regulatory reform, which is the hardest thing to do when you’re in government,” Storseth said.
“When you look at regulatory reform, you’re talking about making your government and your country more productive,” he added. “In this case, it was in regards to the economy and economic productivity.”
Though the bill was guaranteed to pass with the Conservatives having a majority, opposition parties introduced more than 700 amendments in a bid to slow the process down, making for a marathon 22-hour voting session. Opposition MPs felt the bill was too broad in scope and wanted it broken apart into separate legislation, with major concerns voiced about faster environmental approvals and changes to the Fisheries Act, Employment Insurance and Old Age Security.
The issue of speeding up the environmental assessment process caused an outpouring of criticism from those who claim it will limit the opportunity to participate in reviews before big projects are given the green light. Critics ranged from environmentalists such as David Suzuki to four former fisheries minister, including former Conservative minister, John Fraser, who believed the omnibus bill strips down Canada’s environmental laws and protections.
Storseth said he sat on the special Bill C-38 committee that studied the environmental assessments and natural resources, where topics received more than 70 hours of debate. Creating separate bills for the environmental changes would have resulted in years before they would be passed, he said.
“The Environment Commissioner himself agreed that 95 per cent of the assessments that are done in Canada over the last five years are for things like painting a bench at a park, things with zero or little impact on the environment,” he said. “This is not a good use of taxpayers’ resources.”
The amount of time delays for projects has been detrimental to the economy, the MP said. The new legislation will help shorten the typical five to seven years it takes for environmental approval to go through, he added.
“I believe we should have a strong, vigorous environmental assessment process, but it also has to be reasonable. Standards haven’t changed and there’s going to be more resources for these projects. What we’re doing is taking away the park benches of the world,” he said.
Earlier this month, around 600 organizations took part in a protest regarding Bill C-38’s intention to streamline environmental assessment, with groups blacking out their websites for 24 hours.
“I don’t think we’ve seen huge protest of what I would call mainstream Canadians, especially in our area,” the MP said in response to such criticism, adding he felt the government did a good job of consulting people on the issue.
Another change included in the bill that has received considerable attention is the decision to raise the age of eligibility for Old Age Security (OAS) from 65 to 67, something the MP believes will benefit future generations.
“The reason why we go into elections and get majority governments is so you can build up political capital,” he explained. “You need to make sure that you spend that political capital not on what’s best for the headlines 10 days from now, but what’s best for the country 10 years from now.
“With old age security, that’s exactly what the Prime Minister has done,” he continued. “He’s done something that is going to help make sure the next generations still has OAS there for them.”
One of the issues relating directly to the St. Paul area is the changes to the Navigable Waters Protection Act, which Storseth said will allow municipalities to put culverts and ditches where water only runs for one week of the year without having to go through the massive environmental assessment process.
The change comes after years of requests for it, he said, and will save the rural municipalities both money and time spent on paperwork.
“I think that’s another example of something that’s very proactive and I’m very happy to see it. This is an important piece of legislation for Canadians moving forward. Some of the changes we have made will affect our community in the St. Paul area immediately.”
