By Jolson Lim
iPOLITICS

​The Senate is pushing forward with efforts to change the Liberal government’s controversial environmental assessment bill, passing this afternoon a package of energy sector-friendly amendments to Bill C-69.

The Senate environment committee had submitted a report to the full Senate with 188 total amendments that tilt heavily in favour of the interests of Canada’s oil and gas industry, which believes the bill will hurt prospects for future energy projects if passed as originally envisioned by the Trudeau government.

The Senate passed today, on division, the report and its recommendations. A formal recorded vote was not held.

Bill C-69, which alters how large energy projects are regulated, will now be brought to third reading during the Senate’s next sitting day on Monday, where members of the Upper Chamber can propose additional amendments.

The Liberal majority in the House of Commons will then have a chance to vote on whether or not to support the Senate’s version of the bill.

Environment groups have slammed some Senators, who are unelected appointees, for proposing amendments to a government bill and throwing the likeliness of its passage into uncertainty, with four sitting weeks left.

BACKGROUNDER: Environment groups blast Senate committee for amendments to Bill C-69

The amendments from the Senate committee include reducing cabinet power to intervene in energy assessments and altering the way climate change impacts are considered in the regulatory process. Many of the proposals are word-for-word what oil and gas groups have proposed.

Before the report was passed, Conservative Senators Michael MacDonald and Dennis Patterson spoke at length in opposition of the bill, saying the piece of legislation entered the Senate in a form requiring major changes.

READ MORE: Kenney vows ‘immediate’ constitutional challenge if Bill C-69 is passed

SOURCE ARTICLE: https://ipolitics.ca/2019/05/30/senate-passes-amendments-to-bill-c-69-moves-to-third-reading/

By David Moscrop
MACLEAN'S

With Parliament set to rise on June 21, MPs are preparing for a summer filled with pre-election groundwork. But the government will be making the dash to sunny days with its briefcase full of legislation that has yet to be passed. Prime Minister Trudeau and his team will be under pressure to deliver on these commitments. That task will be made difficult by emboldened Independent senators and obstructionist Tory senators, as well as opposition members of Parliament who have concerns with the substance of pending legislation, wish to see the government embarrassed ahead of the election in October, or both.

After being elected in 2015, Trudeau publicly shared the mandate letters he delivered to each of his members of cabinet, outlining what was expected of them and anchored by the “12 top priorities” of the government. As a means of accountability, the Privy Council Office (PCO) created a mandate-letter tracker and published it online. When last updated on March 22, the website indicated that only four of 432 commitments were “Not met” and were “Not being pursued”—electoral reform; a balanced budget; an employment insurance break for firms that hire young folks permanently; and the removal of GST on capital investments in new, affordable rental housing. The PCO states that there has been “Progress made” on 267 promises and that 161 have been “Completed/Met.”

But there is some serious unfinished business in that “Progress made” section. Filed under it is Canada’s response to the opioid crisis, which has been slow and insufficient. Ditto fixing ensuring public servant pay—as the Phoenix pay system debacle remains unresolved. Ditto once more Indigenous housing and the implementation of recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

As the dissolution of Parliament and the federal election approach, the fate of a few key pieces of legislation hang in the balance—and that’s important. The remaining bills cover efforts to tackle the climate emergency and to address the ongoing colonial relationship between the state and Indigenous peoples. Their fates will reflect the priorities and capacities of the government, what it cares about and what it cares enough about to get something real done. The same is true of the Senate. So, the next few weeks will be decisive—both a test of the Trudeau government and the (semi-) independent Senate. At the time of this writing, there were eight bills under consideration in the House of Commons and 11 in the Senate. And the latter is where things get interesting.

While the government has control of the agenda in the House, and the capacity to control the calendar, with Trudeau’s changes to the Senate after his election 2015, he has had less ability to direct affairs in the Red Chamber—which is now experiencing some growing pains. Today, the Independent Senators Group (ISG), a caucus of non-partisan senators, has an absolute majority in the upper house. The Senate Conservatives (who did not respond to a request for an interview), however, remain partisan and obstructionist, their apparent interest in stalling the government’s agenda increasing as the election draws nearer.

Candice Bergen, the Conservative House leader in the Commons, blames the government. “I think they have realized that they haven’t accomplished a lot and are trying to get some things done. For sure they have really failed on their promises to Indigenous people.” But some government legislation, including the contentious environmental assessment review legislation, Bill C-69, has been in front of the Senate since the summer of 2018—and has been stalled by partisan temporizing. Sen. Yuen Pao Woo, facilitator of the ISG, sees such political games as an old problem, indicative of the reality that, while the Senate is changing, it’s not fully reformed. “It’s the old way, which is that partisan caucuses use the rules to extend and to obstruct and to delay,” he says. “It is the status quo that is holding back the Senate rather than the new approach.”

Of the dozen bills currently before the Senate, a few stand out as particularly important to the government—and the country. Bill C-92, a bill designed to address serious flaws in the Indigenous child welfare system, is one. So is Bill C-91, an Indigenous languages bill to fund and protect Indigenous languages. The budget implementation act, Bill C-97, is also in front of the Senate, but given that it’s a money bill, the chamber is unlikely to tie it up for too long. There’s also Bill C-59, a national security bill. Bill C-71, a firearms regulation bill, was just passed.

The most contentious bills, however, seem to be concerned with the environment. Bill C-48, which would institute an oil tanker moratorium along the northern coast of B.C., has been scrutinized by the Senate for ages, and was recently defeated at committee—though not killed. Its fate will be decided on the floor of the upper chamber. Bill C-68, which is concerned with the sustainability of fish stocks, has been making its way through Parliament for years. Coastal First Nations are demanding the Senate assent to the bill.

And then there’s Bill C-69, the granddaddy-showdown of them all. The environmental assessment bill has been controversial from the get-go. While supporters see it as an essential update to the review process for major resource projects, opponents regard it as a threat to, among other things, the green-lighting of pipelines. Alberta premier Jason Kenney has been stumping against it for months, making the bill a feature of his recent, successful election campaign. Unsurprisingly, the oil and gas lobby has been aggressively opposed to it, too. The Senate (and not just Conservative senators) has offered 187 amendments to the bill, which doesn’t surprise Bergen. “The outcry against C-69 has been massive,” she says. “It is a terrible bill that will do massive damage to our economy.”

For a government keen to tout its achievements, especially on the environment, this situation is far from optimal. In October, voters will be asking “What have you done for me lately?” as well as “What are you going to do for me next?” Currently, the Liberals trail the Conservatives in the aggregate polls by six points. They’re likely to remind Canadians of their success lifting children out of poverty with the Canada Child Benefit--which is increasing. They’ll also be sure to trumpet their renegotiation of NAFTA, though the new deal has yet to be ratified by Parliament or the U.S Congress and may not receive approval from the latter.

The legalisation of marijuana will be another feather in their cap. And Trudeau has himself said that he would happily make the election about the carbon tax. Yet his team will also have to answer to shortcomings on big files, including letting down Indigenous peoples, failing to balance the budget, breaking their promise on electoral reform and—to the dismay of progressives—purchasing the Trans Mountain pipeline.

The government is confident it will get its legislation passed, and members are prepared to use the parliamentary tools at their disposal to make that happen, such as longer sitting hours for the House of Commons. “We’ll most likely be entertaining extended hours,” says government House Leader Bardish Chagger. “I believe it’s important for us to be able to not only having meaningful debate but to call legislation to a vote—and also to have time to consider amendments that might come back from the Senate.”

Another tool: asking the House to sit past its scheduled adjournment on June 21. “I would hope that if we continue working in a productive manner, we shouldn’t have to do that,” says Chagger. “But if there are important pieces of legislation that are not completed, of course. We are here to serve Canadians and their best interests.”

With an election coming, Parliamentarians will amplify the high-notes of the legislative process—getting the remaining bills passed will be political, partisan and acrimonious. The fate of each piece of government business in the next few weeks will then offer voters a way to assess their government of the last four years; to decide whether the country is walking on sunshine or down a boulevard of broken Liberal dreams.

READ MORE: ​https://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/the-final-mad-scramble-to-deliver-on-team-trudeaus-big-promises/

John Paul Tasker 
CBC News

The federal Liberal government will ask MPs to extend sitting hours in the House of Commons for the rest of the parliamentary session — the last before a fall election — to give them more time to pass a lengthy list of bills in relatively short order.

The motion, which will be debated Monday, calls on MPs to sit until midnight on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings until the end of June to allow for more debate time in the chamber.

With just four sitting weeks left in the House of Commons, the window of opportunity to pass key pieces of legislation — including the budget and the pot pardons bill — is closing quickly.

"We'd like to see everything pass," said a government source, speaking on background to CBC News. "You never want to say, 'No, we're willing to let that die on the order paper.' Right now, we hope with good, constructive debate on all sides we can get a lot done."

There's an added complication: the Liberal government could still introduce enabling legislation for the new NAFTA trade agreement, which would also have to be debated, studied and passed through the two chambers of Parliament in under a month's time.

That's a constrained timeline that even the most innocuous and non-partisan bills often fail to meet. (A bill making changes to the Girl Guides of Canada's articles of incorporation has been stalled in the Senate for months, for example.)

While a final decision on when to introduce the NAFTA bill has not been made, the government source said that, after the steel and aluminum tariffs deal with the U.S. and Mexico, "we are going to move ahead with ratification. It's not on the notice paper, but keep an eye on it."

So it's possible that some parliamentarians will have to stay in Ottawa beyond the end of June to pass that legislation before hitting the summer BBQ circuit ahead of October's expected vote.

While cabinet ultimately ratifies trade deals, legislative changes are often necessary to implement parts of an agreement.

A newly constituted post-election Parliament is not likely to return until December at the earliest — a distant date that could delay implementation of the trilateral trade agreement.

• Jason Kenney now says Alberta can live with amended C-69 environmental assessment bill

The 12 or so government bills currently in the Senate — plus two others in the midst of "pre-study" at committee — have the best shot of securing royal assent and passage before summer. That's largely because the leadership of the four major groups in the Senate — the government representative's office, the Senate Liberals, the Conservatives and the Independent Senators Group — have all agreed to hit a series of scheduling targets to advance legislation through the upper house in a timely manner.

Some of the bills still 'active' and before the House of Commons:

• Bill C-58, changes to the Access to Information Act regime (as amended by the Senate)
• Bill C-81, reforms to laws that protect people with disabilities, "An act to ensure a barrier-free Canada."
• Bill C-88, changes to the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act
• Bill C-92, major reforms to Indigenous child welfare systems
• Bill C-93, the pot pardons bill, "An Act to provide no-cost, expedited record suspensions for simple possession of cannabis."
• Bill C-97, the budget
• Bill C-98, which establishes a public complaints and review commission for the RCMP and the Canadian Border Services Agency

However, two major legislative initiatives — Bill C-69, the government's controversial overhaul of the environmental assessment act, and Bill C-48, the northern B.C. oil tanker ban — face less than certain futures.

The Tories would not agree to a date for a final, third reading vote on those two bills to signal their overwhelming opposition to legislation they've described as an affront to Alberta's oilpatch.

While the Liberal Party promised major environmental changes in its last election platform, opposition in the Senate from Conservative and some Independent members has been fierce.

The Senate's energy committee made more than 187 amendments — including amendments long demanded by oil and gas lobbyists — to C-69, while the transport committee recommended the Senate not proceed with C-48 at all.

Peter Harder, the government's representative in the Senate, has said the Senate should pass Bill C-69 as amended by committee and send it back to the Commons. That would leave the government to decide what to do with the mixed bag of changes that strip out some crucial aspects of the draft bill — aspects that the government has defended as necessary to reform a broken assessments process.

Independent Alberta Sen. Paula Simons, who was appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last fall and opposed C-69 as it was initially written, said that while the package of amendments isn't perfect — "It's kind of a Subaru package rather than a Maserati one," she said — she believes it does make it more palatable for her home province.

"We've got the package out of committee, which is a victory. The House will have to decide which of the amendments we've put on the menu they wish to order," she said in an interview.

"It's a very big bill and it had some areas where the government would concede they made mistakes, where they left things out, where they didn't think through the consequences of a thing. I'm happy to see the government acknowledging that. I hope we can get a bill back from the Commons that I can support."

• Senators propose sweeping rewrite of controversial environmental assessment bill

• Garneau says he's open to amendments as opposition to B.C. tanker ban bill mounts

After the bill clears the Senate, as it is expected to do next week, the government will have to set aside precious debating time for MPs to consider a bill that has been radically reformed since it was first passed through the lower house in June 2018.

The Liberal government is on track to pass fewer bills in its four-year mandate than the previous Conservative government did in the four years it held a majority government — and the newly independent Senate is partly responsible.

"We have respect for the Senate, and it's been amending legislation. It's a totally new world. This Parliament is entirely different than any other Parliament before this, so it just means bills are amended and it takes a little longer. It all just takes more time," the government source said.
​
So far, the Senate has successfully amended 19 out of the 68 government bills that have become law (three of those bills will receive royal assent tomorrow), or roughly 28 per cent of all bills that have passed.

READ MORE: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/tasker-extend-commons-hours-pass-bills-1.5148943

Rachel Aiello
CTV NEWS

OTTAWA – MPs return to Parliament Hill Monday, giving them four weeks until the House of Commons likely adjourns for the final time before the election campaign begins.

After members of Parliament decamp to their ridings for the summer BBQ circuit and pre-election campaigning, senators are scheduled to stay in town an extra week to wrap up whatever legislation they can. All of this timing of course, is pending any unforeseen need to reconvene Parliament, -- say, over needing to ratify CUSMA.

All told, this leaves just 24 sitting days to pass whatever legislation remains. Any bills not passed will die when Parliament adjourns and would have to be re-tabled if a future government wanted to still pursue them.

Here's where all active outstanding pieces of government legislation stand. Given the flow of bills, those in the Senate are closest to passage, as are the bills that have been sent back to the House with Senate amendments.

​In the House:

Bills at second reading

• Bill C-87, the Poverty Reduction Act. This was tabled by Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Jean-Yves Duclos in November 2018.
• Bill C-98, which amends the RCMP Act and CBSA Act to set up a new oversight body for the two agencies. It was tabled by Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale in May.

Bills being studied at committee

• Bill C-88, which makes changes related to regional resource protections in the Mackenzie Valley in the Northwest Territories. It was tabled by Intergovernmental and Northern Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc in November 2018 and is currently before the House Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee.
• Bill C-92, which seeks to assert that Indigenous people have jurisdiction over child and family services in their communities. It was tabled by Indigenous Services Minister Seamus O'Regan in May and has been fast-tracked and is currently also before the House Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee. It is being pre-studied in the Senate as well, so expect this bill to keep moving quickly.
• Bill C-93, the pot pardons legislation. Tabled by Goodale in May, it is currently before the House Public Safety and National Security Committee. Its first meeting on the legislation is scheduled for next week.
• Bill C-97, the Budget Implementation Act, 2019. This omnibus bill makes all sorts of changes tied into the federal budget, and also makes immigration law and housing rights changes. It was tabled by Finance Minister Bill Morneau in April and is being studied by the House Finance Committee, as well as the Senate National Finance Committee. It's expected to pass, as all budget bills do.

Bills awaiting consideration of Senate amendments

• Bill C-58, the legislation that changes Canada's Access to Information Law in several ways, including giving the new information commissioner new authorities. Though it has largely been panned as a bad bill that will not improve an already troubled freedom of information system. It was first ushered in under the Treasury Board portfolio in June 2017. The Senate amended it considerably and has sent it back to the House.
• Bill C-81, the Accessible Canada Act, from Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Accessibility Minister Carla Qualtrough. It makes sweeping accessibility law changesand was tabled in 2018. The minister tweeted this week that she’ll be accepting all Senate changes, meaning it is set to pass soon.

What about bills at first reading?

There are 14 other government bills still in the House, but they all are at first reading. All but one of them have been stalled since 2017. Some of this legislation was folded into other bills that have since advanced, so don’t expect to see these bills move.

The one exception is the recently tabled Bill C-94, which allows for payments from federal coffers to be made in relation to infrastructure, the Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service, and to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. This was tabled by Finance Minister Bill Morneau in March, and still has a chance to move forward as it doesn't appear to be a contentious or dense proposal. The bill is six pages long.

There are also no bills currently at report stage or third reading in the House, though expect that to change as soon as the aforementioned bills get moving next week.

In the Senate:

Bills at second reading:

• Bill C-84, which mends the Criminal Code to crack down on bestiality and animal fighting offences. It was tabled by then-justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould in 2018 and just passed into the Senate earlier this month.
• Bill C-91, the Indigenous Languages Act, which is aimed at reviving Indigenous languages and would create a new Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages. It was tabled in February by Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism Minister Pablo Rodriguez and also just passed into the upper chamber recently.

Bills being studied at committee:

• Bill C-48, the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act would introduce a federal ban on tanker traffic off of the B.C. north coast. The Senate Committee on Transport and Communications just recommended it not be proceeded with at all. Now it'll be on the Senate as a whole to decide whether to take that advice and kill the government bill, which was first tabled by Transport Minister Marc Garneau in 2017.
• Bill C-77, which introduces a victims' bill of rights for the military justice system. From Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, it was tabled in 2018 and is currently before the Senate National Security and Defence Committee, though the committee has only held one meeting on it so far.
• Bill C-68, the legislation that makes changes to the Fisheries Act related to make clear the minister’s authority and strengthen the powers for enforcement of the law. It was tabled under the Fisheries, Oceans, and Canadian Coast Guard portfolio in February 2018, and has been studied the last two months in the Senate Fisheries and Oceans Committee. 
• Bill C-78, which updates family and divorce laws, in an attempt to have more disputes settled out of court, and amends the language related to custody. It’s a justice proposal first tabled in 2018, and it’s currently before the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee. The committee has just come out of back-to-back studies of other government bills, so its look into this one has yet to begin.
• Bill C-69, which makes a number of considerable changes to environmental assessments and regulations. The Senate Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources Committee has suggested dozens of amendments and it will now be on the whole Senate to determine how it wants to handle the contentious proposal that was first tabled in February 2018.
• Bill C-82, the Multilateral Instrument in Respect of Tax Conventions Act. It's a Morneau initiative first tabled in June 2018. The Senate Foreign Affairs and International Trade Committee has yet to begin studying it.
• Bill C-75, an omnibus piece of legislation that aims to reform a number of areas of Canada's criminal justice system and address court backlogs. It was tabled in March 2018 and has been studied intensely at the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee over this month. This study could wrap soon, and it is yet to be seen whether it'll be amended as it was in the House.
• Bill C-83, which proposes to overhaul how federal inmates are separated from the general prison population, eliminating solitary confinement as it is known. It was tabled in October 2018 and is currently getting studied by the Senate Social Affairs, Science and Technology Committee.

Bills at report stage:

• Bill C-59, the National Security Act, which is a wide-spanning piece of legislation that proposes national security and oversight reforms. The Senate National Security and Defence Committee has reported it back with amendments. The Senate will now deliberate if it will accept the proposed changes.

Bills at third reading:

• Bill C-71, the gun control bill that includes various measures that tightens the rules around gun ownership. It was amended considerably by the Senate National Security and Defence Committee but the Senate as a whole rejected those amendments so the bill as it was, is now poised to pass and move on to Royal Assent.

Bills passed so far:Since forming government, the Liberals have managed to pass 68 pieces of government legislation, including major changes to Canada's physician-assisted dying regime, cannabis legalization, an anti-harassment policy for federal workers, and six budget implementation bills. They’ve been able to do this in part with the use of time allocation, a procedural tool that limits debates. It’s a tactic that is commonly used, but is always railed against by the opposition.
​
On top of these bills, there are dozens of other private member’s bills left on the agenda, including a proposal to end the captivity of whales and dolphins, legislation to create a new statutory holiday focused on reconciliation with Indigenous Canadians, and a bill that would require comprehensive training for judges on sexual assault. Here’s our latest rundown of the private member’s bills to watch.

READ MORE: https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/with-a-few-weeks-left-in-the-session-here-s-what-s-left-to-pass-1.4434812

John Paul Tasker 
CBC News

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and the leaders of the three other provincial parties are offering an olive branch to the Trudeau government on C-69, saying they're now prepared to accept the controversial overhaul of Canada's environmental assessment process — as long as the Senate's amendments are part of it.

In a joint letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's point man in the Senate, Peter Harder, the multipartisan group asks the government to accept the changes to Bill C-69 — including amendments long demanded by oil and gas lobbyists — to avoid a constitutional fight over federal-provincial jurisdiction in natural resources.

"While we remain concerned about the overall spirit of Bill C-69, we believe that with the inclusion of all these amendments, that the bill would be acceptable to the interests of Albertans," reads the letter, signed by Kenney, NDP Leader Rachel Notley, Alberta Party Leader Stephen Mandel and David Khan, the leader of the Alberta Liberal Party.

The Senate's energy committee last week passed more than 180 amendments that would, among other things, limit the environment minister's ability to interfere in the regulatory process and stop and start project timelines.

The committee also passed amendments to curb public participation in the project review process to ensure more timely decisions, and backed changes that would solidify the role of the offshore petroleum boards in the approvals process.

"We call upon the entire Senate to likewise respect the deliberations of the standing committee ... and vote in favour of the entirety of this amendment package," the leaders said.

The letter signals a tonal shift for Alberta's leaders. Kenney has long called for the Senate to kill the bill outright, while Notley described the Liberal proposals as a "stampede of stupid."

The letter, obtained by CBC News, says Bill C-69 "in its unamended form would seriously threaten Alberta's exclusive provincial jurisdiction over the regulation of the production of non-renewable natural resources."

The leaders also asked Harder to accept the Senate transport committee's deadlock over C-48, the northern B.C. oil tanker ban bill. The committee's vote on whether to recommend the bill for passage last week ended in a tie, meaning the recommendation failed.

Reached by phone Thursday, Harder told CBC News that he believes the Senate should pass the bill as amended by the committee and send it back to the House of Commons, where the government can decide which amendments it's willing to accept.

That's a change in approach for Harder; his lieutenant, government liaison Sen. Grant Mitchell, pushed back against a number of proposed amendments during the committee process, saying they do not square with the government's goal of dramatically reworking the assessments process.

"I always say I'm not just the government's representative in the Senate. I'm the Senate's representative to the government," Harder said.

"Where we're at now, after the Senate committee deliberations, is a large number of amendments, some of which are not necessarily in harmony with others. My view is it would be best for us, as a Senate, to act reasonably quickly and send the bill back to the House of Commons for the government to put forward which of the amendments it would agree to. And then that would come back to the Senate."

(After legislation is amended by the Senate, the amended version must also pass the Commons before it becomes law.)

Environmental groups have slammed the Senate's amendments as a cut-and-paste job lifted from material submitted by oil industry lobbyists. In fact, the wording of many of the amendments is identical to what was asked for by energy lobby groups, including the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

Regarding C-48, Harder said Trudeau promised a similar tanker ban during the last federal election and a campaign promise should be respected by the unelected upper house.

"We are a revising chamber, not a defeating chamber," Harder said.

Only days after he was elected premier in Alberta's April election, Kenney appeared before the Senate's energy committee, where he urged senators to make major changes to Bill C-69. He said Ottawa's attempt to rewrite existing assessment legislation, do away with the National Energy Board and bolster Indigenous participation in the approvals process — among many other changes to the natural resources regime — would create uncertainty for an industry that is facing constrained pipeline capacity and cratering commodity prices.

"There is a growing crisis of national unity in Alberta which would be exacerbated by the adoption of this bill and other policies like it," Kenney said. "If this bill proceeds, it will be a message to the people of Alberta that their federal government doesn't care about a devastating period of economic adversity in our province."
​
Kenney also said he was prepared to launch a constitutional legal challenge against the legislation if it was passed by the Senate as written, saying Ottawa is unfairly intruding on an area of provincial jurisdiction.

READ MORE: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/tasker-kenney-bill-c69-amendments-1.5147516

THE CANADIAN PRESS

A Senate committee has approved dozens of amendments — primarily aimed at mollifying the energy industry — to the Liberal government's controversial environmental assessment legislation.

Bill C-69 is supposed to improve the way the environmental impact of major energy and transportation projects are evaluated, making the assessments more stringent so that they are less likely to fail court challenges.

But the oil industry, backed by Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, has launched ferocious opposition to the bill, which it claims will sow uncertainty and prevent major projects, such as pipelines, from ever getting built.

Kenney, who has labelled the bill the "No More Pipelines Act," has gone so far as to warn of a national-unity crisis if the legislation were to pass unchanged. In one of this first acts as a new premier, he headed to Ottawa to fight it.

"I made it clear in both official languages that, if passed, that bill would jeopardize national unity and undermine our shared prosperity as Canadians by creating massive additional investor uncertainty, that would scare away job-creating investment and would make it impossible for companies to come forward with future potential pipelines," he said in Calgary Thursday.

The amendments approved by the Senate's energy, environment and natural resources committee would reduce cabinet discretion to intervene in the assessment process, make it harder for anyone to initiate court challenges to decisions on projects and change how climate-change impacts are considered; some are word-for-word what was proposed by energy lobby groups.

Kenney pronounced himself pleased with the changes but said he wants to see what happens with the final law: The Senate as a whole must now decide whether to accept or reject the amendments, which environmentalists say would gut the bill.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has indicated the government is open to amending the bill but he and Environment Minister Catherine McKenna have refused to comment on amendments proposed by senators until the upper house makes a final decision on them.

Conservative senators, who proposed 90 amendments, hailed the committee's acceptance of them as a win for Canada's regions and for energy-industry workers.

The amendments to C-69 come less than 24 hours after another Senate committee voted to kill the Trudeau government's proposed ban on oil tankers on the coast of northern British Columbia. The ban was promised by Trudeau during the 2015 election campaign.
​
The full Senate must still weigh in on that decision.

Any amendments to government bills approved by the Senate must go back to the House of Commons, where the government decides whether to accept, reject or modify them and sends the bill back to the upper house. So far during Trudeau's mandate, appointed senators have not insisted on any of their amendments after they've been rejected by the elected chamber.
​

By Senate GRO (Government Representative Office)
https://senate-gro.ca/news/government-bills-in-the-senate-now/

Bills are proposed laws. They vary in size, effect and the public interest they receive. Typically, Government bills are introduced by a Cabinet Minister in the House of Commons, but this type of legislation can also originate in the Senate if it does not initiate spending or impose a tax.

Here’s a list of government bills currently before the Senate.

The Bill: C-68, An Act to amend the Fisheries Act and other Acts in consequence
Status: Third reading.
Senate Sponsor: Senator Dan Christmas, independent Senator representing Nova Scotia.
Summary: This bill aims to fulfill the Government’s commitment to better protect Canada’s freshwater and marine fisheries, helping to ensure their long-term economic and environmental sustainability. Changes include the restoration of protections removed for fish and fish habitats in 2012, as well as the introduction of new ecological safeguards. C-68 also seeks to better recognize the rights of Indigenous peoples with respect to fisheries.

The Bill: C-77, An Act to amend the National Defence Act and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts
Status: Third reading.
Senate Sponsor: Senator Marc Gold, independent Senator representing Quebec.
Summary: Bill C-77 seeks to make substantial amendments to the National Defence Act through the addition of the
Declaration of Victims Rights to the Code of Service Discipline, in order to harmonize the military justice system with the wider Canadian civilian criminal justice system. Changes also include a requirement that particular attention should be given to the circumstances of Indigenous offenders at sentencing.

The Bill: C-69, An Act to enact the Impact Assessment Act and the Canadian Energy Regulator Act, to amend the Navigation Protection Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts
Status: Third reading.
Senate Sponsor: Senator Grant Mitchell, Government Liaison.
Summary: The objective of the bill is to improve the rules for the assessment of major projects to protect the environment and waterways, to rebuild public trust in how decisions about resource projects are made, and to provide certainty and predictable timelines to industry and investors. It also ensures that Indigenous knowledge be formally regarded and integrated into review processes.

The Bill: C-83, An Act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act and another Act
Status: Report stage.
Senate Sponsor: Senator Marty Klyne, independent Senator representing Saskatchewan.
Summary: Bill C-83 replaces Canada’s current system of administrative segregation with a much more progressive system of structured intervention units. Under the proposed new system, the Correctional Service of Canada will be required to provide inmates who must be separated from the general population with at least four hours daily out of the cell and at least two hours daily of meaningful human interaction.

The Bill: C-48, Oil Tanker Moratorium Act
Status: At the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications.
Senate Sponsor: Senator Mobina Jaffer, independent Liberal Senator representing British Columbia.
Summary: The bill formalizes a crude oil tanker moratorium on the north coast of British Columbia and sets penalties for contravention of this moratorium.

The Bill: C-75, An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Youth Criminal Justice Act and other Acts and to make consequential amendments to other Acts
Status: At the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs.
Senate Sponsor: Senator Murray Sinclair, independent Senator representing Manitoba.
Summary: This bill is intended to make the criminal justice system more modern and efficient, and to reduce delays in criminal proceedings.

The Bill: C-78, An Act to amend the Divorce Act, the Family Orders and Agreements Enforcement Assistance Act and the Garnishment, Attachment and Pension Diversion Act and to make consequential amendments to another Act
Status: At the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs.
Senate Sponsor: Senator Pierre Dalphond, independent Senator representing Quebec.
Summary:  This new law will make federal family laws more responsive to Canadian families’ needs — and will put children first.

The Bill: C-82, Multilateral Instrument in Respect of Tax Conventions Act
Status: At the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
Senate Sponsor: Senator Mary Coyle, independent Senator representing Nova Scotia.
Summary: This bill enacts implements a multilateral instrument in respect of conventions for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income. The multilateral instrument is an international treaty developed as part of the G20 and OECD’s project to tackle base erosion and profit shifting.

The Bill: C-84, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (bestiality and animal fighting)
Status: At the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology.
Senate Sponsor: Senator Yvonne Boyer, independent Senator representing Ontario.
Summary: This legislation broadens the scope of three criminal offences in order to prohibit certain activities related to bestiality and animal fighting.

The Bill: C-91, Indigenous Languages Act
Status: At the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples.
Senate Sponsor: Senator Murray Sinclair, independent Senator representing Manitoba.
Summary: Bill C-91 provides, among other things, that the Government of Canada recognizes that the rights of Indigenous peoples recognized and affirmed by section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 include rights related to Indigenous languages.

READ MORE: https://senate-gro.ca/news/government-bills-in-the-senate-now/

About the Government Representative Office (GRO)
Government representation consists of three Senators who are responsible for both shepherding the Government’s legislation through the Senate in a timely manner and championing renewal in the changing institution. Although the three Senators represent the Government to the Senate, they do not sit in a partisan caucus and do not lead a caucus. Because of this, the Government representative team has no power to direct the votes of Senate members. The team promotes a vision for the Senate that is less partisan, and more independent, accountable and transparent, along with a strong focus on the role of the Senate as a complementary body to the House of Commons.

Formed in the spring of 2016, the GRO is a departure from previous Senate practice in which the Government Leader in the Senate was part of the same caucus as the Government. While the old model was characterized by top-down partisan control manifested through whipped party votes, the new model relies on Senators’ exercise of judgment within the framework of the institution’s complementary role.

​READ MORE ABOUT GRO: https://senate-gro.ca/about/

By Amy Smart
THE CANADIAN PRESS

Significant changes could be coming to the way fisheries are managed in Canada, giving hope for the rebound of some species and the protection of others, says an ocean conservation group.

Josh Laughren, executive director of Oceana Canada, said proposed amendments to the Fisheries Act would prompt the government to rebuild stocks that fall below sustainable levels.

And while the changes still include an “off ramp” for government to make decisions in the interest of short-term economics over longer sustainability, they would require those decisions to be made public, which Mr. Laughren said is a step toward ensuring past mistakes aren’t repeated.

“We’ve kind of sleepwalked through this incredible decline in abundance and it’s been hidden by some of the economics of it,” Mr. Laughren said in an interview.

More than half of the entire value of Canadian fisheries now comes from Atlantic invertebrates like lobster, crab and shrimp, he said, pointing to a 2015 report by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Not only does that make the industry more vulnerable to pathogens and disease, but the profitability of those fisheries have obscured the depletion of other marine species like groundfish. Since 1970, Canada has seen fish biomass decline by 55 per cent, an expert panel convened by the Royal Society of Canada found.

In the United States, fisheries laws have more bite because they clearly define “overfishing,” and when it occurs, action to stop and reverse the impacts is required within months. Forty-five stocks have been recovered since the law was introduced and 28 of the most successful ones were generating 54 per cent more revenue than when they were overfished, he said.

Bill C-68 was introduced a month after the Liberal government was sworn in and had its second reading in the Senate in December.

Mr. Laughren said he’s very hopeful the bill could improve biodiversity in a way that also creates more economic opportunity.

“Abundance provides options, abundance makes allocation a hell of a lot easier and provides more value. I think we’ve kind of forgotten about how important that is,” he said.

Others are more wary.

Paul Lansbergen, who represents commercial fisheries as president of the Fisheries Council of Canada, said that beyond protecting fish stocks the law should also protect “sustainable” fishing rights.

“The most significant policy issue facing the sector is a concern of stability of access to the fishing resource,” he told the Senate standing committee reviewing the bill.

“The use of fisheries is missing in the current wording of the bill.”

Mr. Lansbergen said the council will reserve an opinion on the law until accompanying regulations are revealed. But he told the committee it represents a significant change that will have long-standing implications for the sector and the health of the oceans and fish resources.

Canada’s seafood industry employs 80,000 people and accounts for $7-billion in exports to more than 130 countries.

Mr. Lansbergen said Canada is already a “global leader” in sustainable fisheries management, noting that 80 per cent of wild seafood production is certified by the Marine Stewardship Council.

He warned against forcing commercial fishermen to give up their licences.

“Taking away long-standing licences and quotas does not respect past investments and has eroded the sector’s confidence to invest and could undermine conservation efforts,” he said.

Martin Mallet, executive director of the Maritime Fishermen’s Union, said he’s hoping the bill passes without too many hiccups, adding most fishermen associations in Atlantic Canada support the bill.

Mr. Mallet said the union particularly likes the way the bill would enshrine an existing owner-operator policy into law so it can be better enforced.

It would give stronger protection to East Coast fishermen against unaffordable quota costs that have made fishing more expensive than it’s worth in some other jurisdictions, he said.

“The West Coast fisheries are an example of what could happen if you don’t have this type of regulation. You end up having companies and investors basically buying the rights to the fish,” he said, with fishermen then leasing the quota from them.

It can mean less economic benefit funnelled into local communities, he said.

Bill C-68 also provides new authorities for Indigenous participation in the fisheries along with their co-management.

Terry Teegee, regional chief with the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations, said he generally supports the bill but would like even stronger protection for First Nations’ inherent and constitutionally protected rights.

Many of the sections regarding Indigenous participation use language like “may” instead of “shall,” which means it doesn’t compel action, he said.

Mr. Teegee said Indigenous knowledge systems should be recognized on a level playing field with government science. Committing to rebuild fish stocks and habitat restoration could be seen as an act of reconciliation, he said.

“I think the bill itself is better than it was but certainly I think there can be improvements and more commitments to Indigenous people,” he said.

The clock is ticking on the bill head of the federal election this fall but Mr. Teegee said fisheries protection shouldn’t depend on who holds power.
​
“Right now we’re seeing climate change and we’re seeing fish stocks declining. We need to really fix things and make some interventions,” he said.

READ MORE: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-conservation-group-says-proposed-amendments-to-fisheries-act-give-hope/ 

More than 130 amendments to C-69 are on table — most requested by energy groupsBy Mia Rabson 
THE CANADIAN PRESS

Environment advocates say Canadian senators are bowing to pressure from the energy industry to gut new environmental-assessment legislation and they fear the Liberal government is going to do the same.

Bill C-69 is meant to be an effort to improve the way major energy and transportation projects are evaluated for their environmental impact, making the assessments more stringent so they're less likely to be challenged in court.

The Liberals, who introduced it, say lax assessments are why so few big projects, and no new oil pipelines, have been approved in Canada in years — they've been tied up in challenges.

The Conservatives, backed by provincial politicians such as Alberta's Premier Jason Kenney, say the process laid out in Bill C-69 would keep important projects from getting past the assessment stage.

More than 130 amendments are on the table at a Senate committee that could dramatically alter much of the bill, including moves to reduce cabinet discretion to intervene in the assessment process, to make it harder for anyone to challenge a project approval — or denial — in court, and to change how climate-change impacts are considered.

Many of the amendments are word-for-word what was asked for by energy lobby groups, including the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

Kenney warned the Senate committee on May 2 that if the amendments suggested by Alberta's former NDP government, as well as those coming from the energy industry, were not adopted as a whole, it would stoke fires of Alberta separation result in a constitutional challenge on the grounds that the law intrudes on provincial rights.

'Running amok'Ecojustice lawyer Joshua Ginsberg says Bill C-69 as originally written struck a delicate balance on the need for Canada to build major new energy and transportation projects without harming the environment or contributing further to climate change.

"Now it's going to swing way over to the industry side," he said.

"The oil and gas industry is running amok in a Senate process and that is scary because they are only one stakeholder."

Oil-industry advocates launched a full-court press on the Senate, sending more than 50,000 letters and emails to individual senators, as well as publishing senators' phone numbers and flooding them with calls.

Environment advocates also made a strong push to support the bill, but Ginsberg said very few of the proposed amendments are the suggestions made by his side.

A spokeswoman for the Conservatives in the Senate said last week the amendments from the Conservatives were "based on" evidence and proposals from municipalities, provincial governments, the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) and the Mining Association of Canada.

• Ottawa will exempt some oilsands projects from environmental assessments — if Alberta keeps its emissions cap

• Senators propose sweeping rewrite of controversial environmental assessment bill

A CAPP official declined comment on the amendments process and the concerns raised by environment groups Monday, saying the organization was still reviewing the many proposed changes.

Any changes have to be accepted first by the committee, then the Senate as a whole and finally the government before being incorporated into the bill. Environment Minister Catherine McKenna has said she is open to amendments to the bill but won't say what changes she will accept until the bill has finished its journey in the Senate.

Julia Levin, the climate and energy program manager at Environmental Defence, said she thinks there has been a shift in language from the government.

On Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in Edmonton, where he said he is open to making changes to the bill recommended by a "broad range of voices," including business, Indigenous Peoples and community groups.

But he said repeatedly in that news conference that the existing system doesn't allow big projects to get built and he wants to overcome that obstacle while still protecting the interests of the environment and Indigenous communities.

Levin and Ginsberg both say if the Senate tries to rework the whole bill, the government would be better off to let it die and try again after this fall's election.

"With these amendments, it won't be better than what we have now," said Levin.

She thinks the Senate's major surgery is really a poorly disguised attempt to kill the bill by delaying its passage.

If the bill doesn't get passed before the election, it will die. There are just five sitting weeks left this spring for that to happen.

THE CANADIAN PRESS

The CEO of Enbridge Inc. says it’s “critical” to Canada’s energy future that substantive changes are made to proposed federal legislation to revamp how big resource projects win federal approval.

Speaking after his company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Calgary, Al Monaco says there are three or four major problem areas in Bill C-69 that must be addressed.

His comments come as the Senate considers amendments to the bill that would repeal the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and retire the National Energy Board, leaving the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada and the Canadian Energy Regulator as authorities responsible for assessments of the environmental, health, social and economic impacts of designated projects.

READ MORE: Senate committee examining amendments to Bill C-69

Earlier in the day, following a speech at a solar conference in Calgary, Natural Resources Minister Amarjeet Sohi said it’s vital that the bill be passed as soon as possible because it replaces a broken system that is preventing projects from being built.

But critics including the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers have demanded changes designed to prevent public policy debates from being part of project assessments, restrict application interveners to those directly affected by the project or with expertise, set firm timelines and limit government ministers’ discretionary powers.

Monaco says he applauds the aggressive stance of Alberta’s newly elected United Conservative Premier Jason Kenney in support of energy projects.

READ MORE: Jason Kenney calls environment assessment bill a threat to national unity

​“I think it’s great news that people are going to take the extra effort to ensure that people really understand the role that energy plays and what it does for our quality of life,” he said.

Enbridge pipelines handle about 62 per cent of Canada’s exports of crude oil into the U.S. and move about 18 per cent of all natural gas consumed in the U.S.

READ MORE: ​https://globalnews.ca/news/5256427/bill-c-69-changes-canada-energy-enbridge-ceo/