Conservatives tempted by Carney omnibus bill that erases ‘the legacy of Justin Trudeau’: Tory MP

OTTAWA — Conservative MP Gérard Deltell lauded the federal government for finally springing into action with its Building Canada Strong Act after what he called a decade of “inaction” to get big projects built under former prime minister Justin Trudeau.

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Deltell, who is the Conservative critic for intergovernmental affairs and One Canadian Economy, said his party agrees “in principle” with the new legislation put forward.

“For ten years, the Liberals did everything they could to halt economic development and the development of natural resources,” he said on Wednesday. “Now, today, they’re telling themselves, ‘You know what? We need to speed this up.’”

Deltell said he is still parsing through the details of the nearly 250-page legislation and is looking forward to studying it attentively since “the devil is in the details.”

“What we know is that this bill attempts to erase the Liberal government’s ten years of inaction,” he said. “That is the legacy of Justin Trudeau and of three-quarters of the people sitting across from us (in the House of Commons.)”

Deltell noted that the framework of “one project, one review” is oddly similar to one of his private member’s bills that was defeated by the Liberals over two years ago.

The Building Canada Strong Act, or Bill C-39, tabled on Monday proposes sweeping changes to fast-track approvals for major projects across the country and curtail labour disruptions in federally regulated workplaces citing the “national interest.”

The bill has been criticized by climate activists who say it guts environmental protections and the labour movement which says it restricts their right to strike. The government has denied that the legislation does either of these things.

“When we look at the legislation that we just tabled, it’s about being able to build projects that are really important for our country,” said Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin, who noted that it includes a lot of clean energy projects.

“None of them reduces the environmental reviews that we had previously, but they do make the process more simplified in a way, I would say. That doesn’t skip the steps.”

Dabrusin said she was not part of the announcement for C-39 on Monday because she was with her family for Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

More to come…

National Post
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