Liberals to pass major projects bill this week with Conservative support

OTTAWA — Conservatives will be supporting the Liberal government’s internal trade and major projects bill that is expected to be passed before Canada Day, revealed Leo Housakos, the leader of the Opposition in the Senate. Housakos confirmed the news as he was questioning Minister of Transport and Internal Trade Chrystia Freeland during a pre-study of the bill on Monday afternoon. “Obviously, the Conservative opposition in the House (of Commons) supports this bill, as the opposition does in this chamber,” he said, before criticizing current Liberals who were in his party’s view a “little bit overzealous” under Justin Trudeau’s government in putting in place “impediments and red tape” for projects in the energy sector. Freeland thanked Housakos for “recognizing and highlighting that Conservatives are supporting this legislation” and went on to say how proud she was as finance minister to have completed the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline which she said will add $1.25 billion to government coffers this year alone. Bill C-5 would give the federal government sweeping powers for five years to quickly approve natural resource and infrastructure projects once cabinet deems them to be in the national interest, as well as break down internal trade barriers and make it easier for workers to work in other provinces. Conservatives had so far hinted that they were in favour of the bill, which aligns with many of their election commitments, but had not confirmed that they would be voting for it. “Of course, we Conservatives hope the government can show Canadians that big, audacious, nation-building projects can get approved and built in competitive timelines by the private sector, not by taxpayers,” said Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs, who is the party’s energy and natural resources critic, in a speech in the House last week. Stubbs said she expects Liberals to “fix” C-5 and “make it transparent, clear and certain.” Amendments include adding a clear definition of what is in the “national interest,” a concrete two-year timeline between the final decision by cabinet on a project and its completion and ensuring project deliverables are achieved on time and on budget. Liberal MP Judy Sgro defended her government’s decision to fast-track the legislation, saying that “it’s an opportunity for Canada to really become the economic engine that we know it can be in consultation with all of the various groups that matter to us.” “The Conservatives are working with us,” she added. On Monday, Conservatives voted with the governing Liberals to speed up debate on C-5 — despite intense criticism from the Bloc Québécois, the NDP and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May — and are expected to support the bill at second reading later this evening. May said she has never seen a process to push through legislation so quickly and urged Prime Minister Mark Carney to let the bill be studied thoroughly during the summer. “The idea that this bill will be done and dusted by Friday must be resisted,” she said during a press conference on Monday with Indigenous chiefs and environmental lawyers. “What is the rush to pass bad legislation that will lead to court challenges?” NDP MP Leah Gazan said her party cannot support C-5 in its current form. While she said the first part of the bill on lifting internal trade should be reviewed, the fast-tracking of major projects section deserves more scrutiny. “The second part is riddled with lack of oversight, constitutional violations against Indigenous peoples, violations against the health and safety of workers. We are saying a clear ‘no,’ while the Liberals and Conservatives are saying a clear ‘yes’ to corporations.” So far, at least one Liberal MP has publicly raised some concerns about the bill and another one said he has heard concerns from his constituents. B.C. MP Patrick Weiler said while C-5’s extraordinary powers are justified to deal with the trade war, those powers will be in effect for five years and said parliamentarians need to consider how this legislation “could be used in bad faith by a future government.” Marcus Powlowski, an MP from Northern Ontario, said he has also heard some concerns from his constituents that C-5 will be used to push through projects without sufficient environmental controls and oversight, and input from Indigenous communities. Powlowski said he supports the fast-tracking of the bill. “I think a lot of people kind of see malice in it, but I don’t see malice in it,” he said. The bill is expected to be studied at the House of Commons transport committee on Tuesday and Wednesday. Bloc MP and committee member Xavier Barsalou-Duval, in an attempt to hear from more witnesses, has tabled an amendment for the committee to sit from 10 a.m. until midnight on Tuesday and to hear from Carney and various ministers. “It appears to me, and it remains to be seen, that Mr. Carney’s new majority coalition is Liberal-Conservative, delivering Pierre Poilievre policies with a more friendly face,” said May. With files from Stephanie Taylor. National Post calevesque@postmedia.com Get more deep-dive National Post political coverage and analysis in your inbox with the Political Hack newsletter, where Ottawa bureau chief Stuart Thomson and political analyst Tasha Kheiriddin get at what’s really going on behind the scenes on Parliament Hill every Wednesday and Friday, exclusively for subscribers. Sign up here. Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.