Fight isn’t over on bills
During the election campaign four years ago, Justin Trudeau promised that if elected he would work constructively with provincial governments and premiers.
“The federal government needs to work much more closely with the provinces on a whole range of issues,” the now-prime minister said to the Edmonton Journal in August 2014. “( Provinces) require a true partnership,” he told Global News, while standing in Quebec days earlier.
So how has it become that provinces had their views completely shut out of two controversial pieces of Trudeau Liberals’ legislation? Why has the Senate become the last hope for these provinces to have their voices heard?
Some opinion columnists have claimed that the Senate should respect the will of the duly elected government. That’s exactly what we are doing.
Elected provincial governments have made it clear they want to see substantial improvements to Bill C- 69, which was proposed by the Trudeau government and would reform how energy projects are approved in Canada. One of the Senate’s main responsibilities is to represent the many regions of Canada, which is why senators have moved over 180 reasonable amendments. These amendments were requested by regions and workers, which premiers and provincial governments have said make this bill acceptable.
Bill C- 69 poses a real threat to national unity. Elected governments of different political stripes from all across the country spoke out against it, and raised concerns about the possible dire consequences this bill
would have on their provincial economy.
As for Bill C- 48, the socalled “B. C. tanker ban,” the Senate Transportation Committee voted that the bill should not proceed. This was in response to strong arguments from Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, who rightfully argued that the tanker ban did not ban all tankers from the Hecate Strait. Instead, all it did was block oil from Western Canada from getting to market. This week, the Trudeau- appointed senators voted to proceed with the bill, which will likely mean amendments before ultimately returning it to the House.
All this work by the Senate has been to respect the will of democratically elected provincial governments from across the country. But it’s not clear that the prime minister will listen to these concerns, or take this golden opportunity to be the partner with provinces that he vowed to be.
it’s not clear that the prime minister will listen to these concerns.
There are already rumours in the halls of Ottawa that Trudeau-appointed senators, and the Liberal- dominated House of Commons, are working together to undo the changes that have been proposed by Senate committees — which have travelled across the country to hear directly from Canadians on their concerns with the government’s proposed legislation. It’s clear the fight isn’t over on these two bills.
Conservative senators will take every opportunity to fight for the interests of Canadians whose livelihoods are under threat by these Trudeau Liberals’ policies. These issues are too important to ignore.