Liberals to pass major projects bill this week with Conservative support
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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.
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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.
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'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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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'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.
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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.
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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.'
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