Canada needs to return to being a country of laws, economics, and accountability. Read More

Too Much Authority for One Minister

I spoke on Bill C-23 Historic Places of Canada Act, which would create a Historic Sites and Monuments Board for Canada. I support this intent generally, and in particular the implementation of Resolution #79 from the Truth and Reconciliation report to more deeply engage Indigenous Canadians in marking historic events and locations.

However, among other things, this bill gives the minister the authority to recognize the national historic significance or national interest of sites. It also gives the minister regulatory powers, and that is where we have a problem. This bill continues the Liberal objective of letting Ministers alone decide important issues and regulations.

We see that in particular with the Impact Assessment Act (Bill C-69, the “No More Pipelines” bill) which many believe is unconstitutional in transferring decision making authority from the provinces, where it rightly belongs, to the federal Minister of the Environment.

I also reference that Minister’s willingness to put roadblocks in the way of the Trans Mountain Pipeline (which is actually being built by his government and is strongly supported by the Minister of Finance). We have a serious problem of jurisdiction and governance here, which will only be reinforced by Bill C-23 as currently envisioned.

Transcript

Read the official Hansard transcript here.