Last year, the House of Commons did go green, passing environmental protection bills that are probably the most important in a generation.  Members of Parliament and the Trudeau government deserve full marks for these bills that would:

• improve how Canada assesses the environmental impacts and sustainability of major development projects;
• better protect fish habitat and navigable waters;
• reform the disgraced National Energy Board;
• strengthen the ecological integrity of marine protected areas; and
• ban crude oil tankers from B.C.’s north coast.

But here’s the catch. These bills are now being debated in the unelected Senate. Will the Senate also go green and vote for stronger environmental laws before Parliament prorogues at the end of June?  (Remember that all bills passed by the House die if the Senate has not passed them once an election is called, and an election is scheduled for October 2019).

Passage of these bills by the Senate is far from being a done deal and time is getting short. Some Conservative Senators are using a variety of procedural tactics (such as extraordinary cross-country hearings) in an attempt to kill the most important of these bills: the Impact Assessment Act). Some Senators are also proposing to weaken amendments to the Fisheries Act that the House of Commons has already approved.

The Senate has a constitutional duty to study legislation, and propose amendments back to the House of Commons if necessary.  But the Senate has no right to block environmental legislation duly passed by the democratically elected House of Commons, especially given that the governing party’s electoral mandate in October 2015 made enactment of stronger environmental laws a priority commitment.

So here are the key environmental bills that the Senate is considering:

• Impact Assessment Act (Bill C-69): Replaces a failed 2012 Conservative law and would help to restore public trust in environmental reviews of major projects. Public participation in project reviews would be improved through removal of the standing test and establishment of an early engagement process. Transparency in decision-making by the federal government would increase. Consideration of factors such as contribution to sustainability, Indigenous knowledge, and Canada’s climate commitments would be required;
• Canadian Energy Regulator Act (Bill C-69): Establishes the Canadian Energy Regulator as a successor to the disgraced National Energy Board and provides for its roles, duties and functions (which no longer would include responsibility for conducting reviews of proposed pipeline projects);
• Canadian Navigable Waters Act (Bill C-69): Restores some protections of navigable waters that had been repealed in 2012. Owners of major works and other works listed in a schedule that are in any navigable water must apply for Ministerial approval;
• Fisheries Act Amendments (Bill C-68): Restores prohibitions that had been repealed in 2012 against damaging fish habitat, and establishes a regulatory regime for permitting major works that may damage fish habitat;
• Oil Spill Moratorium Act (Bill C-48):Prohibits crude oil tankers from stopping or unloading crude oil along  British Columbia’s north coast from the northern tip of Vancouver Island to the Alaska border; and
• Oceans Act Amendments (Bill C-55): Authorizes the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to establish marine protected areas by order, prohibit activities in those areas; and conserve marine areas to maintain ecological integrity.

The Senate needs to act quickly in order to get all these bills passed before the end of June.  Senators need to know how important strong environmental laws to defend nature, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect the  health and prosperity of Canadians.

You can help by texting, emailing or calling Senators (focus on Senators who represent your province or territory; see www.sencanada.ca for their names and respective provinces/territories).

Tell your Senators to strengthen Canada’s environmental laws by voting for all of the bills described above. 

Canada’s nature needs the Senate to go green.