The Senate under closure is expected to pass Prime Minister Mark Carney’s “nation building” Bill C-5 by Friday, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. The Commons approved the bill Friday by a 306 to 31 vote on warnings it grants cabinet extraordinary powers to reward corporate friends.“As Bill C-5 moves onto the Senate I want to underscore this bill and the economic potential it will unleash for our country are critical,” Carney told reporters as the Commons adjourned for its 12-week summer recess. The bill was “really, really important,” “tailor made to this pivotal moment with urgency and determination,” he said.“Do you have specific projects you’re hoping to greenlight once the bill gets Royal Assent and is that why you rushed it through Parliament?” asked a reporter. “No,” replied Carney..Bill C-5 An Act To Enact The Free Trade And Labour Mobility In Canada Act would grant cabinet authority to select for speedy approval those industrial projects it considered “in the national interest.” Section 5.6 of the Act states cabinet may “consider any factor (it) considers relevant.”“This is where the real work begins, once this becomes legislation, moving to the Senate and beyond,” said Carney.“But once it becomes legislation is this process of identifying those projects. Provinces have made a number of suggestions, many of them, you know, potentially quite good suggestions.”“How soon should Canadians expect you to name projects of national significance?” asked a reporter.“It depends,” replied Carney.Opposition MPs said the bill politicizes approval of project permits.“Liberals broke the system and Canadians pay the price,” said Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs (Lakeland, AB).“Bill C-5 sets up a politically driven and determined process,” said Stubbs.“Ministers will decide who gets ahead and who waits. They can even one day decide a project they said was in the national interest earlier is no longer, and remove it from the list or whatever ad hoc review a responsible minister determines.”.Bloc Québécois MP Xavier Barsalou-Duval (Pierre-Boucher-Les Patriotes, QC) called the bill the worst he’d seen.“It’s been nine years I’ve been sitting in this House and I won’t deny it, in nine years Bill C-5 is the worst piece of legislation I’ve had to work on, the worst,” he said.“When you look at the government’s way of doing things, they seem to be acting like they are an autocracy.”“There will be all kinds of bias, all kinds of arbitrariness, cronyism. We’re becoming a banana republic with this type of legislation.”“What we’re seeing here is the executive is monopolizing the power of Parliament.”“It is unfortunate and truly problematic. The government will have the power to choose projects by executive order. They will have the power to define whether a project is of national interest by executive order. They will be able to do everything by executive order. The government is going to be given the power to do everything Parliament should be doing.”
