Why oilpatch suits are trying to boot Bill C-69

“Suits and Boots” is a last-minute industry campaign to derail Bill C-69, environmental legislation passed by the House of Commons in June. Bill C-69 would reform the process for assessing the impacts of proposed resource projects, and modernize the discredited National Energy Board. Conservative Senators, alongside Independent Senators Group Sen. Doug Black, who represents Alberta, have bought into this campaign to kill Bill C-69 by planning to rag the puck until the Senate prorogues in June. The votes of 60 Independent and non-affiliated Senators and 10 Senate Liberals will be critical in determining if this ploy succeeds. Defeating Bill C-69 would be a great political victory for the Conservatives, given that enactment would deliver on a key Liberal campaign commitment to restore public trust in project reviews. The passionate opposition of members of the oil and gas industry is more difficult to understand, given that their stated criticisms of Bill C-69 are rubbish. Plus, a 2012 Conservative law failed to get any major pipelines built even as it alienated Canadians from Saint John, N.B., to Vancouver Island. Other industries, such as mining, support Bill C-69. So why are oilpatch suits trying to boot Bill C-69? First, some background: Bill C-69 would repeal the 2012 law that was part of a massive omnibus budget bill rammed through the Conservative-majority Parliament in three months. The 2012 law clearly failed industry and Canadians. It lacked the flexibility to achieve the “one-project, one assessment” goal by bringing provincial agencies into joint processes. Only experts and folks directly affected by projects could participate in NEB or panel reviews. Interveners were denied the right to ask questions in the Trans Mountain hearings. The 2012 legislated timelines slowed assessments rather than speeding them up, even as the National Energy Board fed public mistrust in the process. The law also threw out the legal requirement to assess most categories of projects, introducing the very uncertainties and opportunities for political interference that “Suits and Boots” now decries in Bill C-69. Following the 2015 election, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals immediately launched serious consultations to consider reforms to environmental assessment, fisheries, navigable waters, and energy transportation laws. A committee composed of industry, Indigenous, and civil society representatives was established to advise on assessment law and policy reform. An expert panel on impact assessment travelled to 21 communities across Canada, hearing from industry representatives, Indigenous people, civil society groups, other levels of government, and ordinary folks about reforming the assessment law. The government consulted on a discussion paper issued in response to the panel report. The House of Commons Environment Committee also heard from dozens of witnesses on Bill C-69 and accepted many amendments. The version of Bill C-69 passed by the House of Commons is far from perfect, but significantly improves on the current law. Bill C-69 removes the statutory limits on public participation in impact assessments, and provides for more meaningful public participation generally. An early engagement process is established in order to build social licence for projects in local and Indigenous communities, scope assessments to ensure that they focus on issues of concern, and ultimately save industry time and money in the process. Bill C-69 advances reconciliation by recognizing Indigenous knowledge and rights, and providing governance opportunities in impact assessments by Indigenous governments. Bill C-69 also focuses on the overall sustainability of projects and not just on whether adverse biophysical effects are significant. But here is the real, if unstated, rationale for the Suits and Boots campaign in the Senate. Bill C-69 provides that the Ottawa-based Impact Assessment Agency would be responsible for all assessments, including projects regulated by the Canadian Energy Regulator (the reorganized NEB, still Calgary-based). The Canadian Energy Regulator would retain regulatory functions aside from the conduct of impact assessments. The National Energy Board has shown repeatedly that it is a captured regulator, with several members accused of bias because of their connections to the oil and gas industry. The NEB virtually always delivers what the oil and gas industry says it wants; the proposed new Impact Assessment Agency may not be so pliable in following directions in conducting assessments. The question for Senators not committed to the Conservative Party line is: do you want to make a fresh start with Bill C-69 that has potential to regain public trust, advance reconciliation, and deliver a more independent, efficient, and thoughtful approach to assessing projects of federal interest? Or do you want to continue with the failed current law administered (for pipelines and some other energy projects at least) by a National Energy Board that is under the thumb of oilpatch suits? Stephen Hazell is director of policy and general counsel at Nature Canada and a former director of regulatory affairs at the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. The Hill Times

Why oilpatch suits are trying to boot Bill C-69

Conservative Senators plan to rag the puck on passing this bill, which would reform the process for assessing the impacts of proposed resource projects.

Can we set aside ‘Group Think’ long enough to fix environmental assessment in Canada?

Resource minister playing partisan politics with pipeline

Bill C-69 can’t fix what’s really plaguing pipelines

Can we set aside ‘Group Think’ long enough to fix environmental assessment in Canada?

Most Armenians say they don’t expect ever to go home again

If Allies back away, Ukraine is at risk of losing the war

Reconciliation is an empty word if Indigenous people are left in landfills

Just what we need: another national unity crisis

Trudeau’s horrible summer

Senate amendments, ‘toothless’ regulations undercut Bill C-69

We need to defend Bill C-69, says reader

Senate committees studying oil tanker ban, impact assessment bills won’t travel to key areas, members say

‘I got a lot of very, very angry mail’: interest groups ramp up pressure on Senate, government over sweeping environmental assessment bill C-69

Senate unlikely to vote on sweeping, controversial environmental assessment bill until May or June

News

Get free news updates

Opinion

Submit a guest opinion article

resources

Advertise

subscribe

get help

Why oilpatch suits are trying to boot Bill C-69

Conservative Senators plan to rag the puck on passing this bill, which would reform the process for assessing the impacts of proposed resource projects.

Get The Policy Briefings Newsletter