Politics This Morning: House to resume debate on update to environmental protections

Good Monday morning, The House of Commons and the Senate will sit this week before taking next week off. At noon today, the House will resume debate at report stage on Bill S-5, the government’s wide-ranging and technical effort to update the Canadian Environmental Protection Act for the first time since 1999. Among other things, Bill S-5 tackles the regulation of toxic substances and genetically modified organisms, and introduces a “right to a healthy environment.” The government’s decision to launch the bill in the Senate—part of a strategy to shepherd its ambitious legislative agenda through Parliament as efficiently as possible—also gave Senators first crack at amending the government bill. Liberal and Conservative MPs on the House Environment Committee later voted to undo some of those amendments, to the dismay of Bloc Québécois MP MONIQUE PAUZÉ, NDP MP LAUREL COLLINS, and Green Party Leader ELIZABETH MAY. Today’s House debate on Bill S-5 will begin with a motion from Collins that seeks to resurrect references to tailings ponds and to hydraulic fracturing (fracking) that were removed by the House committee. She pointed out in the House on May 3—the last time S-5 was debated in the House—that the committee vote happened less than a month before reports emerged about significant underground seepages and overland leaks of industrial wastewater from oil sands tailings ponds at an Imperial Oil facility in northern Alberta. Liberal MP TERRY DUGUID, who is the parliamentary secretary to the environment minister, responded in the House on May 3 that the Canadian Environmental Protection Act already has a provision about collecting information about tailings ponds, and that the committee removed the “redundant” additional reference to avoid “singling out one particular industry.” What’s happening in committee? Public Service Alliance of Canada president Chris Aylward, seen here on May 3, is one of the witnesses appearing at a Senate committee's four-hour meeting on discrimination and sexism within the Canadian Human Rights Commission. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade Parliamentary Budget Officer YVES GIROUX will appear before the House Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee at 3:30 p.m. Ottawa time to discuss his office’s May 2022 report on spending by the Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs and the Department of Indigenous Services. The House Immigration Committee will meet at 3:30 p.m. Ottawa time for clause-by-clause consideration of Bill S-245, which would grant citizenship to so-called “lost Canadians.” The House Industry Committee will meet at 3:30 p.m. Ottawa time to continue its study of Bill C-34, which would give the industry minister greater authority to review foreign investment in sensitive sectors. The Senate Human Rights Committee will meet at 4 p.m. Ottawa time to continue its study of anti-Black racism, sexism, and systemic discrimination within the Canadian Human Rights Commission. Over the course of four hours, the committee will hear from witnesses including B.C. Human Rights Commissioner KASARI GOVENDER, Public Service Alliance of Canada president CHRIS AYLWARD, and Senator and former Privy Council clerk IAN SHUGART. The Senate National Security and Defence Committee will meet at 4 p.m. Ottawa time for its study of recruitment and retention in the Canadian Armed Forces and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Senior military and RCMP officials will appear as witnesses. What's the cabinet up to? Trade Minister MARY NG will meet with visiting Kenyan Foreign Secretary ALFRED MUTUA in Ottawa today as part of his five-day visit to Canada. Mutua met with his Canadian counterpart, MÉLANIE JOLY, in Montreal yesterday. Trade Minister Mary Ng is meeting with Kenya's Alfred Mutua in Ottawa today. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade What else is happening today? Representatives of the advocacy groups Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East and Independent Jewish Voices Canada will hold a press conference on Parliament Hill at 10 a.m. Ottawa time to call on Canada to recognize May 15 as Nakba Day, a reference to the mass displacement of Palestinians in 1948 at the founding of the state of Israel. The advocates will also call on Canada to urge Israel to free Palestinian prisoner AHMAD MANASRA, who has been held in custody since 2015, when he, aged 13, and an older cousin were accused of stabbing two Israeli settlers in East Jerusalem. The Macdonald-Laurier Institute will host a webinar titled "Repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery" online at noon Ottawa time. Métis lawyer BRUCE MCIVOR and Catholic public intellectual MICHAEL W. HIGGINS will discuss the Vatican’s recent announcement and the significance for Indigenous peoples and for Canada. In case you missed it: Summer by-elections The Prime Minister's Office announced yesterday that there will be four byelections on June 19. Those byelections will fill seats vacated by former Liberal MPs MARC GARNEAU (Notre-Dame-de-Grâce–Westmount, Que.) and JIM CARR (Winnipeg South Centre, Man.), and by former Conservative MPs CANDICE BERGEN (Portage–Lisgar, Man.) and DAVE MACKENZIE (Oxford, Ont.). Elections Canada says advanced polling will begin on June 9. In the news Prime Minister Trudeau’s appearances at the Liberal policy convention were a message to possible successors within the party to “cool your jets a little bit,” one former senior Liberal tells ABBAS RANA. Rana also speaks to political experts who say ANAIDA POILIEVRE, an experienced political staffer with a compelling personal story, could be a “secret weapon” for her husband Pierre in the lead-up to the next election. Strategists tell JESSE CNOCKAERT which pending legislation the government will want to see passed before Parliament rises for the summer break. kphilipupillai@hilltimes.com The Hill Times

Politics This Morning

Politics This Morning: House to resume debate on update to environmental protections

Plus, the PMO has set June 19 as by-election day for the seats previously held by Marc Garneau, Jim Carr, Candice Bergen, and Dave MacKenzie.

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Politics This Morning

Politics This Morning: House to resume debate on update to environmental protections

Plus, the PMO has set June 19 as by-election day for the seats previously held by Marc Garneau, Jim Carr, Candice Bergen, and Dave MacKenzie.

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