Sierra Club Canada: Remove Non-Budget Items from Bill C-10

Media release from Sierra Club Canada:

Ottawa – The Senate should remove controversial proposed amendments to the Navigable Waters Protection Act (NWPA) from the Budget Implementation Act (Bill C-10), says the Canadian Rivers Network.

Bill C-10 has passed third reading in the House and is now under review following its second reading in the Senate.

“These amendments will turn our ancient public right of navigation into a ministerial discretion,” says Stephen Hazell, Executive Director of Sierra Club Canada. “This bill will not only erase a public right, but it will also undermine the environmental protection of our waterways and all species that depend on them.”

The Government’s proposed changes to the NWPA would give the Minister of Transport full discretion to decide which Canadian waterways are navigable and which are not, and to exempt entire classes of navigable waters and entire classes of construction projects on waterways from any of the provisions of the Act.

Every Canadian who paddles a canoe or kayak, hunts, traps, fishes, owns a farm, a rural home or a cottage near water, operates a business that depends on access to healthy waterways, or who cares about Canada’s wildlife and the ecological health of our lands and waters is affected by the Part 7 of Bill C-10, yet the Government has not conducted any public consultation on these amendments and is attempting to rush them through by burying them in this omnibus budget bill.

“The public consultation promised by the House of Commons Transportation Committee in its June 2008 report on the NWPA has not happened,” said Will Amos, a lawyer with Ecojustice, “Instead, we were shocked to find these NWPA amendments as part of the budget bill.”

The Canadian Rivers Network is not alone in its opposition to the proposed changes to the NWPA. In a submission to the House of Commons Finance Committee late last month, the Assembly of First Nations asserted that First Nations’ right to be consulted on the NWPA changes has not been respected.

“The ball is now in the Senate’s court”, said Amos. “We are encouraged by Senator Day’s support for removing the non budgetary provisions from the Bill.” Senator Joseph Day is Chair of the Senate’s National Finance Committee.

The Canadian Rivers Network includes in its list of supporting organizations: Sierra Club Canada, Ecojustice, the David Suzuki Foundation, the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, Paddle Canada, Canadian Waterkeepers and many others, all deeply concerned about the protection of our waters.

 


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