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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 79

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 1, 2022 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 79 - Jun/1/22
Mr. Brian Masse (Windsor West, NDP)
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues and you for being part of this. Bill C-248 is really from the community. It is not my idea. It is something that we have been fighting for, and for a long period of time. As a member who has been here for 20-plus years now, it is exciting to me when we can actually bring unity to the House and work on projects that can help define our country and our communities. I have a list of people to thank, and some of them I am going to have to abandon because I do not have enough time. First and foremost, I want to start by thanking Janet and Dave from the Wildlands League. They were part of this process from the beginning and helped give inspiration. They understand the park system's green spaces connectivity and have been very special and very positive going through this. On top of that, I want to also thank Chief Mary Duckworth. Chief Duckworth was here in the House of Commons, outside this chamber with me, to push this issue before. For this to be made up as some type of thing that is circumventing first nations is unbelievable to hear. It is terribly disrespectful. I brought Caldwell First Nation people down to this site as they were deciding about where they were setting up their reserve. Now it is actually closer to Point Pelee, which ironically is the place that they should have had historically. It is one of the most beautiful stories that we have of reconciliation taking place, and it is amazing. Chief Duckworth and all of the energy there are supporting this, and they explicitly asked to go to committee to tell the story of why they support this. This is part of their heritage, and they want to share it through the vision of a national urban park for all. It is a terrific story in itself because of the tragedy of the way it started, but also it is where they are going in the future. It has been interesting, because Mayor Dilkens and the city council have been working on trying to get this land on the Ojibway shoreline protected for a number of years. It was going to be bulldozed and cut down. Finally, during this process, after seven years, I was told that they could not transfer it to Environment Canada. A few weeks ago, they finally transferred it to Environment Canada. We are happy for that. They wanted the city of Windsor residents, at one point, to pay millions of dollars and then give it back to the federal government. How absurd is that? How absurd is what the Liberals wanted to do with that? I am thankful that they finally reversed their position on that. The reason this bill is necessary is that every national park has its own legislation. Every national park is secured in that way. What we have done is put the pieces of property together, and there has been consultation constantly. Most importantly, there has been consultation with the children, the youth, the advocates, the environmental people, the unions and the companies, all in Windsor for several different years. That is why we actually have the defined geography in the bill to start with. I do not understand the Liberals who are opposing this. Why not send it to committee? Why is there resentment from some, maybe not all, members of the Liberal government over actually sending this bill to committee to bring up concerns? The Conservatives had some concerns about private property being involved; we did not include that. In the case of the Bloc, we want to make sure this is a special thing because the Bloc members have some very legitimate questions about the province. Those things have been taken care of as well. The province right now is going through an election, but provincial officials have been talking about this and supporting it. The local member of the provincial parliament, Lisa Gretzky, is in favour of it, and of course the City of Windsor. We are looking now at getting this to committee to define those areas and have a chance to speak and to showcase why this is so important. I do not understand. I have been here for a while. I have been trying to work, especially when we were sent back to Parliament, in a constructive way, and that is why I chose this bill. I chose it because it should survive the test of mettle to get to committee at least. How could they want to shut down this beautiful process, which has been grassroots every single step along the way, without even allowing people from Windsor and Essex to have their voice? I will conclude with this. There have been so many people. Some of them even passed away during this process. It is going to be right next to the Gordie Howe international bridge. I had my first public meeting for a new border crossing back in 1998 at Marlborough Public School as a city councillor. We are finally getting a bill. We do not need another 20 years to do the obvious. This should be done. It is grassroots and, most importantly, it defines us on the doorstep of America.
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