SummarySpren for "C-219, An Act to enact the Canadian Environmental Bill of Rights and to make related amendments to other Acts"
- • Bill C-219 proposes to recognize the right of every person residing in Canada to a healthy and ecologically balanced environment, but it raises significant legal, practical, and policy concerns.
• The approach in Bill C-219 is unclear and would likely lead to uncertainty in its application, whereas the approach in Bill S-5, which has already been passed, provides a concrete path for clarity and greater certainty over time on what adding a right to a healthy environment to CEPA will mean.
- • The Conservative Party supports a balanced approach to environmental policy that prioritizes innovation and economic viability, while the Liberal government's approach is often marked by inefficiency and red tape.
• Bill C-219, which proposes to transfer environmental decision-making to the judiciary, raises significant concerns about the balance of powers and the appropriateness of the judiciary in policy-making roles, and may lead to increased legal disputes and delays in environmental action.
- • The Bloc Québécois supports the principle of Bill C-219, which aims to recognize the right to a healthy and ecologically balanced environment as a universal human right.
• The Bloc Québécois believes that the bill should be studied further in committee to ensure that it does not violate Quebec's environmental laws and that it respects the province's jurisdiction over environmental matters.
- • The Environmental Bill of Rights would give Canadians legal tools to hold the government accountable for environmental protection, including the ability to request investigations of unlawful activity that harms the environment and to bring environmental protection actions to court.
• Establishing a youth climate corps would create jobs in emergency response, strengthening community resilience, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and would be a way to harness the passion and power of young people to protect the environment for future generations.
- • Bill C-219, an act to enact the Canadian environmental bill of rights and to make related amendments to other acts, falls far short of what is needed to protect the environment.
• The bill transfers decision-making power on environmental matters from the legislature to the courts, which is unwise as the judiciary lacks the necessary expertise to delve into policy issues.
- • Bill C-219, the Canadian Environmental Bill of Rights, would provide Canadians with a constitutional right to live in a clean and healthy environment, and would apply to all federal government legislation, not just CEPA.
• The bill is constitutional, based on an opinion from the House of Commons legal team, and would not infringe on provincial jurisdiction.