SoVote

Michael Cooper

Member of Parliament
Member of the Joint Interparliamentary Council
Conservative

St. Albert—Edmonton
Alberta
Voting Attendance: 67%
Expenses Last Quarter: $119,185.60

Government Page

Context: House Hansard - 222 - Sep/21/23

Mr. Michael Cooper (St. Albert—Edmonton, CPC)

Sep/21/23 4:20:41 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-33

Madam Speaker, I will put this to the member for Davenport: If this bill is so great, as she seems to think it is, why do key stakeholders, such as CP Rail, characterize it as a whole bunch of nothing? Why have other stakeholders, such as the Chamber of Shipping and the Association of Canadian Port Authorities, said that this would exacerbate supply chain issues because it would increase government regulation and red tape? Can the member explain how it is that the minister said that this would reduce the cost burden, in the face of a massive increase in red tape?

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Context: House Hansard - 222 - Sep/21/23

Mr. Michael Cooper

Sep/21/23 4:09:27 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-33

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the member for Berthier—Maskinongé's speaking about addressing some of the problems and failures that resulted in the tragedy at Lac-Mégantic. There is no one who has been a stronger champion for addressing rail safety measures arising from the issues from Lac-Mégantic than my colleague, the member for Mégantic—L'Érable. This bill is fundamentally flawed. It is a bad Liberal bill, and we, in the official opposition, are not in the business of supporting bad legislation coming from the government, which is being propped up by the NDP. I am certainly not prepared to support a bill that key stakeholders, such as the Chamber of Shipping and the Association of Canadian Port Authorities, have made clear would make the supply chain crisis worse, not better.

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Context: House Hansard - 222 - Sep/21/23

Mr. Michael Cooper

Sep/21/23 4:07:35 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-33

Madam Speaker, let me express my condolences to the families. I am not familiar with the facts of each of those incidents. However, rail safety must come first. We need to have appropriate legislation in place and an appropriate regulatory regime to ensure accountability across the board and to ensure that the safety of rail workers comes first.

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Context: House Hansard - 222 - Sep/21/23

Mr. Michael Cooper

Sep/21/23 4:05:37 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-33

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my friend from Laurentides—Labelle, who I have a lot of respect for. I have enjoyed working closely with her on the procedure and House affairs committee. I agree with the hon. member that rail safety is of utmost importance. One of the shortcomings of this bill is that it does not go far enough to enhance rail safety. The transport committee did a rail safety report, which has been sitting on the shelf for several years. It contains a number of good recommendations, but none of those recommendations have been incorporated into the bill. The problem with this bill is that there are too many problems with it. If it were a matter of fixing a few things here and there with some amendments, then we could support it going to committee. However, the problem is that there are too many issues, particularly on the port authority side. It is on that basis that we cannot support the bill. It is on that basis that we are calling on the government to go back to the drawing board.

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Member of the Joint Interparliamentary Council

Michael Cooper