Energy minister says Trump trade war means One Economy Act must pass now

Canada’s new energy minister says the Liberal government must use every means necessary to get its new economic development legislation passed before Parliament rises for the summer break. “We’re in a very difficult situation right now,” Tim Hodgson told a news conference in Ottawa Thursday. “We have a trade war that is affecting sector, after sector, after sector. “Canadian jobs are at risk; Canadian livelihoods are at risk, and, quite frankly, the prosperity of the country is at risk.” The legislation is known as Bill C-5 or the One Economy Act and aims to do a number of things, including streamlining the approval process for energy pipelines through one office and reducing the time to do this to two years from five. But the bill has received pushback since it was announced last Friday from organizations like the Assembly of First Nations, who says things are moving too quickly and they need more time to study and do proper consultation on the legislation. Pass into law Prime Minister Mark Carney has been adamant the bill needs to pass into law by early next month. This means, since parliamentary committees have yet to be appointed, bypassing the usual scrutiny before reaching third and final reading in the House of Commons. At another press conference outside the House Thursday, Winnipeg NDP-MP Leah Gazan said the government is using U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats as an excuse to greatly enhance the powers of the prime minister and his cabinet without debate. “Bill C-5 is not the way to get it done,” Gazan said. “It provides ministers and cabinet with massive, unprecedented government overreach to make decisions on what they feel is ‘nation-building projects.’ While at the same time, she said, “usurping constitutional obligations, usurping rights contained in Section 35 of the constitution.” When asked why the bill can’t go through the normal legislative process reaching third reading in the fall sitting of Parliament, Hodgson said: “You should ask that to all the auto workers who are losing their jobs, to all the aluminum workers who are losing their jobs, to all the steel workers losing their jobs, to all the forestry … people in small towns across the country who are losing their jobs,” he said. “Every day we are losing jobs. We need to fight for those people. We need to move.” The government had actually called the press conference to give an update on the wildfires and announce a new program to help fight them. “I’m proud to announce a federal-territorial-provincial investment of approximately $104 million through the Fire Smart program,” Hodgson said. “This represents over $94 million in joint investments from the governments of Canada, British Columbia, Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, Manitoba, the Yukon, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.” Continue Reading