Ottawa (April 11, 2019) – Bill C-69 is anti-resource development, period. It will do just the opposite of what it claims by further bogging down projects and wasting more time and money, according to the Progressive Contractors Association of Canada (PCA) in its submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources.
“This legislation is so fundamentally flawed that it would almost certainly sound the death knell for major resource projects,” said Paul de Jong, President of the Progressive Contractors Association of Canada (PCA). “Bill C-69 creates even more uncertainty, subjective standards, and a far greater risk that projects will be derailed by politics. If the goal was to make a bad situation worse, this would do it.”
Bill C-69 is aimed at redefining the process for reviewing and approving Canada’s pipelines and other resource projects. If the bill cannot be scrapped entirely, PCA recommends practical changes, including the following:
- Requiring written justification before a minister extends or suspends project approval timelines
- Limiting the right to participate in hearings to “interested parties”
- Making the regulatory agency independent, allowing it quasi-judicial status and the power to make project recommendations, not just assessments.
PCA believes these recommendations, if accepted, would at least help mitigate the economic impact of what it believes is a bad bill.
About the Progressive Contractors Association of Canada (PCA)
With offices in BC, Alberta and Ontario, PCA is the voice of progressive unionized employers in Canada’s construction industry. Our member companies are responsible for 40 percent of energy and natural resource construction projects in British Columbia and Alberta and are leaders in infrastructure and pipeline construction across Canada. PCA member companies employ more than 25,000 skilled construction workers in Canada, represented primarily by CLAC.
For further information, contact:
Danna O’Brien, Danna@obriencommunications.ca 416-500-0699