ENVI Committee Meeting

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Minutes of Proceedings

Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development (ENVI)

44th Parliament, 1st Session

Meeting 35

Friday, November 4, 2022, 1:00 p.m. to 2:22 p.m.

Room 410, Wellington Building, 197 Sparks Street

Webcast

Presiding

Francis Scarpaleggia, Chair (Liberal)

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Members of the Committee present

Liberal

Conservative

Bloc Québécois

Monique Pauzé

NDP

Laurel Collins

Acting Members present

• Bob Benzen for Robert Kitchen (Conservative)

• Peter Fragiskatos for Leah Taylor Roy (Liberal)

Associate Members present

• Luc Berthold (Conservative)

In attendance

House of Commons

• Jean-François Lafleur, Procedural Clerk

• Philippe Méla, Legislative Clerk

• Jean-François Pagé, Legislative Clerk

Library of Parliament

• Robert Mason, Analyst

• Sarah Yakobowski, Analyst

Bill C-226, An Act respecting the development of a national strategy to assess, prevent and address environmental racism and to advance environmental justice

Witnesses

• Elizabeth May, M.P., Saanich—Gulf Islands

Department of the Environment

• Laura Farquharson, Director General, Legislative and Regulatory Affairs, Environmental Protection Branch

• Susan Martin, Director General, Strategic Policy Directorate

Pursuant to the order of reference of Wednesday, June 22, 2022, the committee resumed consideration of Bill C-226, An Act respecting the development of a national strategy to assess, prevent and address environmental racism and to advance environmental justice.

The committee commenced its clause-by-clause study of the Bill.

Pursuant to Standing Order 75(1), consideration of Clause 1 (short title) and of the Preamble was postponed.

The Chair called Clause 2.

Clause 2 carried.

On Clause 3,

Monique Pauzé moved, — That Bill C-226, in Clause 3, be amended

(a) by replacing line 12 on page 2 with the following:

“inequities.”

(b) by replacing line 3 on page 3 with the following:

“ronmental inequities and that may include”

After debate, the question was put on the amendment of Monique Pauzé and it was negatived on the following recorded division:

YEAS: Bob Benzen, Gérard Deltell, Damien C. Kurek, Greg McLean, Monique Pauzé — 5;

NAYS: Laurel Collins, Terry Duguid, Peter Fragiskatos, Lloyd Longfield, Joanne Thompson, Patrick Weiler — 6.

Monique Pauzé moved, — That Bill C-226, in Clause 3, be amended by replacing line 22 on page 2 with the following:

“(i) an examination of the link between national or ethnic ancestry or origin, socio-”

Monique Pauzé moved, — That Bill C-226, in Clause 3, be amended by adding after line 12 on page 3 the following:

“(v) federal transfers to the provinces to help them support communities experiencing environmental inequities.”

Clause 3 carried on the following recorded division:

YEAS: Laurel Collins, Terry Duguid, Peter Fragiskatos, Lloyd Longfield, Joanne Thompson, Patrick Weiler — 6;

NAYS: Bob Benzen, Gérard Deltell, Damien C. Kurek, Greg McLean, Monique Pauzé — 5.

Clause 4 carried on division.

Clause 5 carried on division.

On Preamble,

Monique Pauzé moved, — That Bill C-226, in the preamble, be amended

(a) by replacing lines 4 and 5 on page 1 with the following:

“wards eliminating discrimination in all its forms;”

(b) by replacing line 14 on page 1 with the following:

“discrimination;”

“the development of environmental policy;”

(d) by replacing line 23 on page 1 with the following:

“assessing and preventing environmental inequities and”

(e) by replacing lines 26 and 27 on page 1 with the following:

“lutions to address the harm caused;”

The Chair ruled the proposed amendment inadmissible because it sought to amend the preamble. As House of Commons Procedure and Practice, Third Edition, states on page 774: “In the case of a bill that has been referred to committee after second reading, a substantive amendment to the preamble is admissible only if it is rendered necessary by amendments made to the bill. In addition, an amendment to the preamble is in order when its purpose is to clarify it or to ensure uniformity of the English and French versions.”

Whereupon, Monique Pauzé appealed the decision of the Chair.

The question: "Shall the decision of the Chair be sustained?" was put and the decision was sustained on the following recorded division:

YEAS: Laurel Collins, Terry Duguid, Peter Fragiskatos, Lloyd Longfield, Joanne Thompson, Patrick Weiler — 6;

NAYS: Bob Benzen, Gérard Deltell, Damien C. Kurek, Greg McLean, Monique Pauzé — 5.

Monique Pauzé moved, — That Bill C-226, in the preamble, be amended by replacing lines 29 and 30 on page 1 with the following:

“that provincial governments are primarily responsible for protecting their lands, as well as the health of their residents, and that intergovernmental cooperation assists in promoting effective change and achiev-”

Whereupon, Monique Pauzé appealed the decision of the Chair.

Greg McLean moved, — That Bill C-226, in the preamble, be amended by deleting:

“Whereas the Government of Canada recognizes that it is important to meaningfully involve all Canadians — and, in particular, marginalized communities — in the development of environmental policy and that racial discrimination in the development of environmental policy would constitute environmental racism;”

The question was put on the amendment of Greg McLean and it was negatived on the following recorded division:

YEAS: Bob Benzen, Gérard Deltell, Damien C. Kurek, Greg McLean, Monique Pauzé — 5;

NAYS: Laurel Collins, Terry Duguid, Peter Fragiskatos, Lloyd Longfield, Joanne Thompson, Patrick Weiler — 6.

Greg McLean moved, — That Bill C-226, in the preamble, be amended by deleting:

“Whereas the Government of Canada is committed to assessing and preventing environmental racism and to providing affected communities with the opportunity to participate in, among other things, finding solutions to address harm caused by environmental racism;”

The Preamble carried on the following recorded division:

YEAS: Laurel Collins, Terry Duguid, Peter Fragiskatos, Lloyd Longfield, Joanne Thompson, Patrick Weiler — 6;

NAYS: Bob Benzen, Gérard Deltell, Damien C. Kurek, Greg McLean, Monique Pauzé — 5.

Clause 1, Short Title, carried on division.

The Title carried on division.

The Bill was adopted on the following recorded division:

YEAS: Laurel Collins, Terry Duguid, Peter Fragiskatos, Lloyd Longfield, Joanne Thompson, Patrick Weiler — 6;

NAYS: Bob Benzen, Gérard Deltell, Damien C. Kurek, Greg McLean, Monique Pauzé — 5.

ORDERED, — That the Chair report the Bill to the House on division.

At 1:54 p.m., the sitting was suspended.

At 1:55 p.m., the sitting resumed.

Motion

Lloyd Longfield moved, — That the committee do now adjourn.

The question was put on the motion and it was agreed to on the following recorded division:

YEAS: Bob Benzen, Laurel Collins, Terry Duguid, Peter Fragiskatos, Damien C. Kurek, Lloyd Longfield, Greg McLean, Monique Pauzé, Joanne Thompson, Patrick Weiler — 10;

NAYS: Gérard Deltell — 1.

At 2:22 p.m., the committee adjourned to the call of the Chair.

Alexandre Longpré

Clerk of the committee