The Carney government is ready to propose that MPs fast-track its major projects and internal trade bill, and bring it to a final vote on the last sitting day before the House adjourns for the summer.

Bill C-5 proposes to enact a new law that would scrap federal rules and regulations governing the interprovincial trade of goods, the provision of services, and the recognition of labour qualifications that are already governed by provincial or territorial regulations. 

C-5 also proposes to give the federal cabinet the power to exempt any infrastructure or natural resource project from the federal environmental and social impact assessment process.

MPs have yet to debate Bill C-5 in the House of Commons.

Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon (Gatineau, Que.) gave notice of a motion on June 11 that lays out how C-5 will progress rapidly through each stage of the legislative process. 

The motion proposes an abbreviated debate at the second reading stage, with just two MPs from each of the three recognized parties, and one each from the NDP and Green Party, having a chance to speak about the bill. 

The bill would then be sent to the House Transport, Infrastructure, and Communities Committee, which has not yet met or elected its chair. The committee would meet twice to study the bill, on June 17 and 18, and send it back to the House on June 19. 

The House would then hold similarly limited rounds of debate on the bill at report stage and third reading stage on June 20, and would not adjourn that day until the bill had gone to a final vote. 

As of press time, the House of Commons had not voted on whether to approve MacKinnon’s fast-track motion for C-5.

The government’s representative in the Senate, Senator Marc Gold (Stadacona, Que.), has already proposed a plan that would fast-track the Senate’s examination of Bill C-5 and Bill C-4, and bring each to a final vote before the Senate is scheduled to adjourn on June 27.

Bill C-4 proposes to cut the income tax, to remove the federal sales tax from the purchase of new homes, to eliminate the consumer carbon tax from the law, and to exempt political parties from federal and provincial privacy laws.

The Hill Times

 

Peter Mazereeuw is executive editor at The Hill Times. He writes and edits The Hill Times' daily subscriber newsletter, Politics This Morning, and hosts and produces its weekly podcast, The Hot Room. Mazereeuw has covered politics and policy for The Hill Times and its sister publications since 2012. See all stories BY PETER MAZEREEUW