Bills C-48 And C-69 Clear Their Final Legislative Hurdle

On June 20th, 2019 the Canadian Senate, Parliament's chamber of second thought, approved two government bills for which it had proposed significant amendments. With respect to Bill C-69, the Impact Assessment Act, the government majority in the House of Commons chose to ignore most of the 188 amendments the Senate proposed on June 6th and on June 13th re-submitted the Bill to the Senate for final approval with only those amendments it chose to adopt. With respect to Bill C-48 the government bill placed a moratorium on oil tankers north of Vancouver island. The House of Commons did however, adopt the Senate's amendment that required a review of the moratorium after 5 years. Bill C-69, the Impact Assessment Act, is the controversial environmental assessment law applicable to major infrastructure projects across the country. It has been of particular concern to the oil industry. The transcript of the final debate on June 20th in the Senate contains an interesting