Militant Opposition to State-Sanctioned Impunity and Abuse of Power
Bill C-5, One Canadian Economy Act
The federal government of Mark Carney and provincial governments,
especially the government of Ontario under Doug Ford, are
implementing a nation-wrecking agenda in the name of
nation-building, prosperity and national security. It amounts to
restructuring the state to satisfy the demands of oligopolies and
the international financial oligarchy. These governments are giving
these narrow private interests unfettered access to Canada's
resources, using anti-democratic means to do so.
The self-serving narrative of Mark Carney, his Ministers and private media, as well as pundits of all kinds, is that because Canada is facing an existential crisis due to U.S. tariffs and threats to make Canada the 51st state, governments are entitled to pass laws which grant them the right to essentially rule with emergency powers. The federal government's Bill C-5 and Ontario government's Bill 5 give the Prime Minister and Premier respectively the power to amend or override existing laws and regulations to fast-track projects, trampling on the rights of Canadians, Quebeckers, and the Indigenous Peoples, Métis and Inuit with impunity.
Bill C-5, officially titled the One Canadian Economy: An Act to enact the Free Trade and Labour Mobility in Canada Act and the Building Canada Act, was fast-tracked through Parliament and the Senate and received royal assent on June 26. Only 20 days had passed since its tabling in the House of Commons on June 6. An appeal by Indigenous leaders to Governor General Mary Simon to withhold royal assent was ignored.
The main features of the legislation are to reduce interprovincial
trade barriers and to create a framework for fast-tracking large-scale
infrastructure and energy projects that the Cabinet declares to be in
the "national interest."
On the passage of the bill, Mark Carney posted on the Prime Minister's website, "The legislation will build one strong Canadian economy by removing federal barriers to internal trade and labour mobility, helping goods, services, workers, and businesses move freely across provinces and territories; expediting nation-building projects that will connect and transform our country and unleash economic growth while ensuring environmental protections and Indigenous rights are upheld."
Projects may include mines, pipelines, ports, highways, transmission lines and nuclear plants. Projects declared to be in the "national interest" would be approved under a new "single window" process overseen by a federal minister. Once designated, a project can skip several regulatory hurdles.
According to the new law, elements that might make a project
"nationally significant" include the assessment of a minister that it
will "strengthen Canada's autonomy, resilience and security; provide
economic or other benefits to Canada; have a high likelihood of
successful execution, advance the interests of Indigenous Peoples, and
contribute to clean growth and to meeting Canada's objectives with
respect to climate change." None of those conditions are binding. These
high-sounding aims remain discretionary based on who knows what
interests the minister or cabinet are pushing.
In other words, it gives the cabinet full discretion to decide -- without public debate or Parliamentary vote -- what makes the list.
The Liberal minority government, with the support of the
Conservatives, limited debate in the House of Commons and the Standing
Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities and took measures
to ensure fast passage in the Senate in order to have the law in place
before Parliament recessed for the summer. In the House of Commons,
separate votes were held on June 20 on each of the two parts.
The first part of Bill C-5, An Act to Promote Free Trade and Labour Mobility in Canada passed by a vote of 335 to one, with Green Party MP Elizabeth May the dissenting vote.
The second part, the Building Canada Act, passed by a vote of 306 to 31. The Conservatives supported the government while NDP, Bloc Québécois and Green MPs, as well as one Liberal MP, Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, opposed it.
The Senate held one vote on both parts and a standing vote did not take place so there is no record of which and how many Senators voted for or against. Only eight witnesses were allowed to testify before the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, although many more wanted to speak.
Bill C-5 and recent laws with similar aims that have been passed in a similar anti-democratic manner in Quebec, Ontario, BC and other provinces are widely condemned because they deprive the Indigenous Peoples of their right to self-determination and deprive everyone of the right to have a say over matters which concern them. They are steeped in 19th century colonialist notions that are racist to the core.
Massive opposition, rallies, letters, press conferences and written submissions from myriad organizations, including nation-wide condemnation of the government's disregard for the rights of Indigenous Peoples have ensued. In response, Carney and his ministers have been tripping over themselves to insist that no projects will move forward without "consultation" with Indigenous Peoples.
This response has only deepened the crisis of credibility of the government and the democratic institutions in Canada because, as Indigenous organizations and others have pointed out, they and everyone else were shut out of any consultation on Bill C-5 itself. No one believes that after the government has given itself carte blanche to override federal and provincial laws and regulations it will then uphold the rights of Indigenous Peoples to free, prior and informed consent, the right to say NO! to projects that a cabinet minister has deemed to be in the "national interest."
Since then, Carney has held meetings with First Nations, Inuit, and
Métis. Despite Carney and his team hand-picking those with whom they
choose to "consult," they continue to meet with militant resistance.
The Carney government is ruling by usurping the rights of Parliamentarians. It is also using every means possible to deny the right of Canadians and Quebeckers to participate in making decisions about the Canadian economy to ensure that it is the well-being of the people, the protection of Mother Earth and trade with other countries on the basis of mutual benefit which guide them.
Carney's policy to do what it takes to "build, baby, build," as
he put it, is not only endangering the natural and social
environment but as part of this deepening the crisis of Canada's
democratic institutions.
Presenting the narrow private interests of oligopolies and the international financial oligarchy as nation-building is in no way credible and will increasingly become Carney's Achilles' heel. His peremptory attitude spotlights the dangers in which he is embroiling the people and the need for political renewal to vest sovereignty in the people.
This article was published in
Volume 55 Number 7 - July-August 2025
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2025/Articles/M550071.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca