Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the private member's motion. It is long overdue.

The real issue is, why is it even needed? One would think that with the Supreme Court ruling the government would understand that consultation with first nations was not simply a courtesy or something that might be good to do but in fact an obligation under the treaties. It has been proven time and time again that not only is it a good idea to consult with first nations, it is one of the ways to get projects moving more quickly. For a government so intent on getting resources to market and so intent on getting resources out of the ground, one would think that reaching for better practices would not be something that the opposition would have to compel it to do, it would simply adopt the idea and move forward. One would think it would listen to the Supreme Court and move forward.

I listened to the previous speaker talk about the exhaustive process that is under way in terms of processing these applications. What has actually happened is the processes have been exhausted. They have been retired. They have been gotten rid of. The federal environmental assessment in particular has been reduced to such a telescoped and shortened process that it is virtually laughed at by cities, first nations and environmentalists. It is even laughed at by the proponents because they know how simple it is to clear a hurdle. That is why these projects so often end up in court.

We have a project, not a resource extraction project but a proposal from a federal agency in Toronto that is going through an environmental assessment right now. The proponents get asked, “Is this a good idea?” and if they answer “yes”, it is done. It is a project that has been developed on the lands of the Mississaugas of the New Credit. Have they ever been consulted about it? No, they have not, not once. They sit back in opposition to the project waiting for the environmental assessment to be completed because that is the day they march off to court and say, “You forgot to consult with us”.

It is critical for a modern economy to move forward in concert with its partners. Any mayor in our country worth his or her salt knows that when municipal partners are not included in the planning of infrastructure or economic development or federal programs, when city councils and mayors are not included, they end up designing programs badly that do not land or work in the cities of choice, effectively. They end up in front of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities at its federal conference held once a year being screamed at by hundreds of mayors from across the country.

We are a confederation. Our Constitution implies collaboration. It rewards collaboration. Our economy moves forward more quickly with collaboration. Instead, what we get is a government that, when it cannot rule out collaboration and act unilaterally, refuses to meet with other levels of government, including first nations, but also the provinces and the municipalities. As a result, private members' bills are required just to force the government into a conversation. That is ludicrous in this day and age.

I would be impressed if the government opposite, in an act of collaboration looked across the aisle, looked to this private member's bill and took a lead. It would allow it to respect rulings from the Supreme Court and respect treaties that all of our ancestors have signed and all of us are governed by. It would allow it to work with provinces in a particular municipality in co-operation and we could start to build a country instead of simply building arguments.

The government continually looks for the battleground instead of the common ground. It talks about being a government that is embracing the new economy. There is not a private sector company out there that looks to go around creating fights with people in order to make progress in this modern economy. In fact, what we see is private sector companies doing the consultation in spite of being told by the federal government they do not need to, because even the private sector understands that collaboration is far less costly than being tied up in courts and in front of regulatory bodies.

We would hope that the government would learn from the lesson that is being offered here and the legislation that is being tabled here, would stop its knee-jerk reaction to opposing it and start looking at the benefits of working together with Canadians, whether they come from first nations communities, municipalities, provinces or from other political parties. There is no monopoly on good ideas in our country. Ideology alone will not get the problem solved.

Members of this government, this Parliament, need to learn how to work together. This bill is an excellent opportunity to show the country that the last 10 years was a mistake and the future is a better one.

Adam Vaughan

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Private Members' Business

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