We have officially entered Orwell country.

What the article doesn't mention is #Alberta and #Ontario asking the feds to abandon #BillC-61, a law aimed at ensuring First Nations have clean drinking water, because it could "undermine competitiveness." #cdnpoli

#cdnpoli www.alberta.ca/system/files...

2/2 Props to Senators Prosper, Woo, McPhedran and McCallum for their attempts to improve #BillC-5. It's a terrible law and a dangerous precedent, but the Senate helped put the government on notice that its implementation will be closely scrutinized. #cdnpoli

I share his dubiousness. If the federal government intends to implement #BillC-5 in a manner that respects and upholds Indigenous rights and protects the environment, why would it not include those requirements in the Bill? Especially when it has heard the considerable concerns about it. #cdnpoli

Lots went badly there. Sure, the @mark-carney.bsky.social government took advantage of a Senate that is keenly aware of its unelected status. On the other hand, shouldn’t the chamber of sober second thought live up to its job? #BillC-5 isn’t a panacea. A few months’ study wouldn’t break Canada.

It’s interesting that there aren’t more alarm bells about the fact that the bill does an end-run around fundamental democratic principles. #BillC-5 would let Cabinet unilaterally declare laws inoperable, with no Parliamentary oversight. Has anyone checked whether Canadians voted for that? #cdnpoli

2/2 If time is money, the @mark-carney.bsky.social government is going to get what it paid for by rushing this #BillC-5 through. It'd be great if the #SenateofCanada did its job as the chamber of sober second thought, split the bill and did a proper study of Part 2. #cdnpoli

This isn't even the thin edge of the wedge. #BillC5 builds on what began with the Harper government's sweeping rollbacks of our environmental laws in 2012, safeguards that were never fully restored. What next - privatizing environmental decisions? Or just busting out the rubber stamp?