It may have more to do with the budget passing for the FO rule changes. Article below.
OTTAWA— Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is flatly rejecting a proposal to spinoff controversial cuts to environmental assessments from an omnibusbill aimed at implementing Ottawa's stimulus package.
Liberal senators who had raised concerns about changes the Tories aremaking to the Navigable Waters Protection Act had suggested they'd takea month to study the budget implementation bill.
The controversial changes would help speed or reduce environmental assessments of infrastructure projects.
“Do not dally,” he warned a finance committee that must study BillC-10, the budget implementation bill, before the Senate passes it. Thisis not an academic discussion ... It's important for the sake ofCanadian families and Canadian business that we get on with this.”
He told senators to pass it before March break.
“Don't go on holidays without passing it.”
The legislation will ensure federal money designed to counter therecession battering Canada will flow as of July and authorizes morecredit for government lenders to extend to business. It also extends byfive weeks the maximum possible period for receiving EmploymentInsurance.
Mr. Flaherty brought to the Senate committee 2,000 letters fromCanadians pleading for relief from the recession. “This is realday-to-day life here. Canadians really don't care about procedural andpartisan arguments for further study.”
Senators had also suggested the Tories hive off controversial changesto public sector pay equity rules that would forbid bureaucrats fromlaunching human rights challenges due to unequal pay.
The Finance Minister said there's no possible way to split out measuressuch as the reductions in environmental assessments or changes to payequity law.
Liberal Senator Grant Mitchell accused Mr. Flaherty of lying toCanadians, saying it's “fundamentally misleading” to say some measurescan't be severed from the budget bill and put in separate legislation.
He said it's sad the Tories can “only get [their] agenda through by tricks.”
Mr. Flaherty said the provinces back Ottawa's plan to reduceenvironmental assessments as a way of accelerating job-richinfrastructure projects. “We have a great deal of duplication inenvironmental assessments,” the Finance Minister told the Senatecommittee.
In a dig at recalcitrant senators, Mr. Flaherty reminded them that theonly chamber of Parliament that's selected through democratic electionshas already passed the budget.
“It's been approved by the House of Commons ... by the elected people of Canada.”