Motion to split bill defeated in Ottawa
Parliamentary committee decides not to ask House of Commons to separate devolution, regulatory reform
Laura Busch
Northern News Services
Published Monday, February 3, 2014
OTTAWA
The devolution debate moved to Ottawa Thursday, where the Parliamentary Special Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development voted down Western Arctic MP Dennis Bevington's motion to divide Bill C-15 into two bills: one dealing with devolution, and the other with changing the MVRMA.
Bevington said he made the motion because he had heard a clear message during the hearings that residents did not want to have to trade their regional land and water boards for GNWT control over Crown lands.
Later that day, the standing committee wrapped up its final hearings on the matter in Ottawa with testimony from Dominion Diamond Holdings president Brendan Bell, Mining Association of Canada vice president Rick Meyers and Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers vice president Bob Bleanes.
Also Thursday, the Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources began its meetings on Bill C-15, hearing from representatives from the Sahtu, Tlicho and Gwich'in.
The Parliamentary committee is now in its final stages of reviewing the bill, and is scheduled to start a clause-by-clause review of the bill next week.
"Is Bill C-15 perfect?" asked NWT Chamber of Commerce first vice president Allen Stanzell. "No, but nothing visionary is ever perfect."
The chamber, as well as representatives from the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines, support changes to the MVRMA saying it gives industry the certainty it needs to do business in the territory.
In a poll commissioned by the chamber that was released in March 2013, nearly 70 per cent of the 400 adults surveyed either supported or were not opposed to the Devolution Agreement, while fewer than 20 per cent said they were opposed to the agreement.
Chamber members also support "the overarching intent and spirit of proposed amendments to the MVRMA and believe they are taking a positive step toward development and resource management in the NWT," he said.
However, Stanzell raised concerns, including that AANDC lacked the authority to change section 125 of the MVRMA, which lays out requirements for preliminary screenings of proposed projects. The way Bill C-15 proposes to change that clause "may violate land claims agreements," he said.
