NDP, First Nations, Labour and Environmental Groups Unite Against Bill C-39

OTTAWA – With a second reading vote expected today on Bill C-39, NDP Leader Avi Lewis joined representatives from First Nations, labour and environmental groups to speak with a united voice against the legislation.

“We’ve seen this kind of coalition before: we saw it in the Harper years, when unions, environmentalists and Indigenous communities rallied together to fight against Conservative attacks and austerity,” said NDP Leader Avi Lewis. “How painful it is today to see the Carney government bring back that very agenda in the name of saving Canada from Donald Trump.”

The bill would allow the government to fast-track major projects by weakening protections for workers, Indigenous communities, the environment, and the public interest.

“The changes to the labour code in Bill C-39 are, without question, an attack on the right to strike,” said Candace Rennick, Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).

"Rather than establishing guardrails as they claim, it sets the government up to bulldoze our Charter rights,” Rennick added. “This legislation sends a clear message to employers that they don’t have to do the hard work of getting a fair deal at the bargaining table."

The bill would also designate “regions of national interest” where existing approval processes, including consultation with affected Indigenous communities, could be sidestepped.

"N’Daki Menan is not a region of national interest. It is our homeland. You cannot fast-track your way around an unresolved land question,” said Chief Shelly Moore-Frappier of the Teme Augama Anishinabek.

"Bill C-39 introduces the biggest evisceration of our environmental safety net in Canadian history,” said Anna Johnston, Staff Lawyer at West Coast Environmental Law. “From automatic approval zones to loosening nature protection and public safety measures, this Bill is a fast track to environmental hazards, community impacts and a loss of control over our natural resources.”

NDP Leader Avi Lewis urged the government to scrap the bill, go back to the drawing board, and engage in real consultations with workers, Indigenous communities, climate experts, and scientists.

“Canadians are in the mood to do big things, fast. But we have to build in the right way. We don't build a stronger Canada by stripping away protections to sell our resources and assets to private investors,” Lewis said.

“Canadians have handed our Prime Minister their trust in this critical moment and I call on him to treat that trust with care – not to hand our country over to those who already have way too much.”