The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers says the federal government is damaging the country’s economic future with Bill C-69.

CAPP says Ottawa is “ignoring the senate and the will of Canadians” and is risking the country’s economic future by not accepting amendments proposed by the senate.

The federal government will accept nearly 100 changes the senate has made to the Bill that will see an overhaul of the environmental assessment process for major construction projects, but is rejecting dozens more.

The association says the amendments were developed after a consultation process, but the federal government rejected amendments that CAPP says would have made the Bill work.

Among the critical issues identified by CAPP is the loss of local voices from stakeholders and local communities. Their fear is that activists in New York City will have the ability to “drown out” the voices of Canadians living adjacent to developments.

It says the federal government is also signalling that jobs are not important and it’s concerned that there is no hard cap on timelines.

Among those also upset about the federal Liberals rejection of dozens of more amendments are the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario.

Minister Working with Federal Government

Meanwhile, in the House of Assembly this afternoon, the Minister of Natural Resources says she sent a letter to federal environment minister Catherine McKenna detailing specific amendments to Bill C-69.

Siobhan Coady says she reminded McKenna of the requirements and importance of joint management under the Atlantic Accord. She says they have been going back and forth on amendments to the Bill and there have been some improvements.

Coady says they have agreed to take exploration wells and make sure they can be reviewed under the regional environmental assessment that is currently underway with C-NLOPB.

Minister Coady says they want to make sure the expertise, knowledge and experience the C-NLOPB has is being used to its full advantage.