Question Period
Elizabeth May
Mr. Speaker, since my election in 2011, nothing was more painful than watching the destruction of our environmental laws in 2012.
I took heart in the Liberal promises to reverse those changes and restore environmental protection, particularly in the mandate letter to the Minister of Transport, which reads that he would “review the previous government’s changes to the…Navigable Waters Protection Act” and “restore lost protections”, but it now appears increasingly clear that this is not the plan. A schedule of named waterways was left intact.
Will the Minister of Transport honour his mandate letter and restore lost protections?
Marc Garneau – Minister for Transport
Mr. Speaker, I want to reassure my colleague that I take my mandate extremely seriously with respect to the navigable waters act. I remember spending all night long with my hon. colleague—
Some hon. Members
Oh, oh!
Marc Garneau
—when the previous government gutted the Navigation Protection Act. We will go beyond recovering many of the things that were lost in the last act. We are going to ensure greater transparency, and we are going to make sure—
Point of Order
Geoff Regan – Speaker of the House
I would encourage members to be careful in their wording.
The hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands.
Elizabeth May
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. Minister of Transport, and I would ask for some maturity from some members in this place.
Twenty-four hours of non-stop voting was a principled stand and should not be the source of schoolyard bullying.