“This is not just a matter of dampening the economic interests of specific provinces. It is a nationally corrosive and divisive policy which pits one region against another, inflaming separatist sentiment and stoking a misplaced resentment of Indigenous Canadians,” says Senate report.
The Senate Transport Committee has issued a report slamming the Trudeau government’s Bill C-48, also known as the tanker ban bill.
In a report written by the chair of the committee – Conservative Senator David Tkachuk – the bill is slammed as being divisive and hurting Canada’s national unity.
“This is not just a matter of dampening the economic interests of specific provinces. It is a nationally corrosive and divisive policy which pits one region against another, inflaming separatist sentiment and stoking a misplaced resentment of Indigenous Canadians,” the report says.
The ban on tankers carrying diluted bitumen from Alberta’s oilsands appears to be “intentionally designed to damage the economy of western Canada,” rendering the bill “both divisive and discriminatory,” the report adds, going on to say that “targeting one region of Canada for economic punishment is unconstitutional and destructive to the fabric of Canadian federalism.”
The report echoes the messaging of Andrew Scheer, who has ripped the Trudeau government for dividing Canadians and risking our national unity by blocking the expansion of such an important industry in the Canadian West.
The Transport Committee had previously voted 6-6 for a motion calling for the tanker ban bill to scrapped. And under Senate rules, the 6-6 tie means that the recommendation of the committee is that the Senate reject it.
Now, it is up to the full Senate to either reject the bill entirely, pass it with amendments, or pass it without changes.
If the government choses the last option and passes it without any amendments, then it will further divide our already divided nation, and put Canadians national unity even more at risk.
Spencer Fernando
Photo – YouTube
