At today’s NCC open Board of Directors meeting the CEO mentioned the status of the bill previously known as C-37. It was supposed to bring better protection to Gatineau Park but died when parliament prorogued.
It was mentioned as not having yet been reintroduced but it is expected that it will be and that its progress will be subject to the will of parliament (though one might hope for speedier movement since it has been in play already).
The earlier bill that Paul Dewar introduced was not mentioned.
Must commend you on this one. Dead accurate.
Loved how you said C-37 was “supposed to bring better protection to Gatineau Park.”
Well, it did no such thing — it was a legislative hatchet job from stem to stern. Made to order for the Gatineau Park land squatters by the NCC and supported by them alone — public interest be damned.
For a thorough take-no-prisoners-critique see: “The Five Pillars for Gatineau Park Legislation: Or Why C-37 Fails,” (http://www.gatineauparc.ca/documents_en.html) … Seems my Bloc and NDP friends like it …
I attended all committee hearings and witnessed for myself there was no all-party consensus. Total deadlock mired in a swamp of discord. A pugilistic free-for-all: The Public v. Park Squatters.
That C-37 has yet to be reintroduced confirms the government is doing a serious re-write. Or that it’s afraid to act, mired in a right-wing swamp of its own, where “the people are the enemy, and let’s protect the ancestral privileges of Gatineau Park squatters.”
“Property Rights are sacred!!” they scream, dripping with righteous indignation …
Where a public space is concerned/trampled — in this case Gatineau Park — then public interest must always trump self interest. It’s called: the “Common Good” or “National Interest.”
The tragedy of Bill C-37 — and the latest conservation plan — is that it has placed selfish-self interest above the public good.
And that’s what’s wrong with John Baird, Lawrence Cannon, Marie Lemay “et tutti quanti.” They’re at war with the public interest …