On June 26, the Canadian Senate followed the House of Commons, in voting up Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Bill C-5, meant to fast-track major “nation-building” projects. Though the development of infrastructure and industry is certainly necessary, the bill has been attacked for giving the government autocratic powers. One Conservative Senator from Manitoba, Mary Jane McCallum, said: “Canada is not a dictatorship, yet the so-called Henry VIII clauses in Bill C-5 bring us dangerously close to the precipice” Though the bill promises to protect the rights of aboriginal people, labor, provincial sovereignty, and the environment, it gives the Canadian government, and especially the monarchy, extraordinary powers that can bulldoze any opposition.
This act is being justified as an emergency response to U.S. President Trump’s tariffs on Canada. That situation became worse on June 27 when the President announced that the United States would terminate all trade discussions with Canada, “effective immediately,” over the country’s plan to begin collecting digital services taxes from U.S. technology giants. Trump described those taxes as a “blatant attack,” and that he would inform Canada within the next seven days about the duties “they will be paying to do business with the United States of America.”
For that reason, both the Liberal Party and the opposition Progressive Conservatives voted for it, as a matter of survival for the country. The “Henry VIII” clauses give extraordinary powers to the Monarchy in the form of the Governor-in-Council (GIC), meaning King Charles’ Viceroy, the appointed Governor-General, working with his appointed Privy Council. The GIC is empowered to:
1. override Provincial barriers to the movement of goods, services and labor across the country.
2. add any new project the GIC deems necessary
3. appoint a minister chosen from the Privy Council to head the entire national project.
4. sweep aside regulations that would otherwise apply to the projects., declaring whole areas as “special economic zones.”
5. no civil action can be taken against His Majesty, an agent of the Crown, or a federal regulatory body for an action taken implementing this policy, that was done in good faith, including anything in relation to whether provincial or territorial rights are violated.
This is exactly what King Charles III laid out in his May 27 Speech from the Throne, including these words:
“The Government’s overarching goal—its core mission—is to build the strongest economy in the G7. That starts with creating one Canadian economy out of thirteen.... The Government will introduce legislation to remove all remaining federal barriers to internal trade and labour mobility by Canada Day…. Through the creation of a new Major Federal Project Office, the time needed to approve a project will be reduced from five years to two…. The Government will also strike co-operation agreements with every interested province and territory within six months to realize its goal of ‘one project, one review’.... It will enable Canada to become the world’s leading energy superpower in both clean and conventional energy.”
Carney has also agreed to raise Canada’s military budget from below 2% of GDP to 5%, in line with other NATO countries.
