No. 4, Biodiversity Act - Third Reading

I am pleased to rise for a few short minutes at 11:57 p.m. this April 13th to address not what has happened tonight but what has not happened tonight. My colleagues have very admirably and ably spoken to the process of making this bill, to our view of its contents, and to our position, which will be to vote in favour of it. But I feel the need to mourn the opportunity that we had here.

We are in a climate crisis, and we will say it over and over and over again; this isn't a bill about protecting biodiversity on Crown land because biodiversity isn't only important on Crown land, biodiversity is fundamental to the world that we live in.

The Official Opposition questioned our relevance, Mr. Speaker, and there was some back and forth about quotes and it got me thinking. The quote that popped into my head tonight was a quote from a good friend of the Progressive Conservative caucus, Peter MacKay, when he told Alexa McDonough, the former Leader of the New Democratic Party, that she should stick to her knitting. I was reminded of that tonight because I had the same reaction that I think Alexa must have had, when we were sort of derided and dismissed as not being relevant.

Mr. Speaker, we all sit in this Chamber, we represent our constituents, we represent our critic areas, and we do the best we can to do that. I would submit that our role is to tell the truth, and that is what we are doing here tonight. We are telling the truth. We are reminding this Chamber for every time that the Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party reminds us that we're going into an election - which by my count was over a dozen in the speech that he delivered tonight - we are reminding people that we are in the middle of a climate crisis. (Applause)

We don't have five years, where we only protect 30 per cent of the ecosystem of this province. It's already too late. In five years, it will be five years more too late. We can only hope that in five years, we will have done better than we are doing with this bill tonight.

What we didn't hear, the opportunity that we are mourning, is a genuine conversation about biodiversity. I have heard everyone who has spoken tonight against this bill say, but I care about biodiversity. You can't have it both ways, Mr. Speaker.

It's not a perfect bill. It's an imperfect bill. As I would submit, as someone who has spent some time studying bills and drafting bills, they're all imperfect. They are by their very nature, and we work to make them better. The concerns that have been raised are valid ones. They are valid ones by people who make up, in many ways, the backbone of our economy. Never would we denigrate the experience of someone with their land in their own profession.

We, as legislators, need to take a larger view. We need to take that view for the common good. While we have heard all the reasons why people support biodiversity but don't want to do anything about it, we've heard nothing from the government. We'll hear a few short words from the minister, maybe, but we have heard nothing through this entire debate.

I would submit, Mr. Speaker, that that is a big problem. This is a government that tells us. This is a government that came into power - this particular Premier - by telling us that he cared. That he cared about the environment. That he was ready to act. The last time we were in this Chamber, a year ago - I think it was the first day - we had an emergency debate on the climate crisis. But what have we done?

Well, we haven't done anything. What we have done - the NDP caucus - is continually raise the alarm. When you ask about our relevance in this Chamber, there's part of it. We have continually raised the alarm. We are not in the Executive Council. We don't have the opportunity to make the laws, but we can speak to them. We can do our best to strengthen them. We can support them, even if we don't love them, and that's what we're doing here tonight, Mr. Speaker.

My colleague, in discussing the Environmental Goals and Sustainable Prosperity Act, spoke to the story of a void in which this legislation came. When we think about that legislation, and I wasn't in the Chamber for that legislation, but there's other legislation I can think of.

I can think of the Human Tissue and Organ Donation Act that came in last year. I can think of the Act that I was very pleased to have all-Party support on that passed around protecting women's reproductive rights free of interference. I can think of a number of times that I've been in this Chamber when all the members have come together, despite their differences - in some cases, because of their differences - to act for the common good of the people of Nova Scotia.

When that happens, Mr. Speaker, the quality of this Chamber, the quality of debate, changes. I know that I'm biased but I felt that tonight when my colleagues were speaking. When the Leader of the New Democratic Party got up and spoke the truth about the situation we find ourselves in, about this moment, and about the debate that we were having, it was quiet in this room. People were listening.

Similarly, when my colleague, the member for Halifax Needham, spoke - eloquently, as she always does - about the environment, about our need to be good and just stewards of our world, the debate changed. And then that disappeared and that's a loss. That's a real lost opportunity, I would say. I think, Mr. Speaker, we have talked a lot about how we have dealt with the pandemic. I have heard it tonight, I have heard it lots of times where people say, well, we are Nova Scotians; we are Nova Scotians, and we have done the work.

This is not particularly meant as a compliment to the government, but I would submit and I think - I have actually read a couple of things and I wish I could attribute them, but I don't have them at hand today that say, actually, no, you know the reason we have done so well is because of the political will. It is not just the political will of the government, it is the political will of all of us.

Until we came back in this Chamber, at least, all of us in our constituencies, in our caucuses, in our Parties with our different views came together to steward our constituents through this difficult time. It is part of our job as MLAs. I am proud of all of the members of this Legislative Assembly because I think that we had a role to play. I do. I think it was leadership. I think it was political will that we stayed the course, we listened to Public Health, and we had a collective mind about that.

This is in spite of all of the acrimony that we have seen, heated disagreement, heading toward an election. We did that. We are doing that. I just wanted to stand up and say that I think it is a real shame that we can't do that now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.