Yes. Not only must these criteria be mandatory, but they must also constitute a genuine test for projects of national interest. At the moment, there are no mandatory public consultations either.
We therefore want to propose another amendment to subsection 5(7) of the act proposed in part 2 of the bill. This amended subsection would read that before recommending the making of any order under subsection 5(1), 5(3) or 5(4), there would have to be meaningful consultations not only with any other relevant federal minister and indigenous peoples, but also with members of the public, including Canadian residents, provinces and non-governmental organizations. Public consultation is one of the very foundations of our democracy.
As currently drafted, the bill sets out a weak liability in this regard, which could also create judicial uncertainty. The courts may find it difficult to assess whether a regulation or project is truly consistent with the intentions of the act if those intentions are poorly defined. We're seeing that right now throughout the bill, in both part 1 and part 2.