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Windsor West MP Brian Masse is sounding the alarm over his urban park bill’s stagnation in the Senate — a “dangerous situation” that could lead to the legislation’s demise.
To pressure the Senate of Canada into moving forward with Bill C-248 — Masse’s private member’s bill to establish the Ojibway National Urban Park — the New Democrat gathered supporters outside the Ojibway Nature Centre on Friday and encouraged residents to sign a new petition.
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Available on Masse’s website (brianmasse.ca), the petition calls on senators to move the bill currently stuck in Senate to the committee stage.
“It’s a dangerous situation,” Masse said. “If Parliament falls, then the legislation is gone.”
In addition to the petition, visitors to Masse’s website can download postcards addressed to the Senate of Canada that call for the passing of the private member’s bill.
Although there has been movement from Parks Canada and municipalities to establish the Ojibway National Urban Park, “the bill is the only legislative process that protects the park and the area forever,” Masse said. The bill also guarantees equality between Windsor’s national urban park and Canada’s other national parks.
Masse’s years-long pursuit of federal legislation to create a national urban park in the city passed its final reading in the House of Commons nearly unanimously roughly a year ago.
The bill’s second reading is currently “in progress” in the Senate, according to the Parliament of Canada website. It was last debated during a sitting in late October.
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