Independent Sen. Rosa Galvez, left, an expert in environmental risk management, chairs the Senate committee that is about to begin studying Environment Minister Catherine McKenna's signature environmental assessment bill, C-69. Unaffiliated Sen. David Richards has already voted against the bill, and could serve as an important tie-making-or-breaking vote on the Environment Committee as it hashes out what to do with the bill. Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has denounced it as a threat to jobs in the oil and gas sector.