It鈥檚 good to know sa国际传媒鈥檚 government is not so rigid that it can鈥檛 change its mind, but if it made all its important decisions in public view, with opportunity for full debate, there wouldn鈥檛 be much need to reverse those decisions.
On Monday, the cabinet quietly passed an order-in-council that would have exempted almost all natural-gas production in the province from automatic environmental reviews. The amendment to the Reviewable Projects Regulation would have also made changes to the assessment process for ski and all-season resorts.
Orders-in-council are handy for making regulatory changes of the housekeeping sort, minor tweaks to existing policies and rules. But Monday鈥檚 change was not minor tweaking 鈥� it was a major policy shift, and one that should have been made in the public eye.
The proposed change would have applied to natural-gas processing plants that produce less than two tonnes of sulphur emissions per day. That is known as 鈥渟weet鈥� natural gas, as opposed to 鈥渟our gas鈥� that has higher emissions. Nearly 99 per cent of sa国际传媒鈥檚 natural-gas production is classified as 鈥渟weet.鈥�
Environmental issues are huge in sa国际传媒, and often controversial, so it鈥檚 understandable that politicians would like to avoid making a fuss. But it doesn鈥檛 help if it looks as if changes are being made on the sly.
This is a government that has talked a lot about transparency, and it certainly looks as if transparency is involved here 鈥� a transparent attempt to make things easier for the sa国际传媒 Liberals鈥� favourite projects.
Environment Minister Mary Polak said the changes were simply cutting red tape; these projects are subject to approval processes by other government agencies.
鈥淭his will reduce the duplication,鈥� Polak said. 鈥淩ight now there are two processes that are virtually identical.鈥�
Environmental groups and First Nations didn鈥檛 see it that way.
鈥淲e鈥檙e viewing this as another step toward environmental deregulation,鈥� said Anna Johnston of West Coast Environmental Law. 鈥淚t鈥檚 part of a sliding that we鈥檝e been doing 鈥� divesting ourselves of responsibility over responsible development.鈥�
The response from First Nations was more than words 鈥� provincial officials were kicked out of a First Nations forum on liquefied natural gas in Fort Nelson Wednesday.
鈥淭here was no consultation as far as changing that policy,鈥� said Chief Terry Teegee of the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council, which represents eight First Nations communities in northern sa国际传媒 鈥淲e were blindsided.鈥�
On the same day, Polak announced a complete turnaround on the decision and apologized for not having discussions with First Nations on the issue.
Bureaucracy is self-perpetuating, and if not reined in periodically, can grow monstrously, with procedures taking precedence over purpose. It鈥檚 good to examine rules from time to time, and streamline them where possible.
But it should be done out in the open. Here鈥檚 what we want to do and why, the government should have said. Help us make changes that work for everyone.
But when discussions and decisions take place behind closed doors, it makes the government appear to be setting aside consideration for the environment in favour of economic development, instead of trying to reconcile the two.
sa国际传媒鈥檚 dichotomy is an incredible natural environment and an economy that depends heavily on the development of natural resources. The challenge is to balance the two, not sacrifice one for the other.
Critics of the sa国际传媒 Liberals claim they are out to develop those resources and to hell with the environment. That鈥檚 not a fair assessment, but if they don鈥檛 want to be called ducks, they should stop walking and squawking like ducks.
