Editor:
B.C. has a long history of environmental protection and advocacy. We are the birthplace of Greenpeace, the David Suzuki Foundation and the first Green Party member in Parliament and have made B.C. one of the most livable and pristine areas in the world. Unfortunately our ability to protect the environment is now under attack and the Conservative government is on the verge of gutting the environmental review process.
Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver recently said, "We need to make the regulatory process more predictable, more timely, less duplicative we respect the integrity of the regulatory process but we do need to get these projects approved." Speaking abouta report from the environment committee, which met in secret, Parliamentary Secretary Michelle Rempel said, "The point of an environmental assessment is to ensure that environmental concerns are addressed. It is not to stop a project, or delay it to a point where it is no longer viable."
We do need to make the process effective and timely, but to say the only outcome of a review is an approval is making a mockery of the whole process.
They want a single review, but take the case of the Prosperity mine proposal in B.C. The provincial government, hungry for resource dollars, rubber stamped the approval allowing Fish Lake to become a toxic waste dump. A federal review was done and the Conservative Environment Minister Jim Prentice called the federal report the most scathing assessment report he had ever read when he rejected the mine.
That is why we need both provincial and federal reviews; so a greedy unprincipled government can be held in check.
Wewant sustainable development in contrast to a gold rush of projects approved by industry. Please ask our MP John Weston to stand up for our rights.
Paul Keyes
Hopkins Landing
