B.C. Environment Minister George Heyman has begun the NDP government鈥檚 overhaul of oversight of resource projects, bringing forward legislation to set up a new superintendent to oversee engineers, biologists, foresters and other professionals who are currently self-governing.
Heyman said the change is required to 鈥渞estore public trust鈥� in decisions made on natural resource projects.
鈥淭he initial stage of implementation would enable the office and its policy, guidance, investigation and enforcement functions and bring key provisions of the act into force, such as whistleblower protection,鈥� Heyman told the legislature Monday.
鈥淒uring transition these authorities would operate alongside existing governance statutes of five professional regulatory bodies, the agrologists, applied biologists, applied science technologists and technicians, engineers and geoscientists and forestry professionals.鈥�
Changing the law was a key demand of B.C. Green Party MLA Sonia Furstenau, who won election in Cowichan Valley after a protracted battle over a contaminated soil site in an old rock quarry near Shawnigan Lake. No contamination of the lake was ever identified, but the operations lost its licence over technical issues, including provision of financial security in the event of a breach or cleanup.
The changes are a condition of the Greens鈥� 鈥渃onfidence and supply鈥� agreement to support the NDP government.
鈥淚 think we need to rebuild the trust in B.C. in terms of the kinds of decision-making that happens around our resource sector,鈥� Furstenau said.
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Heyman said professional organizations are in favour of the change, and it would be a 鈥渧ery, very rare鈥� for the new superintendent to overrule one of the professional organizations.
鈥淲e鈥檙e streamlining and making more efficient the oversight of the five professions through their regulatory bodies, and ensuring that public expectations of qualification, ongoing professional development, release of information in the public interest and dealing with issues of ethics and conflict of interest are foremost in our legislation,鈥� Heyman said.
The Association of B.C. Forest Professionals issued a statement calling the legislation 鈥渁 missed opportunity鈥� that doesn鈥檛 change environment and land use policies.
The foresters 鈥渟tressed the need for government to clearly define values, clarify desired results, set objectives and values, and establish a hierarchy of objectives on the landscape,鈥� CEO Christine Gelowitz said. 鈥淲ithout those tools, forest professionals are left trying to balance numerous competing and varied expectations by disparate groups with differing values and competing interests on the land.鈥�
Asked if the additional oversight would have changed anything at Mount Polley mine, where legal actions continue over the failure of a tailings pond dam in 2014, Heyman was cautious.
鈥淐learly if this legislation and requirements had been in place prior to the Mount Polley incident, and a number of years back, we might have had a different result in terms of the kinds of reports that were issued,鈥� Heyman said. 鈥淏ut frankly that鈥檚 speculative on my part.鈥�
tfletcher@blackpress.ca
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