Infrastructure Minister Bowinn Ma took a refreshingly novel approach when it came to defending the NDP’s power grab in the legislature earlier this month.
A key element of the Infrastructure Projects Act (Bill 15), which has turned into a major challenge for the government, is utterly indefensible.
That’s the bit where they skipped most of the consultation, ignored most of the 204 First Nations they have been fervently swearing to respect for years, and are now trying to jam a more unilateral approval process into place.
So Ma conceded the point and surrendered on that aspect.
“I want to acknowledge that we did not follow the interim approach that our government had agreed on, and that was clearly the error that we made.”
The government sent out notices to all First Nations and got only a few dozen responses, then assumed it meant the real consultation would be done on the regulations to come later, she said.
She told the legislature: “Given the feedback we are now receiving from First Nations leaderships” — massive, total opposition — “that was clearly an incorrect assumption .… We clearly did not judge the situation correctly.”
Some governments would back up and start over, after seeing a wave of criticism that goes well beyond the Indigenous leadership.
But not the NDP. They are not only going to press ahead, they’re going to shut down debate Wednesday night with just a handful of the 48 sections scrutinized and try to ram it through the legislature.
The opposition is suggesting various amendments, but Ma — her moment of humility behind her — indicated they’re wasting their time.
“The act is tabled as it is. There’s no more consultation on the act itself.”
Premier David Eby is already proceeding as if it is law. He announced Monday an all-in commitment to mining northwestern B.C. to the maximum extent possible.
He called it an opportunity for tens of billions of dollars worth of investment, built on “consent-based agreements” with First Nations, the expedited approvals and melding federal and provincial processes into one review.
Bill 15 was introduced three weeks ago to accomplish two goals. One was to empower the new ministry of infrastructure, established after the fall election.
The fact that a government determined to hit the ground running took seven months to give the new “get stuff done” ministry any authority is telling. But not as significant as the second goal, which is to accelerate any and all private and public major projects that cabinet deems worthy.
The only projects that can’t be designated for acceleration — meaning curtailed consultation and fast-track approval — are pipelines, LNG facilities, low-barrier housing and overdose-prevention sites.
The rationale for the bill implicitly acknowledges a major problem.
The NDP has proudly hailed “the most ambitious capital infrastructure plan in B.C. history” for the past several years, all of it accomplished with tens of billions of borrowed dollars
But Ma said even that isn’t keeping up with the demand for schools, hospitals and roads.
“Despite our efforts, however, an exploding population in recent years has meant [it] isn’t enough …
“We need to find ways to do this faster, better, more economically.”
The list of major projects in the budget runs to six pages. But a significant share of them are delayed or over-budget, which Ma blamed on “unnecessary delays caused by existing approval processes and lengthy timelines for permitting …”
Any taxpayer would nod at the general idea of the bill. But the fix is so desperate and has been so clumsily imposed, it looks like it’s just going to cause more problems.
It also contradicts a constant boast that the NDP has made huge progress in speeding up approvals for housing, mining and water licences.
Bill 15 would speed things up even more, but by cherry-picking projects and “expediting” them to the front of the line for approvals.
A background document states: “Projects can be put to the front of the line for review.”
But the line will still be there. It doesn’t so much fix the congestion as bypass it. Streamlining everything would be more effective than just shunting ideas that the NDP cabinet likes ahead of everything else.
Critics have made those points and more. But Eby has deemed it a confidence vote.
So NDP MLAs are under orders to show confidence that the government knows what it is doing.
That doesn’t mean the rest of us do.
