B.C. talks tough on Ottawa red tape
B.C. Lieutenant-Governor Steven Point reads the government's throne speech in Victoria Tuesday.
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Updated: February 09, 2010 6:05 PM
VICTORIA – The B.C. government's throne speech takes an unusually harsh swipe at Ottawa for leaving private sector investments "stranded in the mire" of duplicated federal environmental assessments.
In Tuesday's agenda-setting speech, the province repeats a long-standing demand that the B.C. and federal governments recognize each other's permit processes for mining, power and other projects.
Currently the B.C. government has issued permits for the Prosperity gold-copper mine proposed near Williams Lake, and the Upper Toba hydroelectric project on the southwest coast. Both projects now await a federal permit that involves no new environmental studies, but as was the case with the Kitimat liquefied natural gas proposal, could take nearly two more years.
Premier Gordon Campbell said these delays are holding up about $3 billion in B.C. investment, at a time when both governments are running big deficits to boost public investment and get unemployed people back to work.
NDP leader Carole James said she is in favour of reducing red tape for industrial projects, but she is concerned about Campbell seeking more authority for B.C. when cuts are expected in the environment ministry this year.
"I heard cutbacks in the public service, I heard cutbacks in health care," James said when asked for her impression of the speech. "I heard tightening of the public's belt, I heard reductions in services over and over again. I think this is foreshadowing a very tough budget that's going to come down in March."
The throne speech contained a reference to a provincial-municipal committee to look at local taxation of industrial plants. B.C.'s property tax rates are substantially higher than in other provinces, leading to mill closures and lawsuits against municipalities from companies such as Catalyst Paper.
Catalyst vice-president Lyn Brown said the company is encouraged that the province has become involved.
"This opens the door for action on the tax problem and it sends a message to all of us – municipalities, industry and labour – that a cooperative approach on the tax issue can bring real solutions," Brown said.
James described the joint committee as "old news," and the latest indication that the Campbell government has run out of ideas for the B.C. economy after the 2010 Olympics.
