https://business.financialpost.com/
As the Senate continues its hearings on Bill C-69, it might be useful to focus on what is claimed to be the objective of the new environmental and regulatory approval act: A fairer, faster regulatory system.
Calgary’s National Energy Board will become a less-powerful Canadian Energy Regulator while an Ottawa-based body, the Impact Assessment Agency, will provide final advice to the government to determine whether a project is in the “public interest.”
The new legislation is ostensibly intended to reduce delays for federal approval of resource projects while providing greater political acceptability. It is hard to see how that will be case.
Three phases of review are mind-boggling in scope: planning, assessment and decision-making. The planning phase provides early consultation with public and Indigenous groups about proposed projects.
The list of exactly which kinds of projects those will be is yet to be determined. The Impact Assessment Agency will then need to make a determination — supposedly within 180 days — whether to proceed with the further assessment.
For the rest of this column: https://business.financialpost.com/opinion/jack-mintz-how-bill-c-69-could-escalate-regulatory-costs-until-projects-become-unworkable