Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I think most importantly.... For many, many years I was involved in municipal-level government, and then there was provincial, and the thing I heard about over and over and over again was the unnecessary duplication, the incredible frustration. I think in British Columbia, they just had a project finally approved after 15 years in an environmental assessment process.
We believe we need to move forward and hit that balance—that balance between giving yeses or noes to those people who are moving through the process, between having a very rigorous environmental assessment process that protects the environment while allowing important projects to move forward.
With respect to the comments by the chair, I'll speak specifically to the first amendment, which is the proposed amendment NDP-2
I think it's important to say that this preamble is not necessary for the operation of our Environmental Assessment Act, and it actually doesn't line up well with the body of the legislation. We've taken the approach of four pillars of responsible resource development. Those pillars include more predictable and timely reviews, as it shouldn't take someone 15 years for a ski resort to be approved; reduced duplication, as we shouldn't have the same answers going to the province and then to the federal government eight to ten years apart, which is just an incredible waste of time and resources, when it is the same question; strengthened environmental protection; and enhanced consultation with aboriginal groups, absolutely recognizing the important partnership and consultation that needs to happen.
You know, if the NDP looked at it in the whole, they'd certainly recognize and see that on pages 35 to 37 we have a much stronger statement about the context of the act, and that therefore the proposed preamble is actually unnecessary.
Again, I think what we need to do is look at the important things we're trying to accomplish, the important pillars, and really to move forward in a strong and positive way for both our responsible resource development and protecting our environment.
Thank you.