Northwest B.C. MP Nathan Cullen responded with some sharp words of his own Monday after federal Environment Minister Joe Oliver damned "radical" environmentalists opposed to Canadian resource development.
Oliver also said the government is considering measures to speed up Canada's regulatory process for major natural resource initiatives, which Cullen interpreted as denying members of the public a chance to give their say on proposals.
"What's next? Is voting too much of a hassle to contemplate? Are they trying to completely suppress all participation in our country?" said Cullen, the MP for Skeena-Bulkley Valley who has served stints as the NDP's environment and energy and natural resources critic.
Echoing comments made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Friday, Oliver said in an interview Sunday "radical" environmentalists and "jet-setting celebrities" are trying to block the effort to diversify the markets for Canada's energy products away from the United State.
"These groups threaten to hijack our regulatory system to achieve their radical ideological agenda," Oliver said. "They seek to exploit any loophole they can find, stacking public hearings with bodies to ensure that delays kill good projects. They use funding from foreign special interest groups to undermine Canada's national economic interest."
Oliver comments came just as public consultations on the Northern Gateway Pipeline proposal begin in Kitimat tonight.
Prince George-Mackenzie MLA Pat Bell was receptive to Oliver's indication the regulatory process will be speeded up.
"That definitely aligns with our view," said Bell, the provincial Liberal government's Jobs, Tourism and Innovation Minister. "I believe that processes need to be thorough but I don't think that they need to be unreasonably long in terms of the time that is spent on them.
"Time does not necessarily equate into thoroughness of a process and we've seen processes drag on for years and years over projects where there is a high degree of uncertainty for the proponents and that is not helpful from the investment perspective."
One way to shorten processes is to refrain from pursuing unneeded studies, Bell said.
"Once the issue is studied and the reviews are done, then you should carry on," he said. "It doesn't need to be restudied a third or fourth or fifth or sixth time."
Bell declined to comment directly on whether the process for the Northern Gateway project is taking too long - a decision will be made in late 2013 - saying it crosses provincial borders and is "hugely complex."
But for proposals limited to a single provincial jurisdiction and largely the territory of a single first nation, like Taseko's Prosperity Mine southwest of Williams Lake, Bell said the federal and provncial processes should be combined into one and should take no longer than six months as a rule of thumb.
"We have been advocating for a single environmental assessment process for projects within the province of British Columbia for some time now," Bell said.
West Coast Environmental Law executive director Jessica Clogg disagreed.
She noted that the Prosperity Mine proposal won provincial approval but it failed to pass a federal review process. The proposal is now going through a second federal review hinging on a different plan to deal with the mine's tailings. "It takes time to do the jobs right and to ensure that people have a democratic voice in the process," Clogg said.
Dogwood Initiative spokeswoman Emma Gilchrist dismissed Oliver's comments about funding from foreign special interest groups, saying several foreign companies are intervenors in the Northern Gateway review process.
Less than $150,000 of Dogwood's $600,000 annual budget comes from foreign sources, she said.
- with files from Canadian Press
