University of Northern British Columbia president Geoff Payne says new provincial infrastructure legislation aimed at speeding up infrastructure projects in partnership with post-secondary institutions, local governments, Crown agencies, First Nations and the private sector.
On Thursday, May 1, the BC Government unveiled the Infrastructure Projects Act in the Legislature.
A media release sent out by Premier David Eby and Infrastructure Minister Bowinn Ma said that with the economic uncertainty created by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods and BC’s extensive population growth, there’s a need to speed up key infrastructure projects in both the public and private realms.
As part of that release, Payne was quoted as saying that the legislation presents new opportunities for universities like UNBC.
“Colleges and universities in BC need the facilities to equip students for the future and the changing needs of the workforce, but we’re facing growing financial pressures as we try to do that,” he said.
“This legislation will allow us to work closer with government on projects that our students need so we can deliver faster and help strengthen our communities.”
The bill aims to codify the powers for the Ministry of Infrastructure, which was created after last year’s provincial election.
It would affect two types of projects.
The first is category one projects, which include all projects undertaken by the Ministry of Infrastructure and projects led by other ministries.
The second is category two projects, which are those being developed by other partners, Crown agencies, local government, First Nations, private proponents and others chosen on a case-by-case basis as being “provincially significant.”
Under the first category, the Ministry of Infrastructure would be able to work with entities like school districts, post-secondary institutions and health authorities on a project-by-project basis to help speed up procurement.
As an example, the ministry could help procure modular expansions for schools in multiple districts at once or help smaller school districts who don’t have the capacity to take on major procurement projects.
For both category one and two projects, the government is introducing what it calls “acceleration tools” to help speed up provincial permitting, environmental assessments and local government approvals.
If the legislation passes, the provincial cabinet would be allowed to expedite selected projects through the provincial permitting process, essentially moving them to the front of the line.
However, the government is careful to emphasize that this would not reduce the quality of permitting and does not change the need for First Nations to be consulted on projects.
On some projects, designated qualified professionals would be able to certify that projects are in compliance with government standards, though complex permits will remain under the purview of ministries.
When it comes to environmental assessments, the legislation would allow for some low-risk provincial permits to be authorized after an environmental assessment certificate is issued.
As an example, the province said a tree-cutting permit could be issued for a mine site that has been issued an environmental assessment certificate rather than the applicant having to start the approval process over from the start for the tree cutting.
The province also said an alternate environmental assessment process would be developed to help expedite designated projects. Again, the province emphasized that environmental standards and Indigenous consultation would be maintained and upheld.
There are two items relating to the approval process for certain projects at the local government level, which encompasses both municipalities and regional district.
The first items would allow local governments to pass a resolution asking the province to waive or modify provincial planning requirements that projects have to align with Official Community Plans or regional growth strategies for designated processes.
However, health and safety items like building permits, occupancy permits and sewer or stormwater management cannot be waived.
Then, in order to get around lengthy approval processes at the local government level, the province would be able to enter into consultation with local governments to try to create an alternative authorization.
The province would try to enter a written agreement with the local government, but if that can’t be reached, the infrastructure minister would be allow to intervene to implement measures circumventing delays for the project.
The legislation would also allow a limited number of major projects being developed outside of the provincial government deemed to be in the public interest to be designated as projects of provincial significance.
These projects could be advanced by Crown agencies, local governments, First Nations and members of the private sector and would need to create either significant economic, social or environmental benefits for BC.
Those could include public infrastructure, critical mineral supply, food or water security, energy security, human health and safety, trade diversification, access to markets, post-disaster recovery and more.
During a media conference at the BC Legislature in the early afternoon, the premier confirmed that the legislation would not apply to any oil and gas projects and that the energy security projects referenced would have to be for renewables.
“For (liquified natural gas) plants themselves, for pipelines, that’s not what this legislation is about,” Eby said.
“We won’t be using it for though things. However, we will be using it for energy security. That could be anything from hydrogen plants, hydrogen generation. We have some important conversations about how we are going to safety transport hydrogen once it is generated.”
The premier added that this bill aligns with the clean energy projects that Energy Minister Adrian Dix is advancing, including going through the BC Energy Regulator to move forward on projects like the North Coast Transmission Line.
Eby was also asked about that transmission line, with a reporter from The Narwhal saying that internal government documents suggest that basically all the power it will carry has been asked for by mining and LNG projects.
“The line itself we expect and we actually hope will be used to power a lot of heavy industry in the northwest,” Eby said. The reason why we hope that is these are some of the biggest polluters in the province, some of our biggest point sources of carbon emissions.”
He said the London Metal Exchange is looking at preferred pricing and separate listing for sustainably-produced metals, which is a natural fit for British Columbia.
However, the premier said that the transmission line could also improve access to reliable three-phase power for some communities in the region, though it isn’t the project’s focus.
Asked how the legislation would expedite projects while maintaining environmental assessment standards, Eby said there are often steps within the assessment process that are required but don’t make sense for a particular project.
The act would allow the province to customize the steps taken within that process for critical projects, he said.
On the subject of the ongoing U.S.-Canada trade war, Eby said he would like Prime Minister Mark Carney to call the premier together to discuss how to eliminate internal trade barriers within Canada and to deal with economic challenges being faced by the provinces.
In BC, he said, the softwood lumber industry is under attack by the United States, with that country threatening to double duties on Canadian products. He called the national security investigation into Canada’s timber supply “ludicrous.”
Also speaking during the conference, Ma said while the province has worked to speed up infrastructure projects during the last eight years, some still “face unnecessary delays due to slow, unclear or duplicative approval processes, often with lengthy overlapping permitting requirements.”
“And with all the economic uncertainty that we are facing around the world more than ever, we need to deliver the projects that people and communities need faster so that we can strengthen our province and help secure our economy,” Ma said.
Speaking to the Citizen by phone after the announcement, Payne highlighted student housing and new research facilities as infrastructure pieces it could use.
“The other thing I would say on the legislation that I think is really important … (is) the opportunity to co-collaborate on infrastructure needs,” the UNBC president said. “Maybe that might be a housing need between ourselves and, say, the College of New Caledonia or it might be an infrastructure need that ourselves and Northern Health might want.”
Another aspect Payne said he appreciated about the legislation was the opportunity to showcase and streamline BC’s infrastructure processes while not reducing the province’s commitment to things like environmental standards.
When it comes to student housing, Payne said what the Prince George campus lacks is housing for graduate and family settings as the existing facilities are centred around undergraduate students.
The need for more student housing isn’t just isolated to Prince George, either. Payne said when the university was working on its strategic plan, they heard from partners in Quesnel, Fort St. John and Terrace that units are needed for students in those communities as well.
A few days prior to the announcement, Canadians went to the polls and re-elected a Liberal minority government with new Prime Minister Mark Carney at the head.
Payne said UNBC is interested in speaking to the new federal government about how it could partner on applied research projects that tie into the economic stimulus that Carney is looking to generate.
He added that the university plays an important role in training health-care providers, which could be used to stimulate growth in northern and rural communities in Canada.
In another phone interview, Prince George-North Cariboo Conservative MLA Sheldon Clare said the stated goals of the bill sound great, but the devil will be in the details.
“We’ll have to have a close look at the bill and see exactly what this will do,” Clare said.
“I think there’s legitimate concerns about fast tracking some projects, which may have environmental concerns. The government seems to have affection for wind farms. I don’t think they’re as clean as they’re made out to be in their construction, application and eventual retirement.”
When the provincial government announced Bill 7, which would grant it certain powers to respond to the American tariffs, one of the since-withdrawn provisions would have seen the cabinet given leeway to bypass the legislature when making certain decisions.
With this new legislation giving the provincial government the power to potentially bypass local governments, Clare said his party prefers to not have municipalities be micromanaged though he also said he needed more time to look over the bill’s specifics.
Clare added that his party would continue to do due diligence on making sure resource extraction projects like oil, gas and mining get the permits they need so they can produce the revenues BC needs to keep going.
