Barring an Ebenezer Grinch steals back Christmas, Easter and Hanukkah type moment, Stephen Harper and his Conservative government are going to comprehensively re-regulate how Mother Nature does her business.
It will be as painful on the old girl as it sounds: U.S. Republican-style deregulation with a maple-syrup middle-finger Tory twist. In this variation, it`s not enough to strip federal oversight of the environment; instead, the changes will allow the government and the environment to work as efficiently as possible for business.
For example, pipeline projects like Enbridge`s Northern Gateway can be rejected by the National Energy Board if they have unacceptable environmental impacts. According to the Globe and Mail, the NEB has rarely used that power but that`s not good enough for the Harper Tories - they`re changing the law so that a final decision would transferred to cabinet ministers. They don't want the watchdogs toothless - the Tories need to kick them in the chops to make sure their teeth are gone and their jaws are broken.
The change is but one in what Postmedia says are 150 pages of rewrites to Canada`s environmental laws contained in the Tories` latest omnibus bill. Among the edits are shifting the power to conduct environmental assessments to a cabinet minister; altering the Fisheries Act so the focus is not on protecting habitat but supporting more commercial endeavours (maybe Captain Highliner will be put on the cover); reducing protections for animals in the Species at Risk Act; eliminating reporting requirements on climate change; and killing the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy.
On top of this is the government`s ongoing pogrom against environmental groups - the latest was Environment Minister Peter Kent`s claim some charities were `laundering` foreign money`; staff cuts to key governmental agencies that oversee the environment; and the government`s muzzling of its own scientists.
Now, to be fair, Canada`s environmental laws were in drastic need of reworking, with tangled provincial and federal regulators requiring companies to answer the same question too many times. But the Tory approach isn`t a remedy, it`s a cynical botch of a cure that involves chopping off the patient`s head, hands and feet.
More importantly, this province and northern B.C. in particular, lies at the bottom of the petrie dish when it comes to the Tories` experimental environmental policy.
The effects of Tory reregulation will be felt most strongly in this region through the aforementioned $5.5 billion Northern Gateway, which will carry oilsands crude and condensate back and forth between the Alberta oilsands and Asian markets. After the omnibus rewrite, the only way the Conservatives could further support the project is if Prime Minister Stephen Harper dressed as Marilyn Monroe and sang Happy Birthday to Enbridge president Patrick Daniel when he steps down at the end of 2012.
That means, unfortunately, the current Northern Gateway regulatory process has been rendered a ludcrious exercise in lip service, if not an outright sham. For environmental groups, the message on Enbridge is clear: come to war or don`t come at all. For First Nations, it appears only the danger of being labelled bigots has prevented aboriginals opposing the pipeline from being covered by the Tory smear machine.
They face a far more difficult choice: enjoy good relations with federal government or brace for the consequences of standing in the Tories` way. Plus, there`s also Enbridge`s offer of a 10 per cent stake in the pipeline for First Nations to share
The province also finds itself in a peculiar position on Enbridge and the environment. Even the B.C. Liberals, free market spirits they may be, haven`t quite broken out the poms poms and pleated skirts for either the Northern Gateway or Kinder Morgan`s Trans Mountain pipeline. As environment minister Terry Lake recently demurred to the Globe and Mail, Alberta has the oilsands but B.C. has the coast - if the former wants to use the latter to get to Asian markets, there better be something more - tax revenues, royalties - than the wispy promise of hundreds of billions of construction jobs Enbridge is saying will come from building pipeline.
Mason points out that opposition is bound to deepen if the NDP maintain their lead in the polls and form the next provincial government. Part of the Tory plan is to download responsibility for environmental assessment to the provinces but they`re probably going to want to keep the reins in the short term, especially since B.C. signed a deal in 2010 recognizing the authority of the NEB in regards to Gateway.
NDP leader Adrian Dix has already written a letter to the NEB outlining his concerns about the pipeline. But, according to Postmedia, it would be trickier finding a way to stop it. But, as Mason points out in the Globe, Premier Dix would be tangling directly with Harper and Alberta Premier Alison Redford on Enbridge and perhaps Trans Mountain, making for a particularly ugly next few years in intergovernmental affairs.
And the problem is, it`s not just Enbridge - it`s mines like Taseko`s Prosperity and Imperial Metal`s Red Chris. It`s the forests, and managing fibre in the wake of the mountain pine beetle epidemic.
The old process was slow, cumbersome and capricious but the new world of Tory environmental reregulation will be fast and chaotic. Since the process will be so damaged no one can trust it, opposition will be forced to look elsewhere - in public, in the courts and beyond - in order to be heard.
The results will be antagonistic, polarized and politicized. It will be war and arguments over whether a project is right or wrong will be lost in the rush to march to the sound of gunfire.
