Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is pledging to create a “one and done” system for resource project approvals and rapidly approve 10 projects he says are stuck in the “slow federal approval process.”
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson cautioned that Poilievre’s aim to get project approvals done in six to 12 months is too ambitious — and legally risky. That speed of approvals “is almost certainly a recipe for ending up in court on an ongoing basis,” he told Canada’s National Observer in a phone interview.
Trying to do Indigenous consultation on that tight timeline, particularly with communities that don’t have a lot of resources, will lead to challenged approvals for failing to sufficiently consult with Indigenous communities, Wilkinson said.
I know for a fact that BC is not going to allow this to happen. The BC Conservatives (Social Credit) did this back in the 80’s, and the result was a bunch of American companies strip mining and clear cutting their way through the province. It created a lot of temporary employment and even started up a bunch of small towns…but once those companies had taken what they wanted, they all fucked off back to the US and took all the extracted wealth with them, leaving folks without work, and a ton of environmental damage to clean up.
Needless to say, the BC Conservatives have never gained another majority since then.