Recently tabled at Queen’s Park, the Protect Ontario By Unleashing Our Economy Act would “cut red tape” and get mines built faster by slashing redundant bureaucracy.
So described provincial Energy and Mines Minister Stephen Lecce during a speech to local journalists at the MacLean Engineering underground mining equipment training area in Sudbury on April 24.
Lecce is on a tour of Northern Ontario to promote the legislation and has an appearance slated to take place in Thunder Bay the next day.
“For too long, politicians have often been obstructionists in getting things done,” Lecce said during the event. “They lack the imagination of the ambition to do big things.”
The proposed legislation makes “a commitment to reduce the time it takes to move with a sense of urgency while still maintaining the highest end of environmental protection while fully respecting Indigenous duty to consult,” he said, pledging to reduce timelines in the province by roughly 50 per cent.
The approach centres on a “one project, one process” approach wherein rather than dealing with several ministries, projects would be streamlined through one department.
“If we want to grow the economy, we need to ensure we protect the environment, too,” Lecce told Sudbury.com following his speech. “Both can be true.”
“If we want to be a strong, self-reliant economy, we’ve got to unlock the resource potential of Canada,” he said.
“If we care about the environment, then we will care about the mines being exploited — and I’m being very generous and diplomatic with my words — in Africa by the Chinese, with precisely no labour standards. We’re talking about egregious violations of law that undermine the dignity of the person.”
On this point, he later added, “We are going to protect Canadian resources and keep Canadian minerals in Canadian hands because of these nefarious actors around the world.”
Criticizing a political environment rife with what he described as redundant bureaucracy, Lecce said it’s not clear how Ontario got to this point.
“I’m not the guy to explain why government doesn’t work,” he said. “I’m here to try to fix it.”
During an “economic war” with the United States, he said, “we’ve got to seize the moment.”
Although the province has promoted their proposed actions to streamline natural resource development as not coming at the expense of environmental regulations, the environmental organization Ecojustice Canada has noted that it would repeal the Ontario Endangered Species Act and replace it with the Species Conservation Act.
“The Species Conservation Act would replace the strict criteria for habitat protection with a discretionary regime,” according to Ecojustice. “This regime would offer very limited protection to only a tiny fraction of the habitats species need to survive and recover.”
The advocacy group cautions that the province would gut environmental assessment processes and, also contrary to what Lecce said in Sudbury, fast-track development “without proper consultation or consent from Indigenous communities.”
Lecce was asked about the province repealing the Endangered Species Act; an inquiry he responded to indirectly.
“What the bill does is it includes stronger provisions for investigative powers for the ministry of environment,” he said, adding that compliance and mitigation efforts join increased prosecution for those who break the rules.
“The message for any industry listening is zero tolerance. The expectation is absolute commitment to the law, and the moral obligation they have to their workers.”
He also said they’re roughly quadrupling funding for conservation programs to approximately $20 million to help restore habitats and protect the environment.
Sudbury.com reached out to Sudbury NDP MPP and Mining Critic Jamie West following the media conference to get his reaction to the province’s mining legislation.
“There are a lot of different pieces of documentation you need to open a mine, and the idea of having someone take them through and shorten that process makes sense, as long as it’s done responsibly and you’re not excluding parts of it,” he said, later adding that this part of what the province has proposed “is a great idea.”
The part that causes him pause, “hidden in the other 200 pages of the bill,” are provisions around special economic zones.
It would allow the province to declare areas special economic zones, which allows them to bypass existing bylaws and legislation, which West said could include such things as environmental and labour laws.
“The (Progressive) Conservative government hasn’t really earned the trust of the people of Ontario to operate without guardrails,” West said, pointing to the Greenbelt scandal under investigation by the RCMP and Therme luxury spa in Toronto as examples.
Mayor Paul Lefebvre offered the province his stamp of approval during the event.
“Streamlining approvals through the one permit one process approach is a smart and necessary step,” he said.
“It eliminates duplication, reduces delays and provides the clarity and confidence investors, Indigenous partners and communities need to move forward responsibly and efficiently.
“When we move faster, without compromising environmental standards or Indigenous obligations … we strengthen Canada’s position on the world stage and the competitive advantage of Ontario, create jobs and attract investments needed to secure our future.”
The Protect Ontario By Unleashing Our Economy Act was tabled last week, and although Lecce said he didn’t want to “pre-suppose the outcome,” it’s a majority government and that he’d anticipate a summer of consultations and autumn implementation.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
