Local officials are doing what they can to lobby the federal government when it comes to Bill C-69.
Known as the act that will enact the Impact Assessment Act and the Canadian Energy Regulator Act, while amending the Navigation Protection Act, among others, Bill C-69 has been described as unclear and “just another nail in the coffin.”
“There’s no business sense in anything that the (federal government is) doing. It’s just an environmentalist agenda. It almost feels like they’re trying to kill the resource sector in Canada,” expressed City of Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland.
Cold Lake, along with the Town and MD of Bonnyville, are working on lobbying the government for change to the act.
“This is an incredibly important issue to our area. We’ve seen the impacts on households, businesses, and individuals. It’s devastating for a lot of families,” MD Reeve Greg Sawchuk stated. “As a politician, it’s very frustrating right now that we can’t make more of an impact and get the message out there to our federal government that this industry is a lifeblood to Alberta and supporting the rest of Canada.”
Bill C-69 passed first reading in the House of Commons in February, and according to Sawchuk, increases regulations put on the oil and gas industry.
A lack of clarity was another issue for municipal leaders.
Town Mayor Gene Sobolewski noted this as one of the items that makes the bill such an issue.
“We need to get a message out that some of the language in C-69 needs to be rewritten or changed and modified to provide more certainty in the oil patch,” he stressed.
The bill has a long-list of new items added under the Impact Assessment Act, such as providing a process for assessing the environmental, health, social, and economic effects of projects, establishes a time line when it comes to the planning phase, impact assessments, and certain decisions, and further public participation.
Under the Canadian Energy Regulator Act, Bill C-69 has addressed the regulation of pipelines, abandoned pipelines, and traffic, tolls and tariffs relating to the transmission of oil or gas through pipelines. It also includes the regulation of access to lands, exportation of oil, gas, and electricity, and the interprovincial oil and gas trade.
The final act addressed in the bill is the Canada Oil and Gas Operations Act. Amendments were made that now require the minister to consider any adverse effects that may have on the rights of Indigenous people when making a decision, among others.
“(Cenovus) are asking for a letter for changes. They recognize the importance of consultation, but they need to have some security that there’s timelines and that these regulations won’t further decrease investments in this industry,” detailed Sawchuk.
He continued, “The biggest thing is the increase in regulation, and a lack of clarity as to when the whole process would end... Without having an end date, so when a project is applied for and when it would have to have a decisions, without that, you could have special interests groups coming out and continually putting legal challenges, and those could go on forever.”
Investors “see that as an added cost,” Sawchuk noted.
During the City of Cold Lake’s council meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 27, they voted in favour of sending a letter to the province, the same was done during the MD’s meeting the next day.
“Whether or not our letter accomplishes anything, I think it’s just another voice,” Copeland exclaimed. “We’re really concerned about future projects in our area. Between the federal government and the province, there have been so many changes to policy and regulation that it doesn’t make economic sense to be invested in Alberta.”
Sawchuk added, “It’s a big one, and as the MD, we’re going to continue to fight for our area.”
