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Locals present to senate committee regarding Bill C-69

After receiving invitations to speak in front of the senate committee regarding Bill C-69, local representatives outlined their concerns surrounding the impacts the current legislation could have.
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Serina Parsons (centre), executive director for the Bonnyville and District Chamber of Commerce, and Robyn Ducharme (right), president for the chamber, sat on a panel addressing Bill C-69 during the standing senate committee meeting on Wednesday, April 10.

After receiving invitations to speak in front of the senate committee regarding Bill C-69, local representatives outlined their concerns surrounding the impacts the current legislation could have.

Town of Bonnyville Mayor Gene Sobolewski made a presentation on behalf of the Coalition of Canadian Municipalities for Energy Action, while Serina Parsons, executive director of the Bonnyville and District Chamber of Commerce, participated on a panel in Fort McMurray during the committee meeting on Wednesday, April 10.

Parsons took her allotted time to focus on how Bill C-69 would negatively affect the local area.

"What I focused on was the uncertainty in our economy, what we've experienced in Bonnyville, the MD, and across the entire Lakeland and how that would be further impacted negatively if Bill C-69 is passed as-is," she explained. "We've already seen a lot of foreign investors lose confidence in the Alberta oil and gas industry due to the fact that we can't get our product to market, but we feel that if Bill C-69 is passed that it will only get worse."

Bill C-69 is described as the act that will enact the Impact Assessment Act and the Canadian Energy Regulator Act, while amending the Navigation Protection Act. It passed first reading in the House of Commons in February, and deals with the regulations placed on the resources industry, including new projects.

The senate committee on energy, the environment, and natural resources held public hearings across Canada to gather feedback on the proposed legislation from a wide variety of stakeholders.

While the local chamber believes the overall idea behind it is positive, Parsons stressed that aspects need to be changed to ensure it won't substantial adverse affects.

"Some of the language will delay regulation process, hinder sovereign rights within our provinces, and people that aren't directly impacted by the bill or projects seeking approvals can, as it stands right now, halt the process. We want only the people that are directly related to having any say in projects that are moving forward," she detailed.

Parsons described the experience as "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

After attending a meeting with senators organized by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) in February, the chamber was invited to submit an application to appear before the senate committee.

"I was really excited to be the only rural chamber in Alberta to speak regarding the impacts of Bill C-69 and the impacts it would have on our area."

Sobolewski, along with Wood Buffalo Mayor Don Scott, made a presentation on behalf of the Coalition of Canadian Municipalities for Energy Action detailing their concerns with the bill.

"We pointed out to the senators that there was a number of issues with Bill C-69, and it was going to have a devastating impact on municipalities, depending on the triggers used. The language is so vague that local projects could be subject to vulgarities in that bill," he said. "In other words, local projects could be elevated to having to undertake this rigorous... international public scrutiny."

According to Sobolewski, their presentation was well received and offered two angles for the senators to consider.

"(Scott) provided a county perspective as one of the largest oil municipalities that rely on the linear assessments from oil revenues. Then the Town of Bonnyville, as a municipality that relies on the service sector – the contractors to the oil patch, those companies and businesses that set up, we were able to provide quite a dynamic in terms of how the bill will impact energy," he detailed.

Sobolewski agreed with Parsons the bill should be amended to address areas of concerns.

"More consultations with stakeholders, or exemptions of municipal projects and removing some of the vagueness to the bill that will kill investment of large projects, in our case resource projects, to become more in-line with what needs to happen, and remove the necessity for this massive public scrutiny that this bill puts on, and remove the veto from ministers."

The coalition will continue to recruit other municipalities and hope to build on their efforts in Ottawa in May.

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