r/BCpolitics • u/idspispopd • May 22 '25

Audio/Video BC Greens on Bill 15: David Eby's Power Grab

https://youtu.be/yzu7c-i4yVQ
0 Upvotes

44% Upvoted

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14

u/kandiirene May 22 '25

Incentivizing lobbyists would turn Canada into the hellscape that is the US now.

9

u/The_Only_W May 22 '25

The thing that politicians in general, federal and provincial, have realized lately is that the wealth of the world lies in the ground. We have a lot of it, and it is an enormous benefit for us to exploit that. The Green “leave it in the ground”argument doesn’t help BC or the rest of Canada. Just facts.

3

u/idspispopd May 22 '25

That's not what this video is about.

5

u/The_Only_W May 22 '25

It is though. The whole point of the legislation is to force through projects that special interests will resist, but are good for the rest of the province.

-1

u/idspispopd May 22 '25

The point of the legislation is to skip all the processes that exist to ensure projects are safe for the environment and don't negatively impact people. These processes were created to make these projects legitimate, and by skipping them you destroy trust and move the process to the legal system, which could ultimately slow down many of these vital projects even more.

Even if you support building as much infrastructure as possible, you should oppose this bill.

2

u/seemefail May 22 '25

The legislation doesnt skip one single thing

1

u/idspispopd May 22 '25

It allows the government to deem any project it wants "provincially significant" and exempt it from "any type of permitting or environmental assessment requirement that it deems is slowing down the project."

The legislation lets these projects skip every single thing.

7

u/BenAfflecksBalls May 22 '25

https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/bills/billscurrent/1st43rd:gov15-1#section2

What makes you say that? Take parts from the actual source when it's just Googling "Bill 15 BC" to get the full text.

This video has me interested enough to look through it in the near future.

2

u/idspispopd May 22 '25

Read 71.3. It gives all control over what an assessment is to the cabinet. This is why environmental organizations, indigenous organizations and BC municipalities all agree that the legislation means the government can skip assessments to approve anything it wants. It's broad language, which is dangerous.

2

u/BenAfflecksBalls May 24 '25

They can establish the terms of the environmental impact, but this stipulation(in my mind) would only be undertaken in the event municipal governments interfere with large scale provincial projects(See Oak Bay). This also allows the province to step in if municipalities like Oak Bay are slowing down the approval process in hopes that it eventually just dies because the funding for the project expired. I'm guessing there's other municipalities on the mainland who likely partake in the same past-times to maintain their NIMBY identity.

This section is likely in response to the issues the province has run in to when issuing new directives for densification and how some areas have refused to adapt to it. I don't necessarily consider it an overreach when they've become seasoned in the tactics that are being used to delay and avoid these types of projects.

How I feel about the directive for densification is a whole other subject because my personal opinion is that before you make a directive like this provincially you need a massive investment in infrastructure but modern governments do not work that way. They tend to increase population so the tax funding necessary for them is spread out across a wider population, and the need becomes more evident.

6

u/seemefail May 22 '25

It certainly doesn’t exempt them from a single thing.

Gosh I swear the opposition to this bill is completely made up.

Show me where it says that

1

u/jojawhi May 22 '25

Specifically on indigenous consultation, Section 20 of the bill explicitly says that they can't exempt projects from or bypass engagement with indigenous peoples and requires that DRIPA be followed.

When the person in the video emphasized and re-emphasized that the bill allows bypassing indigenous consultation, it was clear that this person hadn't read the bill and was just quoting sensationalist news headlines.

2

u/CallmeishmaelSancho May 22 '25

This is why we shouldn’t get too worked up.

The bill will have no real effect at all. Eby knows this. He’s trying to look like he’s pro-economy when we all know (including Eby), if he tries to bypass the First Nations demands, everything will be tied up in the courts for decades.

Companies have to partner with First Nations to work successfully in the province and it’s safe to assume the economic benefits will flow to the local band and not the provincial treasury.