FELDSTED – Instead of conferring with their constituents in seeking solutions, they pretend that their paid consultants are smarter than we are

This goofy clause in Bill C-69 will ensure resource development in Canada stops cold -- This is not legislation. This is sabotage

Diane Francis ~~ Financial Post  ~~ May 13, 2019

The Liberals’ Bill C-69, a train wreck of politically correct nonsense, passed last year and is now in the Senate where dozens of amendments have been proposed.

Frankly, the Senate should reject the bill because it will impose onerous consultative and other burdens that will severely hobble all energy projects in future. It grants power to the environment minister — not the minister of natural resources — over fossil fuel, mining, nuclear, pipeline, and rail transportation projects.

… the hidden coup de grace for the Canadian energy sector is a goofy requirement that projects will be judged according to “the intersection of sex and gender with other identity factors.”

Whatever that means …

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It is more and more apparent that we are governed by idiots.

The majority of Canadians are environmentally conscious and welcome reasonable legislation to protect our air, land and water from contamination.

Most environmental legislation is irrational. There must be a balance between environmental protection and economic development. It is not possible to develop resources, expand industry and improve infrastructure without risk to the environment. We cannot build additional housing or services people need without some risk.

We have seen urbanization result in unintended consequences for years. Adding a few hundred acres of housing, shopping centres and civic structures turns land that once absorbed moisture and slowed spring runoffs into areas that change the flow of melting snows and speed the resultant water into nearby rivers that can no longer contain the influx resulting in flooding.

We allow development in low-lying areas without building dikes or levees to protect them from floods with predicable results. Politicians are blaming ‘climate change’ for poor urban planning. We are spending $ billions year after year on flood damage rather than addressing the problem and setting standards that prevent developments in flood prone areas, building protective barriers to prevent recurrence and condemning housing that floods frequently.

Spring news clips of people desperately building temporary dikes of sandbags to protect their homes and business are an indicator that we have gone around the bend to insanity. It is possible to have a one in a hundred years flood where properties flood for the first time ever. That is rare.

When I was a youngster living on a central Manitoba farm, the whole community was acutely aware of land drainage and the effects it has on farming operations. There were very strict rules about interfering with the web of natural creeks and rivers that carried away spring runoff. Digging of drainage ditches was carefully considered for its effects on adjacent farms and residences. There was often heated controversy over potential harm to area residents.

The point is that development required better drainage, and that entailed some risks.

The community worked together to maximize improvement while minimizing risk. It did not work out perfectly. There were some casualties of the changes made. There was a real effort to minimize the casualties that is absent in urban planning.

We need to return to that common-sense practical, community engaged analysis of development and environmental protection. Legislators and protest groups are singularly ill-equipped to deal with practical matters.

Our governments have forgotten that election to office does not give them solutions to problems. They are no different than they were prior to election. Instead of conferring with their constituents in seeking solutions, they pretend that their paid consultants are smarter than we are.

Guess what?

We can balance a bank account and budget to avoid bankruptcy. No government since Ralph Klein has managed that and his governments made quite a few mistakes.

If we want better governance, we have to get involved. We have to ask the tough questions our media will not. We have to make it clear we want better governance, not excuses. We want to regain a voice in our governance.

We will not achieve that by remaining silent.