Quote:
It’s as if this legislation has been modelled after J.R.R. Tolkien’s “one ring to rule them all” – Tourism and Sport Minister Jacob Schow and his successors will be able to arbitrarily exempt a resort proposal from any existing protective legislation, fast track the proposal without public consultation or input, and shield the development from review by the Natural Resources Conservation Board.
That is substantial power entrusted to a department (and a minister) with no experience or expertise in land-use planning, including assessing environmental impacts.
Added to this, the act, which was passed by the Legislature on Wednesday and given Royal Assent on Thursday, exempts development on all-season resort areas from the normal environmental planning, reviewing and permitting processes applied to activities on public lands.
What could possibly go wrong with headwaters water quality and quantity, species at risk habitats, wildfire prevention, and more human traffic with such a cavalier attitude?
In addition, there is no provision in the new law for consultation with Indigenous peoples, affected communities, or existing tourism-focused activities.
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https://albertapolitics.ca/2024/12/g...season-resort/
I know people want new mountain playgrounds, and I'm not totally against that, but I'm not sure giving a UCP minister carte blanche powers to exempt private corporations from...well...everything, is the greatest way of getting there.
This also seems like a doorway to lawsuits, and I don't quite understand how provincial legislation allows for exempting them from federal review requirements. The most likely assumption is that they don't understand, either. Looks like another disaster in the making from this gang of goobers.