Budget to include new approval process for natural resources projects
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Thursday's federal budget will finally reveal the Conservatives' new, faster review process for major resource projects.
"There will be some information provided," Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said on Tuesday. "I haven't seen the budget, but I know there will be comments about the modernization of regulation."
He told the Commons natural resources committee that legislation would follow.
Oliver's committee appearance follows a cross-Canada tour to promote a quicker review process, which would include a specific time limit and less federal-provincial duplication.
But the minister didn't say Tuesday if the budget will include the new time limits.
NDP natural resources critic Claude Gravelle questions the need for a faster review.
"The process is not that long," said Gravelle. "They're saying that it takes years, and years, and years. We have facts that say it doesn't take years and years. It takes months."
Oliver has often pointed to the nine-year approval process for the Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline through Northwest Territories as an example of why faster reviews are necessary.
Still, Liberal natural resources critic David McGuinty worries that "arbitrary" timelines for reviews would compromise an independent process.
McGuinty also said it wouldn't be right for the Tories to "bury" the faster review process in the budget instead of first holding hearings on the issue and then introducing changes.
Oliver says those fears are unfounded.
"The proposed review will require legislative change, and therefore it will undergo the same sort of review that every other piece of legislation does," he said.