Chamber Letter to the Senate of Canada re: Bill C-69: 12/17/2018

December 17, 2018

The Senate of Canada
c/o Senator Richard Neufeld
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A4

By Email: richard.neufeld@sen.parl.gc.ca sencom@sen.parl.gc.ca

Re: Bill C-69

Dear Senators;

I am writing on behalf of the Fort Nelson & District Chamber of Commerce in regards to our concerns with Bill C-69. We represent over 225 businesses in the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality (NRRM). The NRRM is located at Mile 300 of the Alaska Highway in the NE corner of BC. As the provinces first and only regional municipality we service a land base of over 85,000 km2 or approximately 10% of the Province of British Columbia.

We are in full support of Canada having a strong environmental assessment process where industry is held to a standard that ensures projects are safe and environmentally responsible. Living and working in Northern BC we truly appreciate the beauty and diversity of our environment and believe in protecting it.

We are concerned that Bill C-69 will make what is already an extensive environmental assessment process more complicated. We have already seen several pipeline projects not proceed even after companies have undergone lengthy, thorough and expensive reviews, spending billions of dollars and meeting every environmental requirement.

The proposed legislation will make the regulatory process more complicated at a time when we should be streamlining and supporting the Canadian resource sector. Bill C-69 poses a serious risk to Canada’s competitiveness at a critical time as investor uncertainty continues to increase.

Our region and communities are already experiencing the economic impacts of the downturn in the gas industry due to pricing and the regulatory process. A strong economy and jobs are a critical component of community health and socio-economic factors must be part of decision making. Companies must have a clear set of rules and expectations they need to meet but once those conditions are met must have confidence that they will be able to move forward without the bar continuously changing.

We encourage the Government of Canada to put forward constructive changes to Bill C-69 that ensure Canada’s energy sector can remain competitive and future energy projects can be approved.

Please feel free to contact me at any time if you need further information.

Sincerely,

Bev Vandersteen,
Executive Director

Cc: Bob Zimmer, Member of Parliament

PDF of letter available here