I have serious concerns…

I have serious concerns about the Special Economic Zones, mostly around the lack of safeguards. Rushing to start and complete projects must never be executed without considered input from expertise and community members who would be most impacted and without due respect for the environment.

More specifically, I worry that managers of designated projects are merely required to consider health and environmental risks. “Consideration” in no way protects either the health of impacted residents nor the environment.

My second specific worry is that Cabinet approval for projects is undertaken by a very small number of individuals, some of whom have no expertise in the projects on which they will be making decisions.

Thirdly, is there not a major gap in the proposed framework related to Indigenous considerations? Where is a mandatory tool to ensure respect for the rights of First Nations communities, including genuine consultation and adherence to the decisions they make?

Lastly, I believe the Minister has too much power to make the weightiest of decisions. There must be an independent verification mechanism to ensure that proponents can show a history of environmental compliance before a project gets a green light.