Have your say on Professional Reliance
January 17, 2018
Over the last 10 years, the BC Liberals handed over the keys to the (environmental) henhouse to the foxes (industry/developers) with a system of Professional Reliance (PR) that has created a huge accountability and oversight hole, and continues to result in serious environmental degradation.
The BC government commissioned a review of the professional reliance system and hired Mark Haddock (UVIC Environmental Law Centre) to undertake the review and make recommendations about how to fix the problems. The BC government is asking citizens to engage in the professional reliance review process, to tell your stories about what is wrong with this system, to help inform Mark Haddock’s review. Your input could be related to forestry, mining, oil and gas development, contaminated sites... all manner of environmental issues where the government is depending on professionals that work for industry/developers/logging companies to do the right thing.
Sadly, we simply can’t trust industry, developers or even all Qualified Professionals (QP's) to do the right thing. The corporate world just doesn't work that way. Just look what is happening with the George contaminated site in Gibsons! The local government is turning a blind eye and passing the buck, the Minstry of Environment (MoE) is depending on the developer's Qualified Professionals and the QP’s have provided missing and inaccurate info to MoE and are capitalizing on loopholes in the BC Contaminated Sites regulation to avoid due diligence - thus putting our drinking water aquifer and the environment at risk.
You know industry/developers/QP’s are already filling out these surveys right? You know they are answering the questionnaire saying everything is A-OK. But it’s NOT. No matter how cynical you are feeling about Site C right now, this is still a really important issue and your input will help inform the review and strong recommendations based on real life situations. So please, take the time to read this article, fill out the survey or write a stakeholder submission and let the BC government know the PR system is NOT WORKING.
- The provincial government is NOT using qualified professionals appropriately;
- The current model DOES NOT strike a suitable balance between environmental protection and resource development, and it is NOT transparent.
- Professional associations DO NOT provide the right level of oversight of work conducted by qualified professionals;
- The provincial government DOES NOT provide the right level of oversight of work conducted by qualified professionals.