Modern 'gold' rush underway
Governments must make reform of the environmental assessment process a priority
Summary
Recently, there has been a modern “gold” rush in British Columbia involving copper, gold, and steel-making coal developments. In order to make sure that all British Columbians receive the economic benefits from mineral exploration and mining, the government needs to make a strong effort to reform the environmental assessment process. For the past few years, the government has promised to clear the red tape regarding project approvals, in order to keep things balanced and fair in the interests of the mineral explorers and developers, communities, non-government organizations, and first nations. This is an important issue if we want to attract investments and have a sustainable economy.
Connection
Government involvement is an important concept of chapter 4 in our textbook. Canada has a federalist system of government, which means we have a federal government and a provincial government. The federal government has authority over the entire country, and provincial governments have control over their own provinces. According to our textbook, in 2002 the federal government spent only 3.5% of their total expenditure on “Resource conversation and industrial development.” And according to the B.C Environmental Assessment Office, there were 47 mining projects, with a potential investment of $15 billion and 27000 construction and 52700 operational jobs that could have been created since 2000. Instead, due to the slow EA (environmental assessment) process, only 22 of those projects made it through, and the 25 remaining projects were lost, along with the 68000 jobs and $10 billion investment. Over the past decade, the government has promised to improve the EA process, without noticeable progress. There likely won’t be any great progress until the government decides to increase its expenditure on industrial development.
Reflection
This article shows how government decisions can influence the country’s economy. Due to the government’s actions, Canada missed out on 68000 jobs and a potential 10 billion dollar investment. As mining is one of our countries leading industries, I think that the government can afford to deduct some of its “Social Services” expenditure and place that into industrial development. Mining was a safe and strong contributor to the economy’s recovery since the recession, which shows that, if well-funded, the industry will definitely improve Canada’s international placement in economic strength and stability.
