UDI Lower Mainland submission to the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship.

As part of the public engagement process, UDI provided comments on the Ministry’s proposed improvements to natural resource permits. While generally very supportive of the changes, it was noted that more information is needed on critical details, which could undermine the benefits of the proposed improvements and lead to unintended consequences. More specific feedback on the following proposals, can be reviewed in the full letter:

• Providing an exemption for Water Sustainability Act (WSA) authorizations when construction sites need to be drained;
• Expanding eligibility for stream restoration activities;
• Aligning the timelines and processes for administrative penalties under the WSA with the administrative penalty frameworks under other natural resource sector statutes like the Forest and Range Practices Act; and
• Riparian Areas Protection Regulation (RAPR) enhancements.