A new government bill to amend petroleum and resource management legislation could salvage the NWT devolution deal that a territorial supreme court injunction marooned back in 2015.

Bill C-88, An Act to Amend the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act and the Canada Petroleum Resources Act, would re-write sweeping changes made by the Harper government including reversing the amalgamation of several boards and scope reduction of federally-mandated regulators in the NWT.

SA国际影视传媒淭he big driver behind this was to undo the superboard; the Tlicho (First Nation) filed an injunction against those changes,SA国际影视传媒� said Tom Hoefer, executive director of the NWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines. SA国际影视传媒淚 guess the Liberals decided they would fix these.SA国际影视传媒�

HarperSA国际影视传媒檚 legislation collapsed existing territorial water boards and transferred regulatory authority to a single agency, the Mackenzie Valley Land & Water Board. This included rights to grant permits on traditional Tlicho lands covering some 160,000 square kilometres. TlichoSA国际影视传媒檚 attorney Jason Madden, partner with Pape Salter Teillet LLP of Toronto, likened the changes to SA国际影视传媒渢elling Atlantic Canada they get a single regulatory board.SA国际影视传媒�

Following the injunction, then-Minister of Aboriginal Affairs Bernard ValcourtSA国际影视传媒檚 office suggested the government would appeal, but it never followed through. Thursday, Dominic LeBlanc, Intergovernmental and Northern Affairs minister said Bill C-88SA国际影视传媒檚 amendments SA国际影视传媒渨ould help maintain the efficient, predictable, and coherent management and use of land, water, and natural resources in the North.SA国际影视传媒�

The territory currently has five land and water boards responsible for gauging community opinion and environmental impacts of development SA国际影视传媒� these continued to operate and evaluate projects as the injunction kept the NWTSA国际影视传媒檚 regulatory revamp in limbo.

While devolution SA国际影视传媒� transfer of federal authorities to the NWT jurisdiction SA国际影视传媒� moved signing authority for permits and licenses to the territorial government, authority over the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act itself and its related boards still remain under the purview of the federal cabinet.

Hoefer told News/North that the chamber SA国际影视传媒渁lways supported the undoing of the superboards.SA国际影视传媒�

SA国际影视传媒淔or us it was more than just boards, our issue is in cost-recovery; we were dead set against that,SA国际影视传媒� he said. SA国际影视传媒淎nd we continue to be. This new legislation still allows the government to make regulations on cost recoveries; please donSA国际影视传媒檛 create these because we already suffer in a high cost environment.SA国际影视传媒�

Project certification, required studies, the 10-day waiting period between a board's preliminary screening decision and authorization to refer a project to an environmental assessment SA国际影视传媒� features of Bill C-88 SA国际影视传媒� SA国际影视传媒渨ere all in the original act,SA国际影视传媒� said Hoefer.

SA国际影视传媒淚 donSA国际影视传媒檛 see the Liberals doing anything different except for reversing the amalgamation of the boards," he added.

Bill C-88SA国际影视传媒檚 proposed changes to the Canada Petroleum Resources Act, according to the government, "would establish a path forward for the strategic management of Arctic offshore oil and gas resources in collaboration with partners."