One month after backing down from the power grab that was Bill 7, the B.C. government is at it again with new legislation that gives cabinet extraordinary powers to rewrite the approval rules for major projects it deems as special.

Or, put another way, it’s just Bill 7 in a hard hat.

The legislation, called the Infrastructure Projects Act, would be a wholesale change in the permitting and environmental assessment process for everything from schools, to hospitals, mines, hydrogen plants, food security projects, water infrastructure and even housing.

Instead of going through normal environmental reviews, cabinet could deem any project one of “provincial significance” and unlock a vast slate of powers to push it forward.

That includes rewriting an entirely new “expedited environmental assessment” process for any project, where cabinet sets the scope, methods, timelines, public engagement requirements, who conducts the review and even — if necessary — just issue the environmental assessment certificate itself. Currently, that process is all spelled out in law, along with strict rules on statutory decision-makers who can reach conclusions about projects independent of government based upon the evidence before them.

Premier David Eby, once again, pointed to U.S. President Donald Trump for the end-run on legal process. Government needs to be faster to grow the economy, he argued, and it is currently bogged down in a........

© BIV