Infrastructure Minister Bowinn Ma took a refreshingly novel approach when it came to defending the NDP’s power grab in the legislature earlier this month.

A key element of the Infrastructure Projects Act (Bill 15), which has turned into a major challenge for the government, is utterly indefensible.

That’s the bit where they skipped most of the consultation, ignored most of the 204 First Nations they have been fervently swearing to respect for years, and are now trying to jam a more unilateral approval process into place.

So Ma conceded the point and surrendered on that aspect.

“I want to acknowledge that we did not follow the interim approach that our government had agreed on, and that was clearly the error that we made.”

The government sent out notices to all First Nations and got only a few dozen responses, then assumed it meant the real consultation would be done on the regulations to come later, she said.

She told the legislature: “Given the feedback we are now receiving from First Nations leaderships” — massive, total opposition — “that was clearly an incorrect assumption .… We clearly did not judge the situation........

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