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NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
Despite concerns raised by environmentalists, a spokesperson for the mining industry in the Northwest Territories is welcoming proposed regulatory changes to the federal Fisheries Act.

"There's a lot of fear-based commentary, which I think is a normal reaction to change," said Tom Hoefer, executive director of the NWT Chamber of Mines. "But I don't think change is always bad, and we know change isn't always bad - just initial reactions are fear-based. So, you'd like to think that if changes are coming that there's a positive side as well and that's the part that we need to know more about."

He points to leaked documents that recommend downloading much of the job for environmental assessment to the provinces and territories and imposing timelines on assessments.

"Intentions to eliminate overlap, intentions to provide timelines for environmental review processes, those are things that could help provide more certainty for investment. And those aren't bad things either," said Hoefer. "I know when people speak to efficiency, efficiency doesn't mean that diligence has to suffer. You can be efficient and you can be diligent. And I think that's what timelines will do."

Yellowknife environmentalist and Weledeh MLA Bob Bromley is speaking out against the possible changes and said there are fears that environmental oversight will be reduced.

Internal documents leaked earlier this month indicate the federal government is considering changing the language in the act to only protect habitats and fish that are of "economic, cultural or ecological value."

"The comments of the Government of Canada are absolutely ignorant here in terms of saying it must have ecological value, demonstrate ecological value and so on before action can be taken to be included in a review," Bromley said.

He said all organisms in the wild play a strong ecological role.

"The fundamental concept of ecology is it's this complex web and that the more we reduce the complexity of that web, the less resilience it has. Fundamentally, the thinking on this is very obtuse," said Bromley.

Current legislation states that "No person shall carry on any work or undertaking that results in the harmful alteration, disruption or destruction of fish habitat."

Bromley, along with environmentalists across Canada, fear the changes are being considered as a way to speed up the process for major projects such as the Northern Gateway Pipeline and mining activities.

"It's just very consistent with this government's plan to take all the checks and balances away and allow development to proceed at a faster rate and without any oversight whatsoever," said Bromley. "This is clearly a result of our government's allowing of industry to have such lobbying powers in Ottawa so that it's no longer the people of Canada setting the agenda here, it's industry."

Western Arctic MP Dennis Bevington shares Bromley's concerns about what changes to the Fisheries Act could mean.

"I've raised it in Parliament. I'm concerned about them," Bevington said Thursday. "You know, the environment is a finite product and we have to take care of it, so by not having strong laws on fishing habitat, that may mean in the future that we will do things in a fashion that's not as careful today."

Hoefer said he has heard from officials in the Yukon, where there is newer territorial legislation, and was told they like the inclusion of timelines.

"The head of their review board said 'we like timelines, because it puts their feet to the fire, and it actually helps us manage our processes.' So even from a financial side, you can lay out your process in a fixed way, and you can resource it appropriately then. So, again, it's not all bad.

"And if you look at the investment climate, the investment we're seeing in the NWT, we know we have a problem, and we know it's linked to the regulatory environment. So definitely, we need to have changes."

News/North contacted Frank Stanek, manager of media relations for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, but he refused to comment for this story except in the form of a statement on behalf of Minister Keith Ashfield.

"The government is reviewing fish and fish habitat protection policies to ensure they do not go beyond their intended conservation goals. Recent speculation about the current review is inaccurate. No decision has been made," the statement reads. "The government has been clear that the existing policies do not reflect the priorities of Canadians.

"We want to focus our activities on protecting natural waterways that are home to the fish Canadians value most instead of on flooded fields and ditches."

The NWT Department of Environment and Natural Resources declined requests to comment for this story.

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