Today in the legislature I rose during Question Period to ask the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy when he would be introducing Species at Risk legislation. As I note in my question (reproduced in video and text below), the introduction of such legislation is part of the minister’s mandate letter.

I also commented that when the Minister was in opposition he introduced his own Species at Risk legislation as a private member’s bill a day after I introduced my private member’s Species at Risk bill on February 27, 2017.  I reintroduced my bill  in the fall of 2017, once the BC Liberal government had been replaced by the BC NDP government. In all cases, the bills died on the order papers without being debated.

Video of Exchange

Question

A. Weaver: Earlier this year the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity in the Ecosystem Services released the most comprehensive assessment to date on the state of biodiversity and ecosystems worldwide. It warned of unprecedented and accelerating extinction rates with millions of species at risk of disappearing forever, many within decades — more than ever before in human history.

The chair of the report said this: “The health of ecosystems on which we and all other species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever. We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide.” British Columbia has more species at risk than any other province or territory in Canada. Despite this fact, and despite the warnings of the Intergovernmental Panel, we still have no dedicated law to protect endangered species.

My question is to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. Why is B.C. still one of the last jurisdictions in Canada without a law to protect endangered species?

Answer

Hon. G. Heyman: Thank you to the Leader of the Third Party for the question. He is absolutely correct that B.C. is Canada’s most ecologically diverse province, and we also have by far the greatest number of species at risk of any province in Canada.

We know that we have a responsibility to take action to protect B.C.’s environment, to protect ecological diversity, to protect species at risk. We know that we need to do it in a way that’s designed in British Columbia. There is a law in Canada, and it is, in fact, a unidimensional law that doesn’t address all of the potential factors that can contribute to healthy ecosystems.

We have spent 2018 and 2019 consulting extensively. Among the examples of stakeholders with whom we’ve spoken are the Nature Conservancy of Canada, the B.C. Wildlife Federation, the Association for Mineral Exploration, the Council of Forest Industries, the SFU faculty of science and the Union of B.C. Municipalities.

It is in my mandate and has been since day one to develop B.C.’s species-at-risk legislation. We are working on that. While we’ve been working on it, we’ve also been addressing a number of areas in British Columbia where species need to be protected in the interim. But we are taking the time to consult, we’re taking the time to listen to Indigenous people, we’re taking the time to listen to communities, and we’re taking the time to get it right.

Supplementary Question

A. Weaver: Thank you to the minister for that answer.

On February 27, 2017, I introduced a private member’s bill to enact endangered species legislation. The following day, and while in opposition, the now Minister of Environment also tabled legislation to protect endangered species in our province. Yet now in government, we have seen no action.

As the minister noted in his mandate letter from the Premier, it states that the minister will: “Enact an endangered species law and harmonize other laws to ensure they are all working towards the goal of protecting our beautiful province.”

I reiterate. We’re two years into this government, and yet B.C. remains one of the only provinces without legislation dedicated to protecting and recovering species at risk.

My question once again to the Minister of the Environment is this. When will we see this government enact a species-at-risk legislation to finally give these threatened ecosystems and species the protection that they need and that British Columbians want them to have?

Answer

Hon. G. Heyman: As I’ve outlined, we are consulting. We are working on it. We have talked to Indigenous people. We have taken action in a number of areas, as I’ve outlined yesterday — and, in fact, in other areas — to protect the species at risk and to deal with endangered ecosystems.

In the time since we’ve taken office, we’ve introduced the Professional Governance Act, a revamped Environmental Assessment Act, a climate plan, a Climate Change Accountability Act. We’re working on a climate adaptation strategy that will be critical to protecting species at risk.

We are doing far from nothing. But we want to make sure that we get it right. We want to learn from the actions that we’ve taken to protect caribou. We need to work with Indigenous people, with local communities, with stakeholders and with environmental scientists to ensure that we have an act in B.C. that protects species at risk, that protects biological diversity and that protects the economic well-being of communities as well as community cultural and social values. We will bring in the act that we’re working on in this mandate.