Blink, and you would have missed it. On Monday, the B.C. Liberals made legislative changes without any public announcement or debate.
The legislation would have allowed natural gas companies to build gas extraction plans without the environmental assessment most other industrial project must go through.
At a time when the prevailing concern is that we don't yet know enough about the health and environmental impacts we can expect from rapid expansion of our gas extraction industry, the province was entirely wrong to scale back scrutiny even more.
Upon learning of the legislative sleight-of-hand, B.C. First Nations, who were not consulted on the matter and have a direct stake in what the province and gas industry has in mind for their traditional lands, promptly escorted government bureaucrats out of a natural gas forum being held in the North.
Thankfully, just a day after having been called out, the government reversed its decision and churned out a press release apologizing for failing to discuss the mendment with First Nations, and reaffirming the "strong, respectful and productive" relationship government has with them.
It's hard to say exactly where the Liberals went most wrong on this: trying to sneak it through unnoticed, ignoring First Nations who have a constitutional right to consultation, or showing a flippant attitude toward environmental impact.
And they would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling First Nations, news reporters, opposition members and environmentalists.
