Planned regulators akin to political commissars
As the CEO of an active, yet small, mining company in B.C., I have read with great interest the proposals of the B.C. government to create a new bureau of provincial regulators to oversee the existing professionals who are registered in the province.
Professional engineers, geoscientists and others are already managed under the Engineers and Geoscientists of B.C. and are some of the most highly trained and vetted pros in the province. There are currently 34,000 members of the Engineers and Geoscientists of B.C. There are rules that outline the educational requirements, experience requirements, ethical conduct and performance of its members.
I have worked with many of these pros over the course of a 35-year career, and they represent some of the brightest minds in B.C. Each and every day they exhibit professionalism and devotion in their work, most of which receives little to no attention here at home — and only the bad examples get major public attention. Many of the mining people in B.C. are routinely sought outside of Canada owing to their level of knowledge, expertise and ethical conduct.
While the B.C. government’s desire to create a “regulatory agency” will certainly result in good optics for the NDP and Green parties, it’s deeply negligent of the successes that have been achieved through the existing system — and worse still opens the door to obstruc- tionism, favouritism and political cronyism.
The B.C. government has three responsibilities, and these are to protect its people, to provide for its people and lastly to invest in its people.
The government is trying to create a regulatory agency to protect people and the environment from professional engineers and geoscientists. While some of the more radical politicians may say this is a valiant undertaking, one has also to ask who is protecting the citizens (among whom are the qualified pros) from the government?
Far too often government creates its own policies and regulations to achieve nothing but additional power, and this comes at the honest citizen’s expense. It seems to me that the B.C. government has been permeated by environmentalist ideologies, and ideologies by definition are blind to facts that contradict their edicts. We run the risk of allowing the government to eradicate mining and forestry in B.C., and at the peoples’ great peril.
Wherever possible, government should invest in its citizens’ capabilities to enable them to provide for themselves and increasingly, to compete globally. A government that believes in the talent and potential of its citizens and devotes a large portion of its tax revenues to investing in its citizens and help them reach that potential is an attractive and successful vision.
Unfortunately, the bureau at issue here is akin to that of the political commissars, an idea that has been shown by the events of the 20th century to be a breeding ground for contempt and eventually economic collapse. It’s sad to see that the B.C. government has no faith in its own pros. Ultimately, private corpora- tions and capital will flee the province and invest capital elsewhere, leaving rural communities and the B.C. government shortchanged as the tax base is substantially reduced.
John Horgan, it’s time to rethink government’s role in the natural-resource sector and invest in its bright professionals and future, rather than embracing the desires of the ideologically motivated few. In the end, both my success and your political future rest in ensuring B.C.’s citizens are developed and allowed to thrive through discretion, sobriety and good self-government. It’s in this type of environment that innovation and success is bred.
The proposals you’re making are self-serving and crippling to not only B.C.’s economy, but ultimately to the government as well.