WHO’S YOUR GRANDADDY?

The Kelpie Lane beach development on Point Deroche has recently drawn a significant amount of scrutiny in the legislature and on social media. Government’s apparent eagerness to comply with the developers’ wishes despite their clear non-compliance with the province’s own regulations and land use policies warrants this scrutiny. At the core of the province’s complicity with this project lies an instrument known as a “working policy”. This was described in a government email as an agreement between the departments of Agriculture and Environment and is likely a derivative of the ubiquitous “grandfather clause”. Like this clause there is no clear record of what it actually is. What does it specifically apply to? What criteria were used to create it? Does it carry any legal terms of reference or time constraints? Under what statute does it acquire the authority to supersede existing regulations and standing government policy?

What this provides elected officials and senior public servants is the ability to bypass its own established process while eliminating any direct accountability for the consequences of doing so. As Kelpie Lane draws public criticism, this “working policy” allows those directly responsible for providing the necessary permits, variances, and exemptions to shrug and tuck in behind the legality it supposedly provides. As convenient and expeditious as it may be to those that make use of it, a “working policy” in any form erodes fair and ethical administration of our laws as written.

Boyd Allen, Pownal, P.E.I.