All you need to know about the Auditor Generals report on mining compliance & enforcement

Posted on by Laila
“We found over a decade of neglect in compliance and enforcement program activities
 within the Ministry of Energy and Mines, and significant deficiencies within the Ministry of Environment’s activities.
Overall, we concluded that compliance and enforcement activities of the two ministries are inadequate to protect the province from significant environmental risks.”

“too few resources, infrequent inspections, and lack of enforcement.”

 

Bennett
Click to see a larger version

H/T Mike Lowe for that link ,courtesy of : http://www.cranbrooktownsman.com/breaking_news/274613811.html?mobile=true#pq=1RZqYg

So I guess that takes care of that matter, right? Bye bye Bill…

22 thoughts on “All you need to know about the Auditor Generals report on mining compliance & enforcement”

  1. The AG’s condemnation stands strong all by itself. I mean it no disrespect. They are right. They are right. They are 100 times completely and totally right. BUT the findings that the aims and goals of MEM and MOE (ministries of mining and environment) are in conflict with ‘regulating’ ‘monitoring’ and ‘enforcement’ of the industries would be staggeringly shocking if it weren’t so obviously the case for just about every government ministry both provincial and federal. DFO’s (Dept of Fisheries) main mission is to economically exploit the fisheries, not save and protect them. Same for forests. Conservation officers kill animals (one recently tried to save them and was fired). The Health Ministry regulates the ‘industry’ of healthcare rather than health of citizens. All ministries of Environment ALLOW pollution. Is it any wonder that MOM is rapacious, polluting and corrupt? The list just goes on and on. Want to laugh? Look at the name of any proposed legislation and you will find the OPPOSITE of the name to be true. I applaud the AG’s report even though everyone KNEW it already. They won’t fix it because that kind of BIG lie is inherent in all aspects of government. Bill Bennet may be ‘sacrificed’ but more likely ‘shuffled’ into another ministry because he has proven so good at perpetrating the BIG lie.

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    1. Resign?
      Never.
      Not in a million years. Not even if he was caught dynamiting the Dam.
      He’s a politician.
      No morals, no scruples, no empathy, no conscience, no remorse.
      And he has Christy Clark as his leader and guide.
      Normal people need not apply………avarice, greed and the ability to lie while smiling are the main traits one needs to be a politician these days.
      Come to think of it……most realtors would fit that description…………
      Perhaps I’ve found Christy’s new career after May 2017

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        1. True. Im sure SNC Lavalin, BC Ferries or BC Hydro have a directorship for M’lady. A 200k plus “honorarium” with a car and expenses….natch.

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  6. that certainly was an interesting read. of course we won’t be seeing that on any front page news paper.

    Christy doesn’t care, she is too busy inviting these boys and girls to her soirees at $20K a pop. Oh, well the best you can get…………

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  7. Bill Bennett is quoted in this article http://www.straight.com/news/691076/bc-energy-and-mines-minister-bill-bennett-wont-resign-wake-damning-auditor-generals
    as stating on air:

    “The auditor general didn’t call for me to resign.” And “People who work in compliance and enforcement don’t promote mining. That’s not their job.”

    First, the Auditor General does not have authority under the Auditor General Act to call for anyone’s resignation. Either Bennett is woefully ignorant of the Auditor General’s legislated mandate, or he is deliberately misleading the public regarding his excuse for reneging on his promise (and obvious duty in any case) to resign.

    Second, “people who work in compliance and enforcement”, i.e. the BC Inspector of Mines, apparently can and do receive instructions from people who do promote mining, http://www.integritybc.ca/?page_id=73 so his statement is another self-protective red herring.

    Does BC not deserve better?

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  8. off topic a bit … next prov. election… who will be there… no Conservatives, NDP more than toast with all the comments of the long past, Greens will not go as with Andrews crucial mistakes, no one else????? any thoughts Laila?

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  9. The NDP have the numbers but are comatose, limp Dix. Flaccid. Mute except for occasional . bleating and welcoming kids to the legislature. Totally ineffective. The Greens don’t have the numbers but, even if they did, seem cast in the same zombie mold. What does it take to ‘make a statement’? LY does it. So does the Tyee and half the blog list on the side of this column. Why can’t our opposition mount an opposition?

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    1. I would say the opposition (NDP) is trying to out liberal the Liberals provincially. They would do better to move more towards the green side of the force.
      Examples please of “zombie” Greens.
      Elizabeth May is an original, so is Andrew Weaver and Adriane Carr. Plus Green numbers growing slowly but surely federally, provincially and municipally.

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      1. Andrew Weaver thinks the premier is underpaid and that the NDP complained were gender biased! I absolutely disagree. Insanity.

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        1. First this post is about compliance enforcement in the mining sector and Andrew Weaver definitely has concerns.
          http://www.andrewweavermla.ca/2016/05/03/responding-auditor-generals-report-compliance-enforcement-mining-sector/

          http://www.andrewweavermla.ca/category/media-releases/

          Addressing the comments regarding “Andrew Weaver thinks Premier underpaid”

          Read this article
          http://www.theprovince.com/smyth+premier+clark+underpaid+green+party+leader+weaver+thinks/11907672/story.html

          then read the rest of the story…

          http://www.andrewweavermla.ca/2016/05/02/corporate-union-donations-party-leader-stipends/

          Then see if you still think the reporting in the Province article is entirely accurate in terms of representing Andrew Weaver’s views about salaries for politicians and party top-ups.
          Cannot believe everything you read in mainstream media. They get it wrong. This is a case in point.

          Finally the Green party prefers a consensus based model of government. So while from the examples above I think it is fair to say Andrew Weaver will call it like he sees it whether that is the “popular” viewpoint or not it is also clear Andrew Weaver as a Green, disagrees with an “attack ad approach” to politics.

          Plus Andrew Weaver is willing to work in a mutually respectful manner with other parties to achieve important legislation that will benefit people in British Columbia, in the following case, women post-secondary students.

          http://www.andrewweavermla.ca/2016/03/16/premier-pledges-work-andrew-weaver-pass-post-secondary-sexual-violence-policies-act/

          http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Vaughn+Palmer+Andrew+Weaver+concerns+about+sexual+violence+gain+premier+support/11789672/story.html

          PS hope these links work.

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        2. Sorry for the delay Bernadette, your comment was flagged as spam because of all the links I think, but I’ve gotten it un-spammed.

          Long story short, Weaver thinks both Horgan and Clark are underpaid in comparison to other public service workers and he still pulled the gender bias card against the NDP for calling her out on it, and then tossed in the single mother designation too. Really,lets be honest here, neither she or Horgan are underpaid. The spend more time talking than they do anything else.

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        3. Thanks for finding it in hyperspace, Laila. I was wondering what happened. Trying to put it in context, what Andrew Weaver actually says in his report on the matter is “I frankly think that the premier and the leader of the official opposition are underpaid relative to other senior executives in the public sector.” and he provides the figures to support that. I think I have to agree comparing the figures for Horgan’s and Clark’s salaries to some that are floating around for other civil servant’s for example at a municipal level.
          What I would tend to read into it is that rather than championing a wage increase for Horgan and Clark, Weaver maybe suggesting wage cuts for some of the staff.
          I did find what was in the province article seemed to differ and not in a nice way from what was in the actual report Weaver wrote on salaries / union and corporate donations etc. Seemed to miss Weaver’s point completely.

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        4. Sorry. Of course, Andy is on the side of the Angels. Me, too. We’re both lovely people. But no one listens to me and Andy is a close second in nincompoopery. The Green Party likes to rule by consensus….one of the reasons the platform is so insipid. Seriously…? I live Green. I vote Green. I send Green money. But what I really wanna do is send them a spine.

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  10. E.May is a marvel.. But where is Andy on-site C. Where is Andy on Nat Gas? Where is Andy on Shawnigan? Where is Andy on Min of Mines and Environment? People say more posthumously. Ask A. Carr where she went when the union AND management offered her support? We all make mistakes but then you double down fixing them. She didn’t.

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