BC Conservative leader John Rustad was in Kimberley today, Tuesday September 24, to announce the party’s platform to boost the province’s mining sector.
Rustad feels the industry is not reaching its full potential.
“There is a process this government has put in place that takes forever to get something done. It makes it extremely difficult to open a mine in this province,” said Rustad.
“In British Columbia, it could take 12 to 15 years to get through the process to open a mine. To me, that is unacceptable. As a province, we need the resources and we need the minerals.”
Rustad says the BC Conservatives want to cut back on regulations that slow down the establishment of new mines, while maintaining strong environmental standards.
“We’re going to keep those high environmental standards, but we’re going to strip away all that bureaucracy and process to get to a place where we can get those mines approved and get permitting done in a short period of time,” said Rustad.
The BC Conservatives plan to make this change by implementing several strategies: one permit per mining project, cutting regulations the party feels are unnecessary or redundant, allowing more mining exploration and adjusting tax laws.
Rustad says the platform also contains plans to incentivize refining and processing in B.C.
“We’re going to look for every opportunity possible to add value to those minerals. We want to make sure there are options to build additional smelting or other activities to make sure we have more finalized products leaving this province,” said Rustad.
“We want to do everything we can to create the environment in B.C. so we can see that kind of investment, that job creation and see that value-added here in British Columbia.”
Voting day for the B.C. provincial election is set for Oct 19.
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