N.S. aquaculture, offshore energy and burn bans targeted in sweeping gov't bill

Nova Scotia is moving to streamline the approval process for shellfish and marine plants grown using aquaculture as part of a sweeping government bill that also has implications for offshore energy regulation, combating forest fires and the awarding of public tenders.

A key change to the Fisheries and Coastal Resources Act — one of seven pieces of legislation affected by the omnibus bill tabled Tuesday — is to remove shellfish and marine plants from the purview of the aquaculture review board process for approvals. Instead, the work will fall to an administrator.

The board will still oversee finfish farm applications.

"What we're trying to do is to get sustainable and responsible shellfish and marine plant aquaculture growing faster," Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Kent Smith told reporters.

Smith said officials in his department believe the changes could shave 12 to 18 months off the application process.

The move comes after Premium Seafoods announced in the spring it was stopping Nova Scotia aquaculture operations in frustration over a years-long delay in processing an application for three oyster licences.

Other changes include requiring a 30-day consultation period for finfish, shellfish and marine plant applications, and allowing the minister to set requirements for potential operators during the scoping process of a new or expanded aquaculture site.

Smith said those changes are in response to a review of the system last year that found the need for "a little more meat on the bone at the beginning of the process."

Omnibus bill impacts 7 different acts

Along with the changes to the Fisheries and Coastal Resources Act, other changes wrapped into the Tory omnibus bill include:

• Changing the name of the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board to the Canada Nova Scotia Offshore Energy Regulator and improving alignment with the federal Impact Assessment Act.

• Outlining an alternative process for issuing offshore wind licences as part of the province's Marine Renewable-energy Act in the event the federal process is not complete when Nova Scotia is ready to call for bids.

• Removing all exemptions to burn bans for provincial, municipal and private campgrounds during wildfire season and increasing the fines for charges requiring a court appearance as part of the Forests Act.

• Allowing a gas distribution utility to apply to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board to recover costs from ratepayers for investments in low-carbon fuels as part of the Gas Distribution Act.

• Removing Newfoundland and Labrador from the Atlantic Provinces Harness Racing Commission Act to reflect that province's withdrawal from the commission in March.

• Amending the Public Procurement Act to give favourable treatment to Nova Scotia businesses competing for government contracts that come within 10 per cent of the lowest bid.

Defending the process

Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton, who tabled the omnibus bill at Province House, defended the government's approach.

• Nova Scotia charges ahead with offshore wind regulator, aims to open bids next year

"This is very important as a whole theme when you put everything together for advancing opportunities for Nova Scotia, and that's how we're looking at it," he told reporters.

Rushton disputed the suggestion that his government was trying to speed things through the House, rather than tabling bills one at a time.

"Whether it's in one theme package or individual bills, there will still be questions on each individual piece and they'll be answered."

Not about efficiency

Opposition leaders said they'll need more time to digest the bill, but they aren't a fan of the increasing use of omnibus legislation by the Tories. The government has also tabled bills this session pertaining to workplace issues and housing and residential tenencies that cover multiple pieces of legislation.

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill said combining changes to multiple pieces of legislation in one bill can be a way for governments to get out of the legislature and back to their constituencies more quickly.

"I don't think it's about being more efficient," he told reporters.

"When government brings in an omnibus piece of legislation, they can hide information in there and it does limit debate for members of the chamber."

NDP Leader Claudia Chender accused the Tories of doing "whatever they can to enact their agenda without any public oversight or consultation."

"We sit the fewest number of days [in the country], we have the biggest use of alternative procurements, we have the least oversight, we have the most spending outside of the budget and we have the fewest bills now," she told reporters.

"The whole reason that we're here is to make sure that that legislation is in the best interest of Nova Scotians, that we can have robust debate, that we can understand it, and we really are not able to do much of that with the way this government runs this place."