All-season resort bill ‘problematic: critics [Video]

A bill giving Alberta’s government power to reclassify land in provincial parks for the development of all-season resorts has some concerned about environmental impacts and the “problematic” precedent it sets by allowing the province to bypass existing legislation.

Bill 35, the All-Season Resort Act, will allow the province to reclassify public land as an all-season resort area, management of which falls under the administration of Alberta’s Minister of Tourism and Sport Joseph Schow.

Provincial parks, wilderness areas, ecological reserves, and heritage rangelands can also have their protected status rescinded to make them eligible for resort development.

These changes are meant to increase investor confidence and fix “fractured approval processes,” a spokesperson for Schow’s office said.

To expedite the approval process, projects in designated all-season resort areas will be exempt from public consultation requirements under the Alberta Land Stewardship Act and review by Alberta’s Natural Resources Conservation Board.

“(These pieces of …