BCGEU weighs in on Professional Reliance

Professional Reliance is a fancy word that means nothing to most people — precisely what was intended when the former BC Liberal government introduced this scheme more than a decade ago. But change the name to Industry Self-Regulation and people start paying attention. Up to now, environmental and industrial regulation in B.C. could be captured by a simple phrase: “let industry do it.” That’s been the guiding principle in environmental and natural resource regulation — corporations approving their own resource plans, while monitoring and certifying their own industrial activities. …The results from Professional Reliance are also shocking: Today, the number of forest industry inspections are less than one third of the number conducted before Professional Reliance. …The Forest Practices Board reports that 23 per cent of inspected resource roads in 2017 were structurally unsafe. Only 38 per cent met legal requirements.