Red tape reduction minister hears from local governments, business community

The Medicine Hat and District Chamber of Commerce hosted the morning roundtable session at Chinook Village, featuring various business and government officials in attendance.

Much of the forum featured Hunter speaking about his department over the last nine months and the steps that have been taken to ease regulatory burdens in Alberta.

Shortly after election, the provincial government had promised to cut regulatory deficiencies by one-third.

Many of those burdens are still in place in southeastern Alberta, including a multi-year wait for provincial water licenses that Cypress County deputy reeve Richard Oster said many residents are still dealing with.

“A two year time span to have that paperwork completed and the government to sign off, that is ridiculous,” said Oster.

While he wouldn’t say whether or not the water license issue would specifically be addressed by his department, Hunter said it’s an issue their government takes seriously.

“We need to make sure that we get on top of this,” he said. “The pile has gotten way too high and we need to be able to put the resources into making sure we bring that down.”

Concerns were also raised over orphaned gas wells in southern Alberta and the often contentious relationship land owners and fledgling oil and gas companies can have post-abandonment.

“Some of them are close to bankruptcy, so if they go bankrupt they’re going to get nothing,” said Hunter. “So, a lot of communities and the government itself is trying to figure out what is the right balance here to be able to get these land holders their lease?”

Though Hunter added that may be more of an overall policy issue.

“I don’t think that it’s a regulatory change that needs to happen,” he said. “I think that what has to happen is we need to be able to make sure these guys can be relevant again, get our pipelines to tidewater.”

Hearing from some of these land owners however, Oster feels this is an area where government action might be necessary.

“It wasn’t pushed,” said Oster. “It was just kind of, ‘Well hopefully the industry will look after itself” and it didn’t. So, now you have to get tough with it right?”

City of Medicine Hat councillors Darren Hirsch and Jim Turner were also on hand for Hunter’s presentation on Tuesday.

Medicine Hat of course have been no strangers to abandoned wells over the last six months, green lighting a decision in September to shutter thousands of natural gas wells over the coming years.

Turner is hoping to see the province make the process easier for obtaining certificates to officially abandon the wells, something he added will save tax payers from paying leases on unused property.

“Considering we’re going to be doing 2,000 over the next three years, if we could reduce some of that red tape that would be great,” said Turner.

Hunter asked members of Medicine Hat’s business community to take steps themselves to reduce unnecessary road blocks, with the Medicine Hat and District Chamber of Commerce exploring the creation of a policy to align safety codes and building codes for their members.

According to first vice-president Marcus Campbell, they’re pleased with the steps that have been taken from the provincial level in terms of red tape reduction.

“I don’t think we’re actually going to see the full effect of the red tape reduction for quite some time yet,” said Campbell. “But, it is really encouraging to hear that the process is ongoing.”

Since the province launched their online portal accepting ideas from the public, they’ve received just under 5,000 submissions.

However, Hunter will be taking his time addressing the portfolio as he told the crowd on hand, “we don’t have to knock it out of the park” and “we just have to be slow and steady.”

“It starts out really slow and then it starts to build, and that’s where we’re at,” said Hunter. “I think that 2020 is going to be a great year for reducing regulatory burden because we’ve got all cylinders firing at this point.”

The province will be finishing their regulatory burden base count later this month, which Hunter said will give them more of a road map on what to tackle moving forward.

by Scott Roblin

Red tape reduction minister hears from local governments, business community

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