Deregulation Backgrounder - Bill 22 & Bill 35

On April 8, 2002, the government introduced Bill 22, the Sustainable Resource Management Statutes Amendment Act. Bill 22 received Royal Assent April 11th. On April 16th the government introduced Bill 35, the Deregulation Statutes Amendment Act. Both contain significant changes to the Forest Practices Code and Bill 35 contains important changes to the Forest Act. The changes:

• Remove environmental oversight of logging plans in community watersheds
• Remove environmental oversight of biodiversity objectives in forestry planning.
• Allows the Chief Forester to postpone allowable annual cut determinations up to 10 years.
• Eliminate Code requirements for stand management plans for thinning spacing or fertilizing second growth forests.