MOTION ON NOTICE

At the Council meeting of June 25, 2002, Councillor Bass submitted the following Notice of Motion which was recognized by the Chair:

2. Amendments to the Forest Practices Code (File 6003)

WHEREAS, the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act, R.S.B.C.1996, c. 159 (the "Code") recognizes that poor forestry operations can cause significant and lasting damage to the natural environment and the interests of non-timber users;

WHEREAS, the Code sought to protect against damage to community watersheds and other ecologically sensitive areas by requiring oversight by the Ministry of Environment, in addition to the Ministry of Forests;

WHEREAS, the current government has enacted the Sustainable Resource Management Statutes Amendment Act, S.B.C. 2002, c. 18, and the Deregulation Statues Amendment Act (No. 2), S.B.C. 2002, c. 25 that remove requirements from the Code of joint sign-off by both the Ministry of Environment (now Water, Land and Air Protection) and the Ministry of Forests;

WHEREAS, the Deregulation Statutes Amendment Act (No .2), in particular, removes joint sign-off in respect of plans governing logging in community watersheds;

AND WHEREAS, loss of the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection's expertise and oversight of operations is likely to seriously and negatively impact the environment by failing to ensure good forest management;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT the City of Vancouver requests that the Government of British Columbia re-establish requirements for sign-off by Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection to the approval of forest development, and setting objectives for biological diversity.

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(c) 1998 City of Vancouver