This act (Bill 212 build…

This act (Bill 212 build highways faster act) appears to trample over the rights of citizens, businesses and local municipalities to review, evaluate, comment and critically assess the implementation of large infrastructure works. In lieu of such oversight, it provides the provincial government powers to override critical checks and balances. This sort of oversight is foolhardy in the best case scenario and malicious in its worst form. We cannot let the decisions of one person or body (i.e. the Minister) override the lived concerns of a mosaic of various stakeholders. By providing these overarching power to one government body we risk appropriate oversight, diverse thought and potentially open ourselves up to catastrophic outcomes including environmental impacts (e.g. flooding) and economic impacts (e.g. loss of small business revenue).