Federal Government to Consolidate, Speed Environmental Reviews
The Conservative government will significantly reduce federal environmental oversight of natural resource developments and other projects by consolidating assessments into three departments, eliminating reviews for small projects and handing more regulatory responsibility to the provinces. The government is also looking at limiting environmental groups from intervening in regulatory hearings for major natural resources projects in an effort to expedite reviews. Ottawa indicated it will also have final say on pipeline decisions in the "national interest." Industry groups lauded the changes announced Tuesday as critical to attracting investment and creating jobs, while environmental watchdogs and opposition parties attacked the plan as another example of the federal government abandoning its responsibility for protecting Canada's land, air and water. View full article posted on Canada.com.

BC Regulations to Govern First Nations Projects
The British Columbia government has introduced legislation that will permit provincial regulations to apply to commercial, industrial and residential developments on two aboriginal development projects. The move is meant to make it easier for First Nations entrepreneurs to conduct business on reserve lands, according to BC's Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation, Mary Polak. "This is really an historic opportunity," Polak said at a news conference shortly after introducing Bill 43, The First Nations Commercial and Industrial Development Act Implementation Act. "It's a huge step forward in terms of ensuring that the development that occurs on reserves is much more similar to what happens off reserves," said Polak. View the full article posted at CBC News.

Proposed Fisheries Act Changes Upend Cohen Commission Salmon Inquiry
The federal government's bid to make sweeping changes to the Fisheries Act has prompted an 11^th-hour scramble at the $26.4-million Cohen Commission, which was created by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2009 to study dramatic declines in the West Coast sockeye fishery. Senior commission counsel Brian Wallace sent a letter to all hearing participants – including governments, industry, First Nations, and environmentalists – late last week asking them to submit by May 14 their views on how the budget bill affects their previous positions on the state of B.C.'s top fishery. The letter was in response to the Conservative government's tabling of a 431-page omnibus budget-implementation bill that includes Fisheries Act amendments which would, according to critics, "gut'' key provisions to protect fisheries habitat. View full article posted by Post Media News.

Province Considers “Option” of Overruling Chief Forester to Secure Timber Supply for Industry
A leaked Ministry of Forests document reveals a proposal that the BC government override the top official charged with managing the province’s forests to find a timber supply for Burns Lake. The forestry-dependent town west of Prince George lost its main employer in a December fire that destroyed its sawmill and killed two workers. The April 7 document addressed to the cabinet under the name of Forests Minister Steve Thomson has come to light at a time when the government is under increasing pressure to reveal plans it has so far kept confidential to address the pending collapse of the Interior timber supply. At least 12,000 of 22,890 associated forest industry jobs are at risk, a second document briefly posted Tuesday on a government website shows. Read more.

WorkSafeBC Directive to Sawmill Employers
WorkSafeBC issued a directive order to all sawmill employers. The directive order was delivered by email or by WorkSafeBC officers to all sawmill employers in BC. All employers in this classification will have received the order by April 28.

Minister Unveils B.C. Forest Sector Strategy
Gorman Bros. Lumber Mill in Westbank was the backdrop for the provincial government's announcement of the implementation of the latest segment of its BC Jobs Plan. Steve Thomson, Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, unveiled "Our Natural Advantage: Forest Sector Strategy for British Columbia" at a press conference held just outside the main mill. The strategy will build on, and grow, six priorities identified by the Working Roundtable on Forestry, which convened in 2009, to chart a path to sustainable growth in the industry. Thomson says the strategy overview put forward by the roundtable includes:

• The commitment to using wood first.
• Growing trees, sequestering carbon, and ensuring land is available to produce a range of forest products.
• Creating a globally competitive, market-based operating climate.
• Embracing innovation and diversification.
• Supporting prosperous rural forest economies.
• First Nations becoming partners in forestry.

B.C. Coastal Loggers Violating Softwood Lumber Deal, U.S. Claims
Accusation based on fact B.C. hasn’t updated stumpage data for three years
The American lumber lobby says the B.C. government has been under-charging coastal forest companies for timber harvested on Crown lands to the tune of $70 million a year. And that throws into question the accuracy of B.C.’s market-pricing system, according to the U.S. Lumber Coalition, the American industry lobby group that opposes open access for Canadian lumber producers to the U.S. market. The charge against coastal producers comes on top of a $300-million claim against Interior producers levied by the U.S. government that is now in the final stages of a lengthy hearing process before the London Court of International Arbitration. Read more.

Proposed Changes to Forest Act Introduced
Bill 41, the Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act (No. 2), 2012, was introduced on May 1^st. The Bill proposed two amendments to the Forest Act. The first enables flexibility in the minister’s authority to delegate an authority under the act to officials in the ministry. The amendment was previously approved, but contained a minor typographical error that needs to be corrected. The second re-instates the requirement for a deposit to be made at time of application for forest tenure to prevent speculative bidding.

Proposed Changes to Health Professions Act
Bill 41, the Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act (No. 2), 2012, was introduced on May 1^st. This bill includes minor amendments to the Health Professions Act and the Labour Mobility Act to ensure that all nurse practitioners wishing to enter practice in B.C. in the future have passed the same rigorous clinical practice exam before being permitted to practise autonomously and to the full extent of the nurse practitioner scope of practice under BC legislation.

Legislation to Allow B.C. Emergency Workers Access to
Blood Samples When Potentially Exposed to Illness
Emergency workers will be able to know for sure if they’ve been put at risk of contracting a serious disease if legislation introduced Monday by Minister of Labour Margaret MacDiarmid is passed. The legislation would allow emergency workers and Good Samaritans to get a court order for a bodily fluid sample if someone they contact on the job refuses to give one voluntarily. "First responders put their lives on the line every day to keep the people of British Columbia safe, so it's important we support them in every way we can,” said MacDiarmid in a news release. "This legislation will give workers and their families the peace of mind they deserve." Read full article in The Vancouver Sun.

It Will Take a Year to Lower Generic Drug Prices, Says BC Health Minister
British Columbia introduced legislation this week aimed at lowering the price of generic drugs, but Health Minister Michael de Jong said it will realistically be a year before those savings are realized. NDP Leader Adrian Dix said the province's delay has already been costly. "I want us to have at least the certainty of having the most competitive generic drug prices in Canada," said de Jong. In 2010 Ontario legislated it would pay 25 percent of the brand name price for generic drugs. This week, Canada's most populated province said for the ten most prescribed generics it will drop the price to 20 percent. Click here to read more.

New Pharmaceutical Services Act Introduced
Bill 35, the Pharmaceutical Services Act, was introduced on April 24 and proposes to:

• provide clear authorization for, and a legislative framework to govern, the provincial drug program commonly known as "PharmaCare",
• move provisions respecting PharmaNet, which are necessary to support the provincial drug program, from the Pharmacy Operations and Drug Scheduling Act to this Bill,
• streamline provisions respecting the collection, use and disclosure of personal information, and the recording of information in, and access to information in, prescribed information management technology, and
• repeal, for consistency with this Bill, provisions from the former Pharmacists, Pharmacy Operations and Drug Scheduling Act (now the Veterinary Drugs Act) and the Pharmacy Operations and Drug Scheduling Act respecting disclosure directives, and repeals provisions of those Acts that cannot be brought into force because they are inoperative.

The Limits to Averaging Agreements
The Employment Standards Act (British Columbia) allows some flexibility in hours of work without overtime pay through the use of averaging agreements.
Unfortunately, the requirements for an enforceable averaging agreement are often impractical. An averaging agreement must:

• be agreed, in writing, with each employee;
• specify the start and end dates;
• be signed by both parties;
• specify the hours for each day;
• specify the length, which must be one, two, three or four weeks unless varied by the Director of Employment Standards;
• specify the number of times the agreement may be repeated;
• not average more than 40 hours per week;
• use “weeks” which run Sunday through Saturday; and
• not require hours of work which average more than 40 hours per week over the period of the agreement.

Read the full article by Christopher McHardy published in the British Columbia Employer Advisor, by McCarthy Tetrault.

Proposed Changes to the Public Sector Pensions Plan Act
Bill 41, the Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act (No. 2), 2012, was introduced on May 1^st. Proposed amendments will streamline the Public Sector Pensions Plant Act by removing provisions no longer necessary and clarifying language to simplify it and reduce regulatory requirements. It will also create a separate joint-trust agreement for the College Pension Plan that will create consistency with similar public sector pension plans such as the Public Service Pension Plan. Orders in Council will no longer be required for each change made to the plan rules or joint trust arrangements.

Significant Changes to the Canadian
Thin Capitalization Rules in the 2012 Budget
Background:
The thin capitalization rules are designed to protect the Canadian tax base from erosion through excessive interest deductions in respect of debt owing by Canadian taxpayers to certain non-resident shareholders. The rules discourage non-resident shareholders from capitalizing a Canadian corporation with what is perceived to be too much debt and extracting pre-tax earnings of the corporation in the form of interest rather than after-tax dividends. View the full article by Michelle Chang and Shane Onufrechuk with Davis LLP.

New BC Minimum Wage Takes Effect May 1^st
BC’s minimum wage jumps to $10.25 an hour on May 1, matching Ontario's as the second highest in Canada. The 75-cent hike is the last stage of a three-stage increase announced by Premier Christy Clark after she was sworn in March of 2011. The wage had been frozen at $8 for nearly a decade prior to the increase. Former premier Gordon Campbell had opposed raising the wage, saying it would cost the province thousands of jobs. Clark said in her original announcement that raising the wage in three 75-cent increments between May 2011 and May 2012 would help businesses cope with the change. View full story as reported by CBC.

New Pension Benefits Standards Act Introduced
The Province has introduced legislation to modernize the Pension Benefits Standards Act and allow the private sector to offer a wider choice of pension-plan options so that more British Columbians can have access to pension income during their retirement years. Bill 38 brings improvements to pension legislation by reducing administrative costs and enhancing the rights of pension plan members, including immediate entitlement to employer-paid contributions and more information about how a plan is operating. The bill will extend the same right to receive plan information to retired members. In addition, it establishes a framework that will give former pension plan members the option of withdrawing “locked-in” funds in a Registered Retirement Savings Plan or life income fund in cases of financial hardship. View government news release.

BC Schools Could Adopt Year-Round Schedules:
Districts could end traditional September to June semesters in 2013-2014 school year
Many students around BC may have their last long summer vacation next year, under new legislation that will allow school boards to scrap the traditional calendar. The BC government introduced the amendments to the School Act on Thursday that will allow local school districts to set their schedules, provided they meet a minimum number of teaching hours, starting in the 2013-2014 school year. Read more by CBC.

Proposed Amendments to the Society Act
The Society Act has not been substantially revised since 1977. In December 2009, the Ministry of Finance (“Ministry”) commenced a review of the Act by asking for suggestions from stakeholders. The Ministry used this input to publish the Society Act Review Discussion Paper (“Discussion Paper”) in December 2011. The Discussion Paper puts forward a number of proposed changes to regulation of societies that attempt to balance the comments of the stakeholders and the desire for a modern legal framework with the need for a simple and accessible set of laws for not-for-profits. The Discussion Paper invited further comments on reform to the Society Act, which were to be received by April 30, 2012. Legislation to amend or replace the Act is targeted for 2013 at the earliest.

It is important to note that the proposals in the Discussion Paper are intended to stimulate discussion and further input, and do not reflect government policy or the views of the Ministry or the Legislature. The Discussion Paper raises two fundamental framework issues. The first concerns what corporate law provisions ought to apply to societies. In this regard, the Discussion Paper suggests that select provisions of the British Columbia Business Corporations Act (BCA) ought to be imported into the current Society Act framework. The second issue is the extent to which the Society Act should contain regulatory provisions that constrain the operation of societies. Read the full article by Linda Parsons with Davis LLP.

Province Shortens Time to File Civil Lawsuits
People will have less time to file civil lawsuits under legislation introduced Monday by Justice Minister and Attorney-General Shirley Bond. "British Columbia is out of step and it's time we brought a more modern approach," said Bond, adding the new legislation will bring B.C. into line with many other provinces. "This will help to ensure that British Columbia businesses are competitive and subject to similar rules as their counterparts in other provinces." The proposed legislation would reduce to two years the time that people have to sue once they are aware of a specific damage. Limits now range from two to 10 years, depending on the nature of the case. The legislation does include some limited exemptions, such as the enforcement of monetary judgments, which will have a 10-year limitation period. Read the full article by Jonathan Fowlie, The Vancouver Sun.

BC’s New Motorbike Helmet Regulations
Will Effectively Stamp Out Novelty Headgear
Motorcyclists in BC will no longer be able to wear skull caps or beanies while on the road, following the unveiling Monday of new government regulations that will effectively stamp out novelty helmets. With an ultimate goal of reducing motorcycle deaths, Justice Minister Shirley Bond said effective June 1, all motorcyclists and their passengers must wear helmets that meet industry safety standards. Included in the new regulations, added Bond, is a provision requiring all passengers, including children, to have their feet secured on either the motorcycle’s foot pegs or floorboard for the duration of the journey. “While BC already has mandatory helmet and seating laws, these new standards provide even more guidance to help riders — who are more vulnerable to injury and death than other road users — enjoy a safe journey,” Bond said in a statement. Read more.

Automobile Insurance – Court Rules on Claim for Coverage Entitlement
A plaintiff was successful in seeking a declaration that she was entitled to coverage on the basis that her motor vehicle insurer had not established she was impaired at the time of the accident and she was awarded punitive damages for the insurer’s bad faith conduct with respect to the claim. Read the full case review published by Emily M. Williamson of Harper Grey LLP.

Justice Minister Considers Public Driving Records
Justice Minister Shirley Bond has once again mused about making driving records public in this province, a move that, if it happened, could potentially lift the veil of current secrecy over everything from speeding tickets to drunk-driving prohibitions. Bond said her minister will review the idea, in the wake of the case of a motorcycle clocked at 300 km/h on a Greater Victoria highway. If the idea of public driving records sounds familiar, that’s because it is. Former Attorney General Mike de Jong mused about it in 2010. But the Times Colonist unveiled, a year and a half later, the government had done almost nothing to actually explore the issue. Currently, the driving record of a B.C. citizen, including speeding tickets, Motor Vehicle Act infractions and drunk-driving roadside prohibitions, aren’t public. You can’t figure out whether your child’s school bus driver has had numerous license suspensions for excessive speed, whether your local MLA has been caught texting and driving, or whether, in the case of the Esquimalt Fire Department, an assistant chief had lost his license as part of an impaired-driving prohibition and didn’t tell taxpayers. Ontario is the only province in Canada were driving records are public. View full article by Rob Shaw posted in the Times Colonist.