New Democrats are calling on Environment Minister Terry Lake to stand with the City of Kamloops and the Thompson-Nicola regional district in calling for Ottawa’s Minister of the Environment to order a federal-provincial Joint Review Panel (JRP) as the preferred environmental assessment method for the proposed Ajax Mine.

“Terry Lake and the B.C. Liberals ought to know this large open-pit mine proposal is geologically complicated, near urban residential boundaries, and would divert or eliminate existing fresh water ecosystems. While Minister Lake mocks the mayor and council for representing the views of Kamloops residents as ’electioneering,’ he is failing to stand up for his own constituents and their legitimate concerns," said New Democrat environment critic, Rob Fleming. “Kamloops residents are open-minded and well informed about the Ajax mine and they want their identified concerns to get a fair shake from a thorough, efficient joint panel of experts with independence from political decision-makers.”

Fleming noted that confidence in the B.C. provincial environmental assessment process was dealt a blow during the review of the proposed Prosperity Mine near Williams Lake. The provincial process came to a completely different conclusion than the federal process, which said no to the mine because it would destroy an entire ecosystem, including a lake containing tens of thousands of fish. A scathing report by B.C.’s Auditor General in August 2011 also found that the province’s Environmental Assessment Office routinely fails to properly oversee and monitor project agreements and environmental mitigation commitments.

"As minister of the environment and the local MLA, Terry Lake should be showing more respect towards the wishes of his constituents, as those who stand to be impacted the most by this mine," said Fleming. “The B.C. Liberals signed a Canada-B.C. Harmonization Accord in 2006 for environmental assessments on large industrial mines and projects like Ajax. Why then won’t the B.C. Liberals live up to the spirit and intent of that accord, join with Mayor and Council and ask Peter Kent, the federal minister who can order a joint review process, to do so immediately?”

Fleming noted that there is still plenty of time for the federal minister responsible to order a JRP due to public concerns.

"The legislation makes it clear that it is not too late to start the Joint Review Process in response to public concerns," said Fleming. "Environment Minister Terry Lake should take this opportunity to show the people of Kamloops that he is taking their concerns seriously by urging his federal counterpart to order the highest level of assessment for this project."