This BAPE office in Quebec are without Projects to eat. This guys wanted Authier Project so that keep the office staff occupied for 2 YEARS.

OMG...................................

https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2018/12/04/le-bape-dans-un-creux-historique-1

Environmental studies

The BAPE in a "historic hollow"

Valérie Bidegaré | QMI Agency

| Published on December 4, 2018 at 04:46

The Office of Public Hearings on the Environment (BAPE) has never had so few files to study and is in a "historic low" unmatched for 30 years, has learned "Le Journal de Quebec".

Since the beginning of fiscal year 2018-2019, the Ministry of the Environment has awarded the BAPE only one public hearing mandate, compared to six for the previous year (see below). "We have never had as few mandates as that," admits the new president of the BAPE for a year, Philippe Bourke.

According to the organization, this is due to the fact that fewer large projects, subject to the Environmental Assessment Procedure, have been submitted by developers to the Ministry of the Environment since 2015.

Mr. Bourke makes some assumptions to explain this decline, including the entry into force, last March, of the new Environment Quality Act that may have slowed down certain issues or the energy context.

"We are in surplus of energy, we do less projects of production of energy and it was projects that were treated a lot here", explains the president of the BAPE. "The same thing can be said about transportation. There are a lot of projects under construction and less development, "says Bourke.

Impatient employees

The latter has not yet had the opportunity to chair a public hearing since the beginning of his term on November 20, 2017. "The role of the President is to appoint commissions and when we are in committee , the office is running at full speed. Everyone knows what to do, everything is structured, everyone has their tasks. I did not experience that, "he admits.

According to him, his employees are eagerly awaiting the filing of a new mandate. "We feel that sometimes going back to work is less interesting to correct an old reference guide or a date because the law has changed," he says.

Nevertheless, this slowdown has enabled the organization, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, to get "up to speed".

Following the 2018-2021 strategic planning, the BAPE team chose to focus on citizen participation. To achieve this, a Facebook page will be created, the website of the organization and the logo will be revamped and eventually a participatory platform could be created.

Without observing a decrease in participation, Mr. Bourke admitted, however, that the BAPE is unknown to certain clienteles, namely young people, women, aboriginals and cultural communities, among others.

Mandates entrusted to the BAPE

2018-2019 (as of Nov. 27, 2018)

Public Information Periods: 4

Public Hearings: 1

2017-2018

Public Information Periods: 12

Public Hearings: 6

2016-2017