This job posting at the provincial government of British Columbia contains quite frank language about the goals of the position:
As the Resource Development Analyst, you’ll anticipate and resolve a broad range of stakeholder concerns and maximize resource development and provincial revenues from petroleum and natural gas, underground storage and geothermal resource tenures. … make recommendations which attempt to address stakeholder concerns and minimize impacts on provincial revenues.
Anyone reading this might get the impression that the role of the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources is to maximise development and revenues.
What is its goal? I would have expected the job description to at least mention natural resources, the environment, the public interest and the interests of future generations; and not to imply that land planning boils down to “us” the government and “them” the stakeholders. That assumes that all interests other than the private development interests are adequately represented by the stakeholders and that government can take sides with development and try to maximize revenue.
Tags: Development, Government
