On December 1, 2022 I asked the Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Action about shoreline protection, and he committed to a moratorium on new buffer zone development until a comprehensive policy is in place.
Read the full transcript in the PDF file: Hansard-1 December 2022 page 21 of 29. Also see text of the debate below:
Speaker: The hon. Member from Rustico-Emerald.
Mr. Trivers: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve spoken a few times this session about shoreline protection for residents being impacted by erosion and climate change. In my district, there are definitely two groups of people I hear from. One is people who are really concerned about the impacts of shoreline armouring and work in the buffer zone. Things like Point Deroche is a big example that’s brought up, even in my district. Then there’s a group of people who live on the shoreline and own property. They’re really worried about the impacts of erosion and climate change, and what they can do to safely and effectively protect their property and investments.
Varying needs and concerns re: shoreline protection
This is a question to the Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Action: What are we doing as a province to balance the needs and concerns of these two groups of people?
Speaker: The hon. Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Action.
Mr. Myers: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Therein lies the problem. We do have two very different sides. We have one side – well, the Green Party, for example, who didn’t know we could work in a buffer zone until this session and don’t want people to; and then we have other people who think that we need to have some protection in the buffer zones. I guess my job is to find a policy, using experts, that we can protect the shorelines of Prince Edward Island to make sure that we’re going to be here tomorrow, that we leave Prince Edward Island here for future without doing something that goes drastically against the natural look and feel of Prince Edward Island, and obviously, doesn’t block beaches and those sorts of things. My plan is to sit down with experts, starting tomorrow, and work on a policy for the spring. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Speaker: The hon. Member from Rustico-Emerald.
Mr. Trivers: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do fully appreciate that this is a challenging task. I do know, however, that we can’t keep kicking this down the road. I know the minister is working hard, listening to the experts, and is passionate about finding a solution to this as well. Question to the Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Action: What sort of options are we realistically considering as we go forward?
Speaker: The hon. Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Action.
Mr. Myers: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, I talked about it a couple times this session, about development zones where the rules may be different in different areas based on the speed of erosion, based on the slope, a number of factors, that we may have a bigger buffer zone in some areas than others if it’s necessary. But we’d really like to work that out, and my understanding is the climate school at UPEI has a lot of the mapping work done, so I’m looking forward to seeking their help on this. I’ve sought it. I’ll have it here shortly. But I think the thing I do want to touch on is there was over 570 applications to work in the buffer zone in 2021, and they had a variety of things, from floating docks to stairs to shoreline protection to, in some cases, looking to remove trees. So, we know that there’s a big need out there. There’s a lot of ask out there for people wanting to do things. What we have to do is make sure that we do it in a way that protects Prince Edward Island and that it’s as natural and native as possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Speaker: The hon. Member from Rustico-Emerald, your second supplementary.
Mr. Trivers: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There’s a lot of uncertainty out there, and people wondering how they’re going to proceed. Part of this conversation is around what kind of work, if any, would be permitted to be done within the buffer zone as they repair from Fiona damage, and just going forward in the future. I mean, we’ve heard this option about the possibility for a moratorium on development work within a buffer zone area, at least until the experts have some time to weigh in and provide a path forward that is agreeable and has that balance that was referred to in the previous question.
Moratorium on buffer zone development
A question to the Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Action: Where do you stand on this idea of a moratorium, and is something like that feasible?
Speaker: The hon. Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Action.
Mr. Myers: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to approach this very cautiously. There are people who had damage in Fiona who have their family homes in a very precarious situation if we were to get another storm, so I wouldn’t want to bring in measures that would prevent them from being able to bring the protection that they need to. I’m very concerned about that. I’m getting concerns from companies who do work in the buffer zone who are all very good, upstanding companies. They’re all Islanders. They coach hockey teams, they go to church, they’re all part of our communities, so they’re not bad people, but what they’re scared – is through the fall session, that they’ve been painted as bad people for doing work in the buffer zone, which they’re not. They’ve done it with our permission. Some of them are very worried about going back and doing any more work, and I know there’s a substantial amount of repair work that needs to be done post-Fiona to help protect some places, particularly in the hon. member’s riding, in the Rustico area, there’s a lot there. So, I want to be very careful about bringing in a moratorium that would prevent us from being able to do those things. I’d want to be very careful about doing a moratorium that would disallow people from putting stairs down to their beach so they can enjoy it and things like that. But what I will commit to is this: There will be a moratorium in place on any new development on the shoreline until we get this policy right. Thank you.
Some Hon. Members: Hear, hear!
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