Yukon NDP Leader Liz Hanson has challenged the Senate to hold public hearings in the Yukon — and called on MP Ryan Leef and Premier Darrell Pasloski to do the same — regarding proposed changes to federal legislation on environmental assessments directly impacting the territory.

The bill would replace an independent board with one led by a federally appointed chairman.

The Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB) would also be subject to binding political direction, which could come from either the federal or territorial government.

“These amendments will have far-reaching implications for our territory, and the public deserves to be consulted on these changes,” Hanson said in a release Wednesday.

The official Opposition believes the proposed changes violate the collaborative spirit and procedural balance of the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act (YESAA). That act stems from tri-partite agreements negotiated among First Nations leaders and territorial and national governments.

“The collaborative approach taken in the negotiations was meant to foster a co-operative approach to the important issues that arise when assessing the implications of proposed development in Yukon,” the party stated in the release.

“Many Yukoners have expressed their frustration that these amendments were tabled in the unelected Senate.”

Hanson, along with First Nations and environmental groups, said the proposed legislation’s final wording was drafted in secrecy after a meeting between the government and five industry groups.

“There’s been a lot of stealth around the process of change here,” she said at an NDP-hosted town hall meeting in Whitehorse last week.

“We know the federal government has met with sectors of the mining industry. But other sectors of society, they haven’t had any opportunity for provision of their input,” James Macdonald, the natural resources manager for the Council of Yukon First Nations (CYFN), said earlier this year.

He is also concerned about subjecting an arm’s-length body to political control.

MP Ryan Leef said Bill S-6, which today came before the Senate committee on energy, the environment and natural resources, balances the concerns of resource companies and pro- development politicians with First Nations and green-minded citizens.

“It’s a good-news story,” he told the Star today. “Both the Senate and I have spent a lot of time over the last while consulting with industry, government, the CYFN and individual chiefs.”

He noted 73 of 76 recommendations drafted in a five-year review were tabled in the legislation, now passed its second reading in the Senate.

“To that point of view, I think it’s reflective of everything that we heard. It’s bringing parity to our territory.”

Leef said he would always support holding local hearings — on this bill or any other — particularly when S-6 enters the House of Commons, where he sits as a backbencher.

But he scoffed at Hanson’s challenge in the wake of the federal NDP’s obstruction of parliamentary committee travel.

“The NDP have refused to authorize travel,” he said. “They’ve been playing this game since spring.”

In retaliation to the Conservative government’s rejection of cross-country consultations on its Fair Elections Act, enacted this past June, the NDP refused to authorize motions to permit members of parliamentary committees to travel for research purposes.

Leef said it was “ironic,” “disingenuous” and “rather rich” that Hanson “would stand on her soapbox in the Yukon screaming for the committee to come.

“She’s either completely out of touch with what her federal counterparts are doing or she’s using it as a prop,” he added.

Yukon Senator Dan Lang and the premier did not return the Star’s call by press time this afternoon.

The Yukon Conservation Society (YCS) is drafting comments to submit to the committee, said Lewis Rifkind, the group’s mining analyst.

A three-person steering committee reviews all comments submitted, and screens for “witnesses” to speak during public hearings, sometimes via video conferencing, a Senate clerk told the Star.

If the YCS wants to appear before the committee, the “request will be taken into consideration by the steering committee when it meets this week, and if the committee wishes to invite you to appear, I will communicate with you directly,” committee clerk Jodi Turner wrote in an email obtained by the Star.

The YESAA legislation would limit the amount of time groups would have to request more information from a proponent, although it would not curtail the time companies would have to answer.

Bill S-6, which also impacts Nunavut’s regulatory processes, further proposes removing the requirement for a new assessment when companies change their project. That would become subject to the board’s discretion.

The federal government says the bill is intended to produce more predictable and timely reviews, reduce duplication, strengthen environmental protection and provide meaningful aboriginal consultation.

“These improvements will result in further unlocking the economic potential of the North, while ensuring sound environmental stewardship and help the territories remain an attractive place in which to live, work and invest,” states a government release from earlier this year.

Industry supports the changes, said Samson Hartland of the Yukon Chamber of Mines.

He questions whether the bill would allow political direction of the assessment process.

“I don’t see that specifically in the amendment.”

The bill reads: “The federal minister may, after consultation with the board, give written policy directions that are binding on the board with respect to the exercise or performance of any of its powers, duties or functions under this act.”

The bill was introduced in the Senate instead of the House of Commons. It has gone through second reading in the upper house and came before an 11-person Senate committee this morning for possible revision.

Bill S-6 will still have to pass reading in the House of Commons, which could also hold committee hearings in the Yukon.

– With files from The Canadian Press. See letter.