Natural resource permitting plays a significant role in the government’s strategy to strengthen and diversify our economy. B.C. is working across the natural resource sector to streamline permitting, remove barriers and delays, eliminate duplication, and simplify processes while maintaining high environmental standards and our commitment under the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. As part of this work, teams across the natural resource ministries were tasked with identifying areas that would increase efficiency, remove redundancy, and/or reduce administrative burden. Opportunities with the highest potential for impact and timely implementation are being considered for recommendation to Government.
The Water Sustainability Act (WSA) came into force in 2016 and modernized B.C.’s water laws to better manage and protect stream and groundwater supply. Regulations associated with the WSA, enacted in 2024, allowed financial penalties called administrative penalties. They are applied to individuals or organizations who fail to comply with:
- Legal requirements,
- An order given by a ministry official, and
- A requirement of an authorization (permit, license, approval etc.).
B.C. is exploring ways to better align the timelines and processes for administrative penalties under the WSA with the administrative penalty frameworks under other natural resource sector statutes like the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act. These changes are anticipated to support a wholistic approach to managing the water resource as B.C. looks to reduce the volume of applications required for activities.
The survey closed October 17, 2025.
Learn more about our other proposals to improve natural resource permitting on the govTogetherBC website.