Jumbo Glacier Resort would be North America`s first year-round ski resort.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
The proponents of the controversial Jumbo Glacier Resort proposal in eastern British Columbia are seeking a judicial review of a provincial government order that postponed construction, citing the "friendship" between the Environment Minister and a project critic.
The legal bid is the latest twist in the quarter-century-long effort to build the 6,300-bed resort facility in the Purcell Mountains, about 55 kilometres west of Invermere near the British Columbia-Alberta boundary. It would be North America's first year-round ski resort.
Glacier Resorts Ltd. filed a legal petition last week, naming Environment Minister Mary Polak, Justice Minister and Attorney-General Suzanne Anton and the Ktunaxa Nation Council in the Kootenays.
The document questions a June decision by Ms. Polak that the $450-million project was not "substantially started" as required by an environmental assessment certificate issued in 2004 and extended in 2009 for five years.
The filing also claims Glacier representatives were advised by provincial delegates during a June meeting that Ms. Polak was "close friends" with Katherine Tenesse of the Ktunaxa Nation Council, a critic of the project.
That friendship, the filing alleges, was one of the irrelevant factors affecting the minister's handling of the file, along with others, including her sympathy for the Ktunaxa's opposition to the project and a desire to maintain good relations for treaty negotiations.
According to the filing, circumstances beyond Glacier Resorts' control but partly within provincial control resulted in only very limited construction at the project. The document cites the province's delayed creation of a master development agreement and the delay in creating Jumbo Glacier Resort Municipality. The province eventually created the municipality, appointing a mayor and council with a budget of $200,000, though the area remains undeveloped.
"Staged development of the Project is consistent with normal and proper practice in connection with ski-resort development," says the filing.
"A ski resort is not similar to a pipeline, mine or certain other types of projects subject to the [Environmental Assessment] Act in which operation is 'all or nothing.' Virtually all ski resorts start with a small initial operation and develop over a period of years."
The filing says all documents and information submitted to the province by Glacier Resorts were consistent with the project being developed in stages.
The allegations contained in the legal filing have not been tested in court and none of the defendants has filed a statement of defence.
The B.C. Environment Ministry declined comment, saying in a statement that it would not be appropriate to respond while the issue is before the courts. The ministry would only say the minister determined the resort project had not been "substantially started" by the time the environmental assessment certificate for the initiative expired on Oct. 12, 2014.
Vancouver lawyer Gregory Tucker, acting for Glacier, said in an interview on Monday that he did not expect the case to go before a judge for several months, but that his clients are optimistic about a favourable outcome.
To them that outcome would be the court substituting a new decision or ordering the government to reconsider the matter, acting in line with directions from the court.
As for raising concerns about the friendship between Ms. Polak and Ms. Tenesse, Ms. Tucker said, "It certainly was a surprise to my clients. I am not sure I'd like to comment beyond that."
Peter Grant, legal counsel for the Ktunaxa, was unavailable for comment on Monday.
Ian Bailey