By Nick Murray The federal government is abandoning plans to exempt certain projects from laws designed to protect species at risk after an overwhelmingly negative response to the proposal during a summer of consultations. However environmental groups say Ottawa can still bypass the Species At Risk Act through other means. The government is planning to introduce legislation in the fall to speed up approvals for major projects, a key promise from Prime Minister Mark Carney. The government released two discussion papers in May which also proposed, among other things, to give cabinet ministers what it calls “limited” power to exempt projects from what’s known as the “jeopardy test” for species at risk. “But only if it’s in the public interest and if the proponent has made all reasonable efforts to…
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