More than 200 researchers and industry leaders as well as 13 hundred members of the public have helped draft a new environmental code for the province which was introduced today.

It has been five years in the making and it’s a first in Canada.

Environment minister Scott Moe says the code cuts red tape,  simplifies the rules for industry while still maintaining strict environment guidelines to protect the land, the air and the water.

“They take into account the risk of a project and at the same time clarify what the end result of that project should be with regards to environmental projects and what Saskatchewan people feel environmental protection should look like.”

Moe also says the streamlined process allows municipalities and industry to keep pace with growth while ensuring Saskatchewan’s environment remains health.

The NDP’s environment critic,  Cathy Sproule,  says an update was long overdue,   but she is not giving this one a passing grade.

“If I was still a school teacher I would have to give this particular report a fail.   I think one of the things that is most disappointing about this is that it is five years late.

We have been waiting a long time for this but the other thing; not only is it late it is incomplete.”

Sproule is also  critical that the  new code failed to make any mention of green house gas emissions.

The new code will be phased in next year,  with the forest sector being the first affected in January of 2015.