Two very important and apparently unrelated evens occurred last week.
On Friday, the Vancouver Province, after years of supporting the Campbell’s environment/energy policy, called it “folly.”
On Saturday the Liberals elected Christy Clark as their new leader cum premier.
What connects these events?
Patience, my children, patience.
Ms. Clark’s selection was scarcely a coming together of all the crew. In fact it left her taking over with one MLA – none of the cabinet – supporting her. This is what happened nearly 25 years ago to Bill Vander Zalm, who took over a caucus with just one member, The Honourable Jack Davis on side. Two senior ministers, Grace McCarthy and Brian Smith fought for the nomination and they were the first to pull out of the cabinet as Vander Zalm’s caucus and cabinet had no confidence in him.
There is another major problem Ms Clark must face – a resurgent Conservative Party who will, if they mount a decent campaign, hurt the Liberals by taking away votes from them. They will also have a destabilizing effect on the right wing members of Caucus.
Now for the energy/environment issue, something none of the leadership wanted to debate and were encouraged to stonewall by lack of questions from the media.
Two potential NDP leadership candidates, Mike Farnworth and John Horgan, have issued carefully prepared energy platforms. The secret contracts bêtween BC Hydro and the Independent Power producers (IPPs) would be opened by these two leadership hopefuls and the program itself discontinued.
This puts the cat amongst the pigeons because the bankruptcy of BC Hydro is a certainty. No company, not even a Crown Corporation, can live with the option of selling its product at ½ what they paid for it or use it themselves at 12 times what it they produce it for themselves.
Ms. Clark is facing a huge issue here and it’s one of those non divisive issues where there is no middle ground. Ms. Clark can’t propose that BC Hydro go a little bit broke and that IPPs can only destroy rivers ½ as much that they do now.
The editorial in The Province is laudable to this degree – they called the energy policy for what it is – folly. It seems to me that from now on it will be difficult for former Canwest papers to support the government on this issue, even a teensy bit, having once crossed the line.
What will the Common Sense Canadian do?
We will continue to reach out to all British Columbians with this website – thecanadian.org – and public hearings all around the province.
Long before Ms. Clark’s selection we have blocked our tour which includes Damien Gillis’ documentaries with me doing the speaking. We will be coming to a place near you and you will be able to hear all about what the Province calls “folly”.
As we’ve said before, this s not an issue of left v right but right from wrong. Whether as part of Save Our Rivers Society in the past or now as the Common Sense Canadian, Damien and I have battered away at this most noxious of policies. We will do all we can to give the public around our great Province that which they have been denied – a voice.
A word of caution – because of lack of funding we will, from time to time, share expenses with others who roughly take the same tack as we do.
Neither Damien or I are NDP members – we supported the NDP in 2009 because we saw as the overriding issue to be despoiling rivers and breaking BC Hydro. In a nutshell, we support integrity of our rivers and public power. In 2013 or earlier, we will support the party which feels as we do about our environment and public power.
All we ask is that you hear us out as we take our message around the province so that you will have that opportunity.
Thanks for your solo efforts in keeping the IPP power issue on the radar screen. I think the mainstream media are finally waking up on the issues of both environmental impacts and excessive costs. In general, people may not care that much about run-of-river and wind environmental issues, but they do care about their wallets. The recent BC Hydro rate application shows the first sign that the corporation (and, by extension, the government) is acknowledging a connection between IPP power contracts and rate increases. This despite the attempt to create a smoke screen that the proposed 32% rate increase primarily is driven by investments in BC Hydro-owned dams and transmission lines. Keep up the good fight, Rafe. You won’t be alone for much longer.
Thanks for keeping up the pressure and providing info on IPPs that can’t be easily found.
Subtlety and solution focus are needed on electrical energy policy for BC. You can’t just reject everything, because that solves nothing. We have to figure out responsible and effective ways to prevent adding more non-renewable carbon-spewing generation to the North American grid.
I suggest:
Subsidized IPPs on wild rivers. No.
Subsidized IPPs (wind, solar). Yes.
Conservation-oriented Pricing Model changes: Yes
Being reactionary against every form of change has to be guarded against, because we have major challenges ahead and cannot support the status quo.
I could never understand the urgency or the reasoning for privatizing natural monopolies such as hydro and natural gas. I heard Rafe on CBC and was alarmed, I will now be doing my research on the IPP and what they are up to.
thanks Rafe
The best I can offer towards an overarching antidote to
the disastrous public apathy/cynicism that allows these
predators into our collective ‘henhouse’ is a standard of
TOTAL TRANSPARENCY in the conduct and deliberations
of our elected representatives, the abolishment of
the ‘BACKROOM’ Where trust of the public has been
relentlessly betrayed.. by those who enter into public
life for their own enrichment.
We have the technology now … Put it all on-line!
On Ted.com? Someone has solved the problems of cyber
voting.
people first! Not corporations!
I hope you will consider speaking in both Squamish and Whistler where both our local MLA and MP seem oblivous to the detriments of IPP on our rivers, streams, wildlife and forest habitats, quite apart from their apparent lack of knowledge about the environment and both the seen and unforeseen consequences of blithely destroying the environment in the name of the bottom line. Right now there seems to be a big disconnect between the majority of the public that understands the importance of the environment and most politicians/decision-makers (of any political leaning) who don’t. Thanks for trying to keep people informed.
Meaning we sometimes share the stage with good folks like the Council of Canadians and the Wilderness Committee on issues of common interest.
Rafe Says
A word of caution – because of lack of funding we will, from time to time, share expenses with others who roughly take the same tack as we do.
Care to expand on this point?