Tag Archives: rafe mair

Vancouver Sun Still Reluctant to Take on IPPs

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The Vancouver Province has, belatedly to be sure, attacked the BC Energy policy and called it “folly”. I felt it might be appropriate, then, to offer an op-ed article to the Vancouver Sun, which I did on March 1 and which I followed up on March 6 by emails to Fazil Milhar, the Vancouver Sun editor in charge of their editorial page. Having not even received the courtesy of a reply I sent another email Friday last saying that if I didn’t receive a reply by the 14th I would feel at liberty to make all this known.

My letters have been polite and respectful and merely asked for the opportunity his pages give to the BC Fish Farmers, for example.

Mr. Milhar was policy analyst for the Fraser Institute for several years. There’s nothing wrong with that except to say that putting a person with such deep right wing biases in charge of what opinions will be printed on the op-ed page of the Vancouver Sun seems unfair.

In fact, it is unfair. Surely the op-ed page is to allow all sides if the issue to have their say and refusing us is patently unfair and, in the absence some other explanation we must conclude that Mr. Milhar’s right wing beliefs are taken out against beliefs he doesn’t agree with.

Unlike Mr. Milhar, we at The Common Sense Canadian would be pleased to have him contribute his views to our website.  

What ever happened to the tough reporter, the fearless columnist, the editor and publisher who held authority to account?

Why is it the fourth estate has become part of the “establishment”?

Did it start in Canada with the Meech Lake/Charlottetown Accords when Brian Mulroney declared that to oppose these plans would be almost treasonous?

In the Charlottetown Accord debate one of the large Central Canadian media companies, MacLean/Hunter actually signed on to the “Yes” side; so much for its journalistic integrity!

Here were two efforts to change the country dramatically and no newspaper, TV outlet or radio station would even question the issues with a faintly jaundiced eye –  I must except radio station CKNW where I broadcasted. Even then, though my program kept the 50-50 balance CKNW put on a well known pro-Charlottetown person to counteract my forthcoming editorial. So even they were onside Mulroney’s packages.

I don’t believe that a free society with this kind of media can remain free; an unquestioning media that persists in the US and to an increasing degree in UK “journalism” erodes democracy.

Is the Internet the answer?

The trouble is that the Internet is so messy with blogs by the gazillion on every manner of question.

The hope is that more solid Internet outlets, like TheTyee.ca and, of course our home at TheCanadian.org, both for which I write, will become better and better known. The Internet’s problem is that major advertisers are leery that the free speech associated with the Internet will hurt them. That will change for as the mainstream media declines, so will advertisers’ interest in it.

The big advantage of a website is that its stories are archived. While today’s newspaper is quickly put on the bottom of the birdcage, we’re there for a long time.

My sense of it is that main street “journalism” will continue its slow but steady downward slide to the profit of free papers like Metro, 24 hrs, and websites like The Tyee and The Common Sense Canadian.

It’s ironic, having gone through all that pain of new printing technology, that now, as technology increases, the newspapers decline.

For us at The Common Sense Canadian we know that we can and do make the Internet work when people who support us pass our columns and documentaries to others asking them to do the same.

With the refusal of Mr. Milhar to even deal with my request we must continue and expand our efforts to be our own media.

It works. 

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Rafe Mair Visits Williams Lake

Energy and Resources, Pipelines and Supertankers, WATER, , ,
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From the Williams Lake Tribune – March 11, 2011

Author and social commentator Rafe Mair and documentary film maker
Damien Gillis will be in Williams Lake March 25 for a town-hall style
presentation on their new online non-profit journal The Common Sense Canadian — a voice for the public and environment.

Mair and Gillis are touring 30 B.C. communities and
will make their presentation in the Williams Lake secondary commons
theatre from 7 to 9 p.m. on March 25.

The two-hour event will feature Gillis’ new short documentary on the proposed Enbridge pipeline to B.C.’s North Coast, called Oil in Eden, plus a keynote speech by Mair.

There will also be an opportunity for the audience to
ask questions and discuss issues with the speakers on topics such as
rivers, hydro bills, oil tankers and democracy.

“These aren’t matters of left and right, but of right and wrong,” Mair says.

“It’s time for common-sense Canadians to band together —
through our own media and community organizing — to address our
greatest challenges: protecting our environment and democracy.”

Mair adds: “We can be the generation that lost B.C., or together we can be the one that saved it.”

Mair is a former lawyer and minister responsible for constitutional affairs in the Bennett cabinet during the 1980s.

He went on to become a broadcaster and writer on public affairs.

His commentaries and books have been punctuated with what has been called his “wicked sense of humour.”

Books include The Last Cast about fly fishing; Canada: Is Anyone Listening?; Rants Raves and Recollections that made the B.C. best seller list; Still Ranting; and Rafe: A Memoir.

The event is co-presented by the Council of Canadians Williams Lake Chapter.

Admission is by donation.

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A Wish List for Premier-to-be Christy Clark

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This would seem to be as good a time as any to make out a wish list for premier to be, Christy Clark. These are in no particular order.

May we please have back out our right to make a judgment as to matters which happen in our own backyard? Such as Independent Power Producers’ (IPPs) plans for a private power plant? Or a double pipeline for oil from the Tar Sands? It would seem that the wish to develop trumps the right to people’s wishes.

Here is the inconsistency: If a town wants to put in, say, a Walmart, councils listen to people BEFORE making a decision, but the provincial government doesn’t believe in consulting people and only lets the public in when it’s a done deal and government and the company are pretending to let the public make suggestions as to the environmental standards to be followed. Apart from all else, Dear Ms. Clark, no one for a moment thinks that either the government or the company gives – forgive the vulgarity – a fiddler’s fart about the suggestions made.

May we please see copies of the deals forced on BC Hydro for IPPs and have full disclosure of their contents and accompanying documents. Please don’t tell us that they must be kept secret for confidentiality purposes. The whole process is phony – the public knows that and since the government has access to these contracts, we the people respectfully ask that you make them public.

Once they are public, please have a judicial process to determine whether or not these deals are conscionable. No one expects you to cancel a deal just because someone made a good deal through an open process, but if these contracts are, as many suspect, sweetheart deals, we ask that you cancel them and, if necessary, see the IPPs in Court.

With the deepest of respect, again, Ms Clark, may I suggest a bench mark of fairness.

If BC Hydro has been forced or is being forced into what’s called “take or pay” deals, surely this is a point of fairness for an independent adjudicating process. If, as is expected, Hydro has been  forced to take power it doesn’t need then either export it at a 50% or more loss or forced to use it and thus pay from 10% on up more than they can produce it themselves these contracts are unconscionable and the contracts should be deemed void.

You probably know, ma’am, that the British Columbia Utilities Commission has said that these contracts “are not in the public interest” of British Columbians. May we, again with respect to this energy policy, suggest you tube it. Get rid of it.

Let me, with deference, move into the environmental issue.

Notwithstanding the assurances given by Finance Minister Colin Hansen, these projects are scarcely “run-of-river”, leaving the flow of the water undisturbed, nor are they small projects run by small companies.

Now again, with respect Ms. Clark, you may not be familiar with Mr. Hansen’s statement but if you Google “Colin Hansen private power” you will see his grandfatherly talk in its entire 1 minute and 51 seconds of untruths. Indeed, I’m sorry to say that Mr. Hansen could not have stated the opposite of the truth with greater particularity.  If you wish a hard copy transcript I would be pleased to send you one and, if you so desire, a copy for each member of your caucus.

I certainly don’t wish to seem pedantic or be rude but it must be said.

BC Hydro and the provincial government which you will soon head talk about “appreciable fish values”. These are weasel words designed to imply that none of the Pacific salmon, Chinook, Coho, Chum, Sockeye, Pinks, and Steelhead, is endangered. Quite apart from the fact that this is clearly not the case in many projects, including the Pitt River proposal, other fish are valuable and critical to the ecologies their river sustains. These include Cutthroat Trout (actually the 7th Pacific Salmon), Dolly Varden and Bull Trout (the last two being Chars). There are other species like Arctic Char, Rocky Mountain white fish, sturgeon and so on which also sustain their river’s ecology. If the words “appreciable fish values” are taken on their plain meaning, there’s not a bit of running water in the province that doesn’t contain these values.

I believe – and I hope you don’t think me rude – that an elementary mistake has been made both with IPP projects and fish farms. The “Precautionary Principle”, so important to fair science and good legislation, has been upended so that instead of the user of the water being required to prove the environmental safety of the proposal, the onus has been shifted to the public. I’m sure if you took a moment to reflect on this – and I can provide you with loads of evidence that this is happening – you would immediately reinstate the Precautionary Principle. One name I can give you now: the highly respected John Fraser, who could hardly be called a leftist, is an excellent person to contact on this point.

Still on the subject of the environment, so far as I’m aware there is no process, no responsible part of government, to evaluate the totality of the environmental disruptions that are permitted – the aggregate impact if you will. This should happen and should be done by an independent body with the chairperson appointed by the Legislature and reporting to them.

Again, with deep deference, may I suggest that these issues will be very much in play from now until the next election. You simply cannot wish them away. You have two options as I see it – you can pretend that these matters are all unimportant or you can take immediate and firm steps to deal with them. We at The Common Sense Canadian devoutly and respectfully urge you to follow the latter course.

—————————————————————————————–

British Columbians mourn the death of a great citizen, Allan Williams, QC.

Others knew Allan much better than I. I served in cabinet with him for five years and I can tell you that no decisions were taken until he had said his piece, such was his constant wisdom.

Allan served in local politics with distinction and was an MLA for 17 years and served as a highly respected Minister of Labour and as Attorney-General during some difficult times which he dealt with firmly and courageously.

One of the highest compliments I’ve received was when he asked me to be guest speaker at his annual constituency meeting.

It’s shocking to me that Allan never was awarded an Order of BC. Cato the elder put it this way: “After I’m dead I’d rather have people ask why I have no monument than why I have one”. The Order of BC can grant honours posthumously and should do so.

To Marjorie, his wife of 62 years, and his family I know I speak for all BC when I say about Allan, “Well done thou good and faithful servant.“

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Private Power: Postmedia Sees the Light

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THE VANCOUVER PROVINCE SAYS THAT PRIVATE POWER DECISION “A FOLLY!”

Can the Province’s stablemate, the Sun be far behind?

As I settled into this past Friday’s breakfast, I glanced at the title of the Vancouver Province editorial and saw “Hydro needs to get back to its roots”. To my utter astonishment I read the following words in the editorial itself: “a large part of the problems at Hydro is the government insistence that it pursue costly private run of the river projects and other so called ‘green’ initiatives. A look at Hydro’s annual report shows the folly of this approach“.  (emphasis mine)

Where the hell have they been as this ghastly program moved inexorably down the path to one environmental disaster after another, bankrupting BC Hydro along the way?

The Province goes on to state that in 2010 private power used by Hydro cost them 9X what they could make it for themselves. In fact it’s worse – because Hydro must “take or pay” for IPP power which is predominantly available during the spring “run off”, and so comes when Hydro doesn’t need it. Thus Hydro must either take the power at 9-12 times what they can make it for or export it at a 50%+ loss.

Some business deal from the “business” government!

I’m all but speechless at this editorial – and as you may have noticed it takes a lot for that to happen. What the Province and presumably Postmedia (successors to Canwest) – which owns both the Sun and the Province – are saying is exactly what many environmentalists have for several years and been vilified for it!

Surely they didn’t come to this decision over a evening beer last Thursday so one must ask The Province,  “when did you reach this conclusion?”  Nothing has changed for seven or eight years – what made you see the light? And why weren’t you frank with your readers the moment you concluded that this plan was “folly”?

Both the Sun and Province have excellent writers if they are left alone to write – why weren’t they let loose to examine this issue with the same energy and talent they pursued when they (quite properly) took on then Premier Clark about a friendly neighbour wanting a gambling license and the “fast ferries” scandal?

The contrast between the Vancouver dailies during the NDP years and the Liberal decade can only be explained by assuming that they believe that it’s their responsibility to keep the NDP out of office. The old fashioned tradition of holding government’s feet to the fire clearly ended with the election of Campbell & Co.

The truth of the matter is that this issue didn’t drift down the river on a piece of bark. These papers have been stifling news and comment, either by non-reporting or terrible reporting, for half a decade. The IPP issue has been raised over and over not only by Damien Gillis and me, and the Wilderness Committee, but many others, yet if all you knew about the matter was through the media, you would know virtually nothing about it.

Isn’t it the media’s duty to fairly inform customers when it comes to news? And to present thought-provoking hard talk from their columnists?

The gut instinct of journalists is to question in depth all decisions of government. This simply hasn’t happened and their very best writers have been struck dumb. One can only conclude that Canwest cum Postmedia censors its news and editorial staff and, by its policy, forces columnists to self-censor. Absent any credible denial, one must conclude that the publisher hires editors who know what they want, and won’t print that which is contrary to the official line. You cannot blame columnists for putting their families before fighting for their traditional role. I know the feeling – I once was forced to grovel and it’s a very unpleasant thing to have to do.

I cannot and do not state that this is what happens – only that in the absence of a full explanation to the contrary, reasonable people are likely to reach this conclusion

British Columbians have a right to see these sweetheart IPP contracts and find out why the Campbell government concluded that damaging our environment, bankrupting BC Hydro, and driving our power bills through the roof was a sound policy. They are also entitled to expect decent media to ferret out matters of this sort and report upon them fully and fairly. This, I need hardly say, hasn’t happened.

I agree with the Province saying that Campbell & Co’s policy was “folly”, but what took them so long? The evidence was all there for them to see – what possible legitimate reason was there to, by their silence, tacitly support the government and its greedy corporate friends?
If the Province and the Sun wishes to do some penance they must do three things :

  1. Explain why it took so long for them to criticize their own policy towards the Campbell government’s energy policy.
  2. State why they haven’t dealt at all with the savaging of our rivers and their ecologies, pursuant to this policy, while approving, by their silence, the bankrupting of BC Hydro.
  3. Assure the public that they will start investigating with the thoroughness they once did of all major government initiatives, reporting back honestly, and that they will permit, no insist, that their columnists investigate all the establishment and let us have it as they see it.

One can only hope… 

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Alberni Valley Times: Rafe Mair Speaks Out vs Coal Mine

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From the Alberni Valley Times – Feb 21, 2011

by Heather Thomson

More than 300 people gathered at the high school to hear from outspoken radio personality Rafe Mair, and he didn’t disappoint.

The event kicked off with a video by Damien Gillis, who travels with
Mair in the Take Back Our B.C. tour. It focused on the battle being
waged in coastal communities in B.C. to fight the Enbridge pipeline.

Gillis said the idea behind their tour is to make sure people are informed.

“We decided to ramp things up to create this journal so we can reach as
many people as possible,” he said. “We want them to learn more about
the issues that are affecting their community.”

If you want more information about what Mair and Gillis are doing,
go to www.thecanadian.org. You can also check out the videos Gillis has
shot around the province.

From there the talk moved to a more local issue, the fight against opening a coal port in the Alberni Valley.

John Snyder, president of CoalWatch, asked the crowd to get involved.

“If
your vision of the Comox Valley doesn’t include a coal mine and your
Alberni Valley vision doesn’t include a coal port, it’s time to get
involved,” he said. “With your help we can stop this ill-advised
project from happening.”

He said there are a lot of maybes involved in discussions, and maybe none of the things they worry about will come true.

“Maybe we’re all just worried about nothing,” he said. “But it’s not worth the risk.”

Coal Free Alberni’s Stacey Gaiga spoke next on the issue.

She said there hasn’t been a coal mine on Vancouver Island since the 1970s, so why start now?

She
said the clear message is that coal is “toxic for the community.” That
is why she encouraged people to voice their objections.

“The next public comment period is when you will have your say,” she said. “Please submit your concerns.”

She
added that the coal port is bad for the Valley because it will damage
the roads, harm the air quality, will mean dredging the Inlet and it
goes against the official community plan that encourages tourism-based
development on the waterfront.

“It’s important that you have your say,” she said.

Mair then took to the stage, immediately taking up the issue of a defunct provincial government.

“The
government no longer has any control over what they do,” he said,
adding that the province is being run by corporations because they have
so much power over B.C.’s elected officials.

He offered the example of the falsehoods the finance minister gave on the subjects of privatization of rivers.

He said the government isn’t doing enough to save the rivers by offering public consultation.

“Not only do we have to have public involvement,” he said. “We have to have public consent.”

He said the problem is that the government isn’t being held accountable for their actions.

“There’s no criticism from the mainstream media,” he said. “We have to be our own media – circulate the message ourselves.”

He said sometimes it is frustrating fighting a battle that has no clear end.

“But
you have to be patient and fight right to the end of the road,” he
said. “You never know you’ve won until you’ve won, so you have to keep
fighting.”

He offered the same words of encouragement when referring to the battle the Alberni Valley is waging against a coal port.

As for the government, he said it’s time to kick them out.

“No
one wants to believe a government can be that stupid, but they are
because they don’t care,” he said. “We can win, we just have to join
hands for a hell of a fight that can save our beautiful province from
the government and corporation that is harming it.”

Gillis offered similar advice on the fight against the coal port. He
said it is possible to win the fight, but everyone will have to band
together to make it one the whole province cares about.

If you would like to know more about these issues go to www.thecanadian.org.

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The Numbers Don’t Lie: We Don’t Need More Private Power

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Sooner or later the truth must come out. Clearly it must be from outside the government and BC Hydro – and it sure as hell isn’t going to come from the mainstream media.

Let me lay this out clearly – either what The Common Sense Canadian says is true or it isn’t. We’ve laid out the facts and taken our message around the province and are about to start another tour. The numbers tell us that thousands of you are seeing what we do and your response has been fantastic.

We don’t just tell you what comes into our heads – we rely upon the best experts in the business. We are a-political in the sense that we don’t support any political party but we sure as hell will support any party with a chance to form a government that wants to save our province from those who steal our resources and take them and the profits away to faraway places.

Yes, I’m speaking of the foreign fish farmers and the foreign or at best huge Canadian companies who are ruining our rivers to make power for California and pocketing all the profits at no cost to themselves. Indeed the harshest fact is that in both cases we help fund these predators.

There were two news items recently that in days gone by would have had newspapers and TV stations raising supreme hell. In fact they are, at best, printed in a small corner of the business pages.

BC Hydro’s financing of Independent Power Producers took another two astonishing turns.

Until now, if an IPP wanted to dam our rivers – yes they are dams – and the project size was under 10 Megawatts, they could do so free of any public process or environmental assessment. Just pay the peppercorn license fee and away you went with the equivalent of a never-ending winning lottery ticket in your hand.

Now BC Hydro (for which read the Campbell government) intends to raise the limit to 15 Megawatts – by no means a “small”, “run-of-river” project!

That’s a 50% hike in size for thieves trashing our rivers, forcing BC Hydro to go further in the hole for power that is exported to the undiminished profit of the likes of General Electric and without any environmental concerns and without the slightest input from the public!

This power isn’t for us – when Pinocchio Campbell tells us this is for our energy needs he’s laughing he’s bullshitting us. This government mocks us at The Common Sense Canadian and laughs – but whether we win this fight or lose, CSC and all who support us can carry their heads high for doing our best to save what’s left of our province.

But there’s more. Hydro also intends to offer these offshore leeches a raise of between 14-29% for this already astronomical power!

This is like the bailed-out banks paying million dollar bonuses to the people who got them in trouble in the first place! BC Hydro is forced to pay even more ransom to these bastards who send power to Hydro when it doesn’t need it. Most of these projects provide the bulk of their power during the Spring
run-off, when our reservoirs are full and our power needs at their
lowest. So Hydro must either export it at a huge loss or use it instead of power they make themselves at as little as a 1/12th the cost!

Good God, folks, when is enough enough?

You want a little more sleight-of-hand?

The government, through BC Hydro, is telling us we need a lot more power. Now remember, whatever their power needs, they are not going to get it from IPPs. It’s easy to think that if we need more power, that IPPs are the answer but that’s palpably false.

I told you we have top-notch advisors. Erik Andersen, is one of them. He’s an economist who follows these issues closely and he has a report on this edition of the website which I urge you to read.

Put simply, BC Hydro has, as is their history, grossly inflated the power needs of this province. They did this 30 years ago when I was in government and they always have. It’s sort of a shield against falling short of the needs but now they have outdone themselves, as Mr. Andersen’s figures demonstrate.

Moreover, anyone with half a brain can see that the demands will be far less than Hydro says for at least two reasons:

1.   Industrial demand will continue to diminish, in real terms, because we are in a long-term downturn in the economy worldwide and the likelihood is that it will get worse.

2.   Conservation is no longer some pie in the sky word only used in “feel good” speeches but is, and more and more, becoming an important reality. Hydro’s own 2007 Energy Conservation Potential Review report found that we could save enough electricity through serious conservation by 2026 to power 1.4 million homes (close to a third of our total current electricity demands)

Here, then, is where the Campbell government has got us:

1.   Private power destroying our rivers and the ecologies that depend upon them.

2.   The power they create is not needed by BC Hydro

3.   BC Hydro must take that power or pay for it – now at rates 14-29% more for this new purchase program. The bank has called the robber back to tell him he missed a safe and here’s the money he forgot.

4.   This means Hydro must export the power at a huge loss or use it when it can make its own power at 1/12th the cost on its heritage dams

5.   The environmental assessment, when it’s mandated, is a bad joke and more and more IPPs will dam rivers without any environmental assessment

6.   When the government says it’s doing all this for BC energy self sufficiency, for the reasons above, they’re lying through their teeth.

7.   BC Hydro has consistently made a profit sending a very substantial dividend to the government for hospital, schools and social services. Going bankrupt, it can no longer do that.

8.   Never mind, folks, you’ll get your dividend after all as Hydro will substantially raise its rates to you so they can pay that dividend!

The Liberal leadership hopefuls will not whisper a word about this and one can only hope that the NDP candidates make an issue out of it. Or maybe a third party will emerge.

Either what we’re saying is right or wrong – if we’re wrong, we should be challenged by the Campbell government with hard facts but that’s an unknown policy in their book; Moreover, their long silence tells us we’re spot on; if right, the government must abandon the policy, make the IPP contracts public and do its best to restore and protect our environment.

If the government persists we, and I mean all of us, must consider taking direct action.

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“Red Rafe” Mair: Madder Than Hell At The B.C. Liberals

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From Westcoaster.ca – Feb 3, 2011

by Jessica Kirby

Former lawyer and cabinet minister turned political junkie
Rafe Mair will be visiting Port Alberni and Tofino in February to
discuss the Raven Coal project and environmental issues in B.C.

He and filmmaker Damien Gillis are promoting their recently launched “Common Sense Canadian,” a blog aimed at creating a platform for environmental discussion and action across the province.
According to the blog, “the Common Sense Canadian
tackles the issues that really matter to Canadians and the world, such
as water, energy, food, democracy – not to mention government corruption
and corporate greed.”
Mair says run-of-river power projects, those
that use the natural flow and elevation drop of a river to fuel power
generation, threaten every stream and river in B.C. and the ecology that
depends on them.
Most are products of contracts forced on BC Hydro
by the Liberal government, stipulating that the corporation has to
purchase power it doesn’t need from independent companies at twice the
export price, says Mair.
Mair and Gillis are on a cross-province
tour to reach every British Columbian with the message that it is  time
to say, “enough is enough” to the B.C. government, and demand protection
for the province’s natural resources.
Westcoaster.ca
caught up with Mair before the event to get his take on the key issues
affecting environmental health on Vancouver Island and in the rest of
the province.

How do you feel about the Raven Coal project?
Any
time a mining development is anywhere near the public, it is not quite
on. It’s not like we are short on coal, and if we need to use it for
energy, then there are all sorts of coal mines and coal deposits around
the world that don’t impede on land that is tender from an environmental
point of view and that are not close to people.

What I see with the Raven Mine is that it is too close to the
population and has to serve a market that does not serve B.C. I have a
problem with the mine situation because I understand that people have to
mine things, but what is lacking is public consultation before it
becomes a done deal.

One thing we’ve got to come to grips with in society is that we can’t
have a one-law-fits-all situation. Each place has different and
equities, and when it comes to mining the days of wading into someone’s
back yard with a pick axe are over. Society has developed and so options
are available – not mining near Fish Lake or not putting slag into it,
for example. It is new work for miners, but one has to take things like
Raven Mine and assess the situation and anyone with half a brain can see
that it is not on.

What is the most important environmental issue B.C. is facing right now?
It
is the run-of-rivers [power generation projects], no question about it.
The issue is agreements the Liberals made with independent power
generation companies. These are not mom and pop operations; they are
huge international companies like GE, Ledcor, and DuPont. They do not
let the water bubble along freely. In some cases they take away up to 90
per cent of the water. The ecology that depends on that river is
damaged; add that to the trees that are taken down for roads …

Point two is that BC Hydro is forced to pay double the export price
to IPPs, and they have to take it or pay it. Because of energy created
privately during spring run-off when BC Hydro doesn’t need it, it must
be used or exported instead of using what they can generate themselves
for a twelfth of the price.

The so-called run-of-rivers are hugely destructive of fish. They say
they don’t put weirs in pace where there are significant values of fish
to be hurt. This is just nonsense. There isn’t a single river in B.C.
without significant fish values.

The biggest problem is getting people to believe that any government
could be so fucking stupid. Their eyes glaze over as they think, “No one
would ever do that,” but that is exactly what they are doing.

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Time Enviros Tune into in BC Politics

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The time has come, the walrus said…no Rafe, the Liberal leadership only looks like Alice in Wonderland.

It is, though, time for all environmentalists to start looking very seriously at BC politics because after the NDP convention, we’ll be in the countdown to the next election. Even though the election will still be two years away, that will be the time we who care about environmental values must start turning it up, notch by notch.

In doing this I ask to you bear in mind my biases. I don’t give a damn who gets in as long as he/she opens up the private power file, produces all the secret energy purchase contracts so we can see which, if any, are in the public interest and axe the ones that aren’t, then cancels the Campbell Energy Plan, and, after consultation with the people, presents a new one.

When I say I don’t care who gets in this is not a light statement to be ignored.

Let us assume that, in our zeal to save our province, we elect a government that hashes things up but does save the environment, our farm land, our wildlife habitat, our fish, our rivers and their dependent ecologies, and BC Hydro in the bargain, we can then elect another government to clean up the mess.

It gets down to choices (the name of the game in BC politics as elsewhere)  – will you trade away Beautiful British Columbia for a short term bottom line? And while we’re on the subject, I would argue that on virtually every point the Campbell government is worse than the NDP of the 90s. I admit that’s damning with very faint praise but make your own comparison even of fiscal policy, bearing in mind Campbell’s gifts to the rich, his inability to see the obvious coming recession, his lying about the 2009 budget and the state of the deficit and provincial debt.

Those who support Gordon “Pinocchio” Campbell’s fiscal record by claiming that he was hit by hard times should go back to the time “Asian Flu” hit the NDP government and see how the Liberals in opposition gave them no peace regarding something over which they had no control and came as a surprise to everyone.

I cannot see any Liberal candidate who will change a thing.

As you follow the debates, see how often the environment/energy issue or BC Rail comes up!

Kevin Falcon is Gordon Campbell, plus, plus, plus. Christy Clark has good looks and glibness but nothing else. George Abbott hasn’t the jam to deal with environment/energy issues by letting the public have a say and Mike de Jong has been an integral part of the Campbell government throughout and is the man who paid the money to end the Basi/Virk case and continue the government cover-up of the BC Rail mess.

A pox on all their houses!

What about the NDP?

They have a big problem with their optics. The real problem with the NDP of the 90s wasn’t fiscal but an inability to look like a government what with its scandals and revolving door leadership. What this demonstrated more than anything else was a lack of discipline.

For one, I have a problem with party discipline where it chokes off independent opinions which is what happens in all Canadian parliaments. That said, there must be sufficient discipline to keep the ship from hitting the Lorelei.

Unfortunately, the public seems to like tough, uncompromising discipline and somehow the NDP must square this circle.

As I’ve often pointed out, the NDP is, by nature, a disputatious lot.

The only candidate to have spoken out, forcibly, on the environment/energy issue is John Horgan. I’ve met and spent some time with Horgan and I believe he means what he says about opening up the IPP contracts and ending the rape of our rivers.

According to a recent Ipsos-Reid poll, the leaders are, in descending order, Farnworth, John Horgan, Nicholas Simons and Adrian Dix.

I’ve spoken about Horgan, who is clearly the soundest on our issues – now let me deal with the others.

Farnworth is a fine man and would, in my estimation, be a good choice depending on his stand on the environment/energy issue. Accordingly, I suspend judgment until we know what his position is.

Adrian Dix carries an open political wound over his fake e-mail in an attempt to cover-up the problem Premier Clark got in over his neighbour who helped fix Clark’s house at the same time he was making an application for a gambling license. Dix, to his credit – and unlike so many politicians – ‘fessed up promptly.

He is a pit bull much like Kevin Falcon and if that match-up came to pass what excitement that would bring to our politics.

Adrian Dix has been outstanding in the Legislature and I look forward to learning his position on the environment/energy.

Unfortunately I don’t know Nicholas Simons except to say hello, so judgment must be suspended. He, like all the candidates, has been offered a blog on our website (www.thecanadian.org) on environment/energy matters..

I’ve already wasted time typing this but the Conservatives may and only may take a few votes from the Liberals.

It’s interesting to consider a third party and the only one with a chance is the BC First Party under the pro tem leadership of Chris Delaney. I’ve been following this with considerable interest since, it seems to me, there is a great gap in the middle and that Delaney has moved from the right (Conservative) seamlessly. I’m not surprised because I believe this has been happening for a long time.

My read of it is that Delaney couldn’t stomach the Liberals so tried other avenues which, to date, have failed.

I believe that Chris has blotted his copybook staying with the Recall movement more out of loyalty than conviction. But time will tell.

There are two times in my memory when a “third party” has been successful – 1952 and 1991. 2013 looks like the situations back then.

In 1952 the Liberal Coalition crumbled and this left a huge gap in the middle which W.A.C Bennett charged into with his HMS Pinafore-like Social Credit Party.

In 1991, again the middle opened up as the Social Credit Party collapsed and the Gordon Wilson led Liberals went into the fray with no seats and ended up with 17 and Official Opposition status.

Speaking of 1991, what will Gordon Wilson do? He’s a political animal as is his wife Judi Tyabi-Wilson. I would be very surprised to learn that they haven’t been talking to Delaney. It would be a very powerful combination especially since the Wilsons would offset any concerns that Delaney was too far right.

The Green Party is the hardest one for me to handle. I’ve voted Green three times but strictly as a protest. On environment/energy issues they are clearly on our side.

Problem. Big time problem. Under our “first past the post” system they can’t win in spite of a good leader in Jane Sterk.

Try as they might, they can’t convince voters that they’re more than a one issue party. And that’s a damned shame.

One thing’s for sure – for political junkies it’s going to be a helluva ride!

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Alex Tsakumis: Rafe Mair & the CBC BS

Canada, Politics, Western Canada, , ,
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From AlexGTsakumis.com – Feb 2, 2011

I’ve always enjoyed the CBC. Even though I grew up a CJOR junkie and then an CKNW addict, I always enjoyed the CBC.

Now, listening to Stephen Quinn and Rick Cluff from time to time is
some very good radio, but the CBC, Canada’s media mothership–and often
the motherload of politically correct pabulum, can be a very trying
place to get some balance. They do, after all, feature a hypocritical
fruit fly biologist as the paragon of environmental nirvana and are a
notorious (mismanaged!) drain on our pockets.

But this bit of local rabble had me scratching my head.

Still does.

Rafe Mair has found himself in a bit of controversy, in my opinion,
for doing the right thing: Rafe, a friend and fan of this blog, was
asked by a CBC producer to find something nice and not so nice to say
about Gordon Campbell seeing as some testimonial was on its way.

Rafe, every bit the iconoclast, took the principled position of
telling the CBC that he could NOT find anything nice to say about
Campbell. In turn, the producer axed Rafe’s participation, for that day,
on the CBC panel that includes Erin Chutter and Moe Sihota.

Frankly, Mair is the only useful talkinghead on the damn thing.
Chutter’s opinions range from occasionally on to meteorically sophomoric
and Sihota has no business being there when he’s the President of the
NDP and collecting from unions to do so.

To say I’m disappointed in the mother ship is an understatement.

For shame. I, too, hope Rafe is back next week and survives this
not-so-quaint bit of censorship–because that’s exactly what it amounts
to. Otherwise, you can forget that panel–without Rafe its relevancy is
zilch.

For shame.

Read full article and Rafe’s statement

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Issues NDP Can Win On…If They’re Smart Enough

Canada, Politics, WATER, Western Canada, , ,
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The New Liberal leader will, on several questions, be like the fighter sitting on his stool and refusing to answer the bell because he knows he’s going to get the crap knocked out of him.

One of those is BC Rail.

Another is private v public power which, in essence, is combined into Campbell’s so-called run-of-river policy.

We must all know that no matter who the leader is, he/she will duck these issues and they will be greatly aided by the mainstream media people who are not allowed, apparently, to bring them up.

For the NDP this is a glorious opportunity to win, outright, two huge issues – but before they can do that they must establish their understanding of these two issues and offer solutions.

The NDP didn’t have the opportunity to really deal with BC Rail for the serious stuff was before the courts and no one would have believed that the Liberals would shut the case down just as former Minister of Finance, Gary Collins, and the Premier himself were to give evidence.

On the Energy/Rivers issue the NDP was woefully weak in the election campaign. For much of the campaign the NDP candidate could only sloganize (a new word I just invented) with such puffery as “we’ve got to stop giving our rivers away”, which was true but scarcely did the issue justice. The NDP have a history of sloganizing – neat little ditties that mask ignorance or lack of courage or both. They bring an appropriate giggle and applause at NDP bun tosses but do nothing to enlighten the voter or present a solution.

First, then, the NDP must show that it understands the colossal and perfidious – in the sense of cheating citizens – policy the Gordon Campbell government have us involved in. The giveaway is immense – large corporations get subsidized by the public to get paid double or more what their power is worth by BC Hydro (at a huge loss), for power that’s not for British Columbians but for export.  

Read that again. It defies belief doesn’t it? And until this issue is understood by political parties it won’t be understood by the public.

The secret contracts BC Hydro is forced to make are unconscionable. The NDP must pledge to make them public and if they are indeed unconscionable, refuse to honour them. The analogy is rather like the mayor elected to clean up city hall, then, when elected, promising to honour all the sweetheart deals his predecessor made with his family and cronies.

Politics is a tough game and demands courageous answers to difficult questions. This means that the party itself must understand the issues and have the platform very firm on what’s wrong and what must happen.

This is not easy, for the business community will scream and the NDP has done a lot of work to make inroads there. Business people, in general, don’t like the NDP anyway but smaller business people are far easier to deal with. Once the policy is in place, NDP spokespeople around the province must speak, with knowledge, to the people all around BC, the business community being welcome. They won’t be the only ones out in the communities speaking on this subject.

I do know of one NDP candidate who thoroughly understands this issue – John Horgan. Others may also understand and we at The Common Sense Canadian would welcome a blog from any other leadership candidate interested in letting our readership hear their view.

I’m often accused of being a turncoat because I was once a Social Credit Minister.

Sticks and stones etc … I’ve been a strong environmentalist for a great many years. I don’t believe for one second that Premier Bill Bennett would have jeopardized – hell, killed – BC Hydro for any reason much less by forcing them to pay private companies double for energy it didn’t need meaning they had to export it at a huge loss.

If he had believed that, we’d never have met, let alone become colleagues.

I believe with every fiber that the saving of our environment – our salmon, our rivers and the ecologies they support – is far and away the biggest political issue of the day. As I often said during the last election – a government might be a very bad government on fiscal issues but if it is, that can be fixed by a new government.

Once you lose your farmland, your fish, your rivers and the ecologies they support, you can never get them back.

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