The day after he was named B.C.91裸聊视频檚 premier-designate, John Horgan told a Vancouver radio station that stopping the Trans Mountain oil pipeline isn91裸聊视频檛 his top priority. It didn91裸聊视频檛 even come up in his first phone call with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
His first priorities, Horgan said after signing up the B.C. Greens to unseat the B.C. Liberals by one vote, are the opioid crisis, housing and reaching a lumber trade deal with the U.S. Since there91裸聊视频檚 little he can do about any of these things that isn91裸聊视频檛 already being done, this is a pirouette from protest to public relations, in the Trudeau style.
Horgan91裸聊视频檚 swearing-in as premier July 18 conveniently won91裸聊视频檛 allow him to attend the annual premiers91裸聊视频� meeting that week. It91裸聊视频檚 in Edmonton, hosted by fellow NDP Premier Rachel Notley, who has joined Trudeau in reminding Horgan he has no constitutional right to blockade a federally regulated resource project. Alberta reporters would want to know more about Horgan91裸聊视频檚 vow to use 91裸聊视频渆very tool in the toolkit91裸聊视频� to stop the upgrade of the only oil pipeline link from northern Alberta to the Pacific, delivering oil and refined fuels since 1954.
Fortunately for Horgan, he can temporarily hand off this promise to the international protest machine gathering to confront the pipeline project91裸聊视频檚 launch this fall.
West Coast Environmental Law, one of the network of well-funded organizations supporting the U.S.-led 91裸聊视频淭ar Sands Campaign,91裸聊视频� has produced its own 91裸聊视频渢oolkit91裸聊视频� for monkey-wrenching Trans Mountain.
Their suggestions include 91裸聊视频渋mpose further processes and conditions on the Trans Mountain project related to matters within provincial jurisdiction91裸聊视频� and 91裸聊视频減rohibit any new provincial approvals or permits, and suspend existing approvals until the additional processes and conditions have been satisfied.91裸聊视频�
This is essentially the Adrian Dix playbook from 2013: re-establish a parallel provincial process to subvert the existing one. A mere 157 conditions were imposed by the National Energy Board, another 37 by B.C., and Kinder Morgan Canada has committed $1.5 billion extra for a B.C. environmental enhancement fund, thicker pipe, more drilled crossings and a tunnel through Burnaby Mountain.
Speaking of which, staff at Simon Fraser University have been among those enthusiastically preparing a replay of the Dakota Access pipeline standoff in the U.S. This spectacle created rather than prevented an environmental disaster, with a vast garbage-strewn squat and hundreds of vehicles abandoned for the U.S. Army to clean up before spring flooding.
These protests are not about protecting water. They91裸聊视频檙e about keeping petroleum fuels in the ground in selected places.
The appointment of Vancouver-Fairview MLA George Heyman as environment minister next week would cement the environmentalist takeover of the NDP. Heyman transitioned from president of the B.C. Government Employees91裸聊视频� Union to running the B.C. branch office of San Francisco-based Sierra Club before being elected in 2013.
Now all in with the war on (Canadian) oil, Horgan insists he supports natural gas exports. But so far he91裸聊视频檚 toed the professional protester line that the leading B.C. project, Pacific Northwest LNG, also hasn91裸聊视频檛 met a high enough environmental standard.
Most importantly, opponents insist no pipeline has met the United Nations standard of 91裸聊视频渇ree, prior and informed consent91裸聊视频� by every possible Aboriginal title claimant. This is an absolute demand of Horgan and Green leader Andrew Weaver. It ignores federal Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould91裸聊视频檚 insistence that this can91裸聊视频檛 simply be imposed on Canadian law.
We are at a point in B.C. history where the urban population is poised to defeat the rural regions, based on exaggerated risk and rejection of benefit. The cost would be high.
Tom Fletcher is B.C. legislature reporter and columnist for Black Press. Email: tfletcher@blackpress.ca Twitter: @tomfletcherbc
