The day after he was named B.C.香蕉视频直播檚 premier-designate, John Horgan told a Vancouver radio station that stopping the Trans Mountain oil pipeline isn香蕉视频直播檛 his top priority. It didn香蕉视频直播檛 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 there香蕉视频直播檚 little he can do about any of these things that isn香蕉视频直播檛 already being done, this is a pirouette from protest to public relations, in the Trudeau style.
Horgan香蕉视频直播檚 swearing-in as premier July 18 conveniently won香蕉视频直播檛 allow him to attend the annual premiers香蕉视频直播� meeting that week. It香蕉视频直播檚 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 Horgan香蕉视频直播檚 vow to use 香蕉视频直播渆very tool in the toolkit香蕉视频直播� 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 project香蕉视频直播檚 launch this fall.
West Coast Environmental Law, one of the network of well-funded organizations supporting the U.S.-led 香蕉视频直播淭ar Sands Campaign,香蕉视频直播� has produced its own 香蕉视频直播渢oolkit香蕉视频直播� for monkey-wrenching Trans Mountain.
Their suggestions include 香蕉视频直播渋mpose further processes and conditions on the Trans Mountain project related to matters within provincial jurisdiction香蕉视频直播� and 香蕉视频直播減rohibit any new provincial approvals or permits, and suspend existing approvals until the additional processes and conditions have been satisfied.香蕉视频直播�
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. They香蕉视频直播檙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 Employees香蕉视频直播� 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 he香蕉视频直播檚 toed the professional protester line that the leading B.C. project, Pacific Northwest LNG, also hasn香蕉视频直播檛 met a high enough environmental standard.
Most importantly, opponents insist no pipeline has met the United Nations standard of 香蕉视频直播渇ree, prior and informed consent香蕉视频直播� 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-Raybould香蕉视频直播檚 insistence that this can香蕉视频直播檛 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
