Only two weeks remain until Election Day in British Columbia and one of the biggest questions to be answered between now and then is how many millennials — voters between the ages of 18 and 34 — are going to get out to vote.

“In the past, we’ve had a really low youth voter turnout,” Raaj Chatterjee, a third-year engineering student at Simon Fraser University and organizer with Young Climate Voters B.C., told DeSmog Canada.

“I think that’s starting to change,” Chatterjee said.

“Especially with events in the States… a lot of people are waking up to being more involved or at least know what’s going on in politics.”

Federal Election Brought Major Bump to Youth Vote

During the 2015 federal election, there was a massive spike in the number of young people who headed to the ballot box: voter turnout for the age category of 18 to 24 spiked to 57.1 per cent in 2015, compared to only 38.8 per cent in 2011.

The difference? Liberal leader and now Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Young voters adored him: his approval rating among British Columbians aged 18 to 34 hit a stunning 71 per cent a day before the election, compared to 27 per cent for Stephen Harper.

Unfortunately for youth voter turnout advocates, there is no Trudeau-like figure in the upcoming B.C. election. In fact, millennial perception of the three major party leaders is extremely low: when asked by Insights West who would make the best premier, 17 per cent picked the NDP’s John Horgan, 14 per cent picked the Green Party’s Andrew Weaver and only seven per cent picked current premier and Liberal leader Christy Clark.

That leaves a full 62 per cent — or almost two-thirds — of young voters who aren’t sure. However, it’s that block of undecided voters that often end up determining the outcome of an election and 69 per cent of millennials feel it’s time for a change in government.

“It’s interesting: a lot of people plan to vote, but not a lot of people knew how they were going to vote yet,” says Emily Glass, organizer with Dogwood, referring to recent conversations with students. “I think it speaks to the reality of my generation, that we seem to be less partisan and the conversation looks different.”

Will Youth Voter Turnout Decide the BC Election? #bcpoli #bcelxn2017 https://t.co/mlrjeiTYKa @dogwoodbc @SamaraCDA

— DeSmog Canada (@DeSmogCanada) April 25, 2017

Housing and Poverty Rank As Highest Issue For Young Voters

Millennials appear to be driven more by issues than by particular parties. In a recent Insights West poll, just over half of people in that age group pegged “housing / poverty / homelessness” as the most important issue facing British Columbia, compared to only 27 per cent of people over the age of 55.

The environment was the second most important issue to young voters (alongside healthcare). For older voters, environment ranked fifth, below other issues like education, the economy and accountability.

The big question is if young voters are going to show up on May 9. In 2013, only 39.8 per cent of people between the ages of 25 and 34 who were registered to vote actually voted. That’s compared to 74.2 per cent of registered voters between 65 and 74.

Over 50 Voter PopUps In Vancouver Attempt to Familiarize Voters With Process

One of the big inhibitors for young voters is their lack of permanent address and awareness of the registration process.

That’s where strategies like the Voter PopUp — designed by the nonpartisan democracy organization Samara — can come in.

According to John Beebe, Samara’s manager of outreach, the tool was developed during the federal election and is now being piloted in Metro Greater Vancouver in partnership with Elections B.C.

“It’s really a tool for community-based organizations to help engage their communities and demystify the voting process,” Beebe told DeSmog Canada. “It does that in a very simple but very powerful way by allowing community organizations to set up mock polling places: you have ballots, and ballot boxes, and voting screens and all the elements that you would experience when go into an actual polling place.”

The over 50 Voter PopUps in Vancouver don’t specifically target young voters, with locations including food banks, drop-in shelters and libraries.

But Beebe says that young people with higher education experience already participate in voting at a relatively high rate, whereas young people who have not attended post-secondary education at all or who may not have a stable income participate at a “very, very low rate.”

That fact is exacerbated by the failure of political parties to perform actual outreach to young people.

“They haven’t because they’re cynical and think young people don’t participate,” he says. “It’s this catch-22 situation, where they don’t think young people participate and don’t meaningfully reach out to young people, and then young people don’t participate because no-one’s meaningfully connecting with them.”

Millennial Focus on Issues Over Parties

Both Chatterjee and Glass say their organizations are deploying similar tactics, including helping young voters register and providing information about the voting process.

Other efforts have been used by the likes of the B.C. Federation of Students, which set a goal of 10,000 voting pledges from university students with a particular focus on “peer-to-peer persuasion.”

“Of course it looks different when there’s an election or certain campaign points, but we’re always organizing in neighbourhood teams,” Glass says. “I’ve found that is one of the most effective ways to reach youth. If they’re interested in an issue more so than partisan politics. Between elections, that’s the moment to have those conversations.”

As we’ve seen with recent elections, the undecided voters can make all of the difference. So come May 9, the result could come down to which party did the best job engaging with millennials — and how many young voters ultimately make it to the ballot box.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

Elections B.C. has been asked to investigate political contributions made to the BC Liberals by high-ranking Kinder Morgan staff, including president Ian Anderson.

The democracy advocacy group Dogwood submitted a formal complaint to Elections B.C. this week after discovering a series of political donations from individuals connected to Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline and tanker project that received provincial approval in January 2017.

The complaint comes on the heels of a bombshell investigation by the Globe and Mail that revealed corporate lobbyists were illegally reimbursed for contributions made to the B.C. Liberals.

Donations from Kinder Morgan staff to the BC Liberals include:

• Ian Anderson, President, Kinder Morgan Canada: $7,300
• Gavin Dew, Stakeholder Engagement Specialist: $13,120
• Lexa Hobenshield, External Relations Manager: $3,725
• Stephanie Snider, consulting lobbyist: $1,000

“If Kinder Morgan reimbursed any of its staff or lobbyists for event tickets, tables at fundraisers or other political contributions, they broke the law,” Kai Nagata, communications director for Dogwood, said in a press release.

B.C. has long been criticized for having some of the weakest political donation rules in Canada. There are no restrictions on corporate, union or foreign donations and there are no limits on what individuals can contribute.

It is explicitly illegal, however, to donate on behalf of or conceal the identity of another individual or entity.

“I think the people that have been tuned into what’s going on have looked at the B.C. political donation system with horror for many years but it does appear that current government has really elevated this style of fundraising to an art form,” Nagata told DeSmog Canada.

“The big difference we’ve seen in the last week is the realization that in their greed these players have found a way to break one of the few rules we do have which is around “straw donors.’ ”

The B.C. Liberals raised $12 million in 2016, more than any other ruling provincial party in Canada and two-thirds as much as the federal Liberal Party, according to the Globe investigation.

Nagata said the massive amounts of corporate and foreign cash flowing into B.C. raise significant concerns about decision-making in the province.

“The fundamental question is whether politicians are governing in the public’s interest and the scale of infiltration of foreign and corporate money raises serious questions about whether that is the case.”

Dogwood calculates that prior to the approval of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline project, the BC Liberals received $771,168 in donations from project supporters including Kinder Morgan, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association and oilsands producers. The same group donated $51,210 to the BC NDP.

Political Donations By Top #KinderMorgan Staff Draw Call for ElectionsBC Investigation https://t.co/EKxy6xJvkR @dogwoodbc @kainagata #bcpoli pic.twitter.com/zMINcctiqp

— DeSmog Canada (@DeSmogCanada) March 10, 2017

A recent report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the Corporate Mapping Project found the B.C. government has been lobbied more than 22,000 times by the fossil fuel industry since 2010 and received $5.2 million in industry political donations between 2008 and 2015, 92 per cent of which went to the BC Liberals.

“Each of these examples highlights how politicians have turned this lack of laws and regulations to their advantage politically,” Nagata said.

Despite numerous calls to modernize B.C.’s political donation system, no changes have been made under the BC Liberals.

“People are starting to wake up and realize every decision this government has made, and contracts they’ve given out and billions in tax breaks they’ve awarded to donor companies — all of that is now in question.”

Andrew Weaver, leader of the BC Green party, said B.C. is running a “pay to play” system that prioritizes big donors.

“The fact that we have so much money going from so few fossil fuel companies to both parties — mostly the BC Liberals but also to the BC NDP — is part of the reason we have lost so many opportunities in B.C.,” Weaver told DeSmog Canada.

“I was the only MLA who took the time to be an intervenor in the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain hearings,” Weaver said. “The BC Liberals put out their five conditions for the project but never even outlined what it would take to meet those conditions.”

“B.C. politics is sick to the core because of this pay to play, because of lobbyists and corporate influence. People are being left behind.”

The BC Green party does not accept union and corporate donations.

“The ballot question this election is about trust: who do you elect to represent the people?”

“That’s a question for people who can vote: unions don’t vote and corporations don’t vote.”

Elections B.C. did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

Image: Christy Clark annouces B.C.'s approval of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline. Photo: Province of B.C. via Flickr

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Since January 1, 2017 there have been more than 50 accidental releases from pipelines and oil and gas facilities in Alberta. These spills and leaks, ranging from large to small, from hazardous to non-hazardous, happen almost every single day.

Don’t believe it? You can check for yourself via the Alberta Energy Regulator’s incident reporting dashboard where spills are documented and information about volume, location and response is made available to the public.

In B.C., however, the provincial regulator’s pipeline incident reporting page has been offline for eight months (yes, you read that correctly).

DeSmog Canada has been reporting on the missing map since October and the issue was recently taken up by the Globe and Mail.

“In a province where the public debate over increased oil pipeline capacity has consumed so much energy, the lack of transparency about the province’s management of its existing system is surprising,” wrote Justine Hunter as politicians returned for the spring sitting at the legislature.

George Heyman, environment critic for the B.C. NDP, said getting the map back online should be a priority for the province.

“It’s shocking that the portal and the online incident report would be offline for such a significant amount of time,” Heyman told DeSmog Canada.

“This is an important mechanism for British Columbians to know if a spill has happened and to seek further information on how it might impact community health, whether the release be sour gas or crude oil.”

The B.C. Oil and Gas Commission describes its pipeline incident map as providing “timely, factual information on all pipeline incidents” to ensure “companies respond effectively and that the interests of British Columbians are protected through a 24/7, 365 day per year incident response program.”

The commission regulates more than 43,000 kilometres of pipeline in the province, 6,100 kilometres of which carry crude oil or natural gas.

In a summary report for the year 2015, the commission documented 45 pipeline incidents, indicating a slight increase in crude oil pipeline spills in recent years.

While there were three crude oil pipeline spills in 2011, there were six in 2012, four in 2013, seven in 2014 and seven in 2015. Spill volumes are not released in the B.C. Oil and Gas Commission’s annual summary reports.

A spokesperson for the B.C. Ministry of Natural Gas Development said the map is offline while a new system is put in place that includes “substantial improvements to the incident map.”

Companies are legally required to report spills to the B.C. Oil and Gas Commission and pipeline performance reports are released annually, the spokesperson added.

Heyman said that’s not enough to keep the public informed.

“We know there were 45 incidents in 2015, so over this eight-month period there may have been 30 pipeline incidents in B.C. that haven’t been reported to the public,” Heyman said.

Screenshot of B.C.'s pipeline incident map webpage, October 2016.

Screenshot of B.C.'s pipeline incident map webpage, March 2017.

The problems don’t end with pipelines under provincial jurisdiction.

A 2013 CBC investigation found B.C. was home to the highest number of pipeline safety incidents for federally regulated pipelines managed by the National Energy Board between 2000 and 2013.

That investigation also found the rate of pipeline incidents nationally had doubled since the early 2000s.

“Not having this information available is disappointing especially in the context of major new pipelines proposed in B.C.,” Sophie Harrison, a campaign co-ordinator at B.C. democracy group Dogwood, told DeSmog Canada.

She said at the time the province approved the federally regulated Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline the B.C. government was insistent robust land-based spill response was in place.

“It’s hard to simply trust there’s world-leading pipeline spill response in B.C. if there isn’t real time data available to people in the province.”

“Not even having this basic level of accountability I think it speaks to the issue of public trust around the safety of pipelines in B.C.,” she said. “What we’re hearing from the B.C. government is, ‘oh just trust us.’ ”

Dermod Travis, executive director of IntegrityBC, said the current government has a problem with transparency.

“It speaks to the duplicity of a government that once promised to be the most open and transparent in Canada and has since proven to be the most secretive. It also speaks to a government that picks and chooses which laws apply to it, at its political convenience,” Travis told DeSmog Canada.

In #Alberta there’s an accidental oil “release” [read: spill] nearly everyday. In BC? We’re left in the dark https://t.co/UDOflPoSxM #bcpoli pic.twitter.com/UclwXqHx7z

— DeSmog Canada (@DeSmogCanada) March 3, 2017

Travis pointed to the 2013 findings of Information and Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham that B.C. failed to proactively disclose information regarding a risk of harm to the environment or public health.  The commissioner found the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations withheld inspection reports from the public that showed the 80-year-old Testalinden Dam was near the end of its life and “a hazard to people and property downstream."

“This isn't a one-off failure that could be blamed on technology,” Travis said. “This is a consistent — and seemingly intentional — failure.”

In some instances government disclosure is the public’s only means of information about pipeline spills. 

In October 2016, the public learned of a large crude oil spill from a remote Alberta pipeline owned by Trilogy Energy Corp. only after the company reported the incident to the provincial regulator, which then posted (scant) information to its incident dashboard.

The company only learned of the spill after a routine helicopter inspection of the line.

B.C.’s existing pipeline infrastructure is aging, a problem some say will lead to increased incidents.

Heyman said all jurisdictions with aging pipeline infrastructure are vulnerable.

“That’s why online, real time reporting to the public is very important for releasing public information. We need to ensure the public knows what is happening so it can hold government and companies accountable,” Heyman said.

Phil Rygg, spokesperson for the B.C. Oil and Gas Commission, told DeSmog Canada “the map is expected to be available online by March 31.” The commission previously stated the map would be back online at the end of 2016. 

Image: Oil spill in Dalian, China. Photo: Peter Ma via Flickr cc 2.0

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The federal government has issued an approval for the $36-billion Pacific Northwest liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminal on Lelu Island on the B.C. coast, undermining its commitments to take action on climate change.

Tuesday’s decision — announced an hour behind schedule in Richmond, B.C., by a trio of ministers including Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna — means it will be virtually impossible for B.C. to meet its climate targets.

The announcement was seen as the litmus test on whether the Liberals would live up to its climate promises.

“With today’s decision on the Pacific NorthWest LNG project, Minister McKenna made it much more difficult for Canada to meet its climate targets and signaled that it’s OK for provinces to miss their own emissions targets," said Matt Horne of the Pembina Institute.

"If built, Pacific NorthWest LNG will be one of the largest carbon polluters in the country and a serious obstacle to Canada living up to its climate commitments."

Pacific Northwest LNG — wholly owned by the Malaysian government and boasting a questionable human rights record — lobbied the federal government 22 times between February 1 and April 21 this year, including meetings with McKenna and her chief of staff Marlo Raynolds.

The project will involve scaling up fracking in northeastern B.C., building a pipeline to the West Coast and constructing an export terminal on Lelu Island, near a crucial area for juvenile salmon.

The Pacific Northwest LNG project is expected to emit 9.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent annually — equal to 1.9 million cars.

By 2050, the entire province of B.C. is supposed to emit 13 million tonnes of carbon pollution. With this approval, meeting the climate target becomes an impossibility.

B.C. Premier Christy Clark had already torpedoed any credibility she had on climate change when she announced her widely criticized “climate action plan” this summer.

On Tuesday she trotted out her go-to myth that exporting LNG will reduce emissions in other parts of the world — which was quickly shot down. 

“Despite claims to the contrary, the production and export of LNG from B.C. has not been demonstrated to help reduce global emissions. Stronger climate policies — not increased fossil fuel production — are what we need to position the British Columbian and Canadian economies to thrive in a low-carbon future," Horne said.

Honeymoon Over for Liberals

The federal Liberals were riding on the coattails of their election promises and climate commitments made in Paris

Now the honeymoon is over.

“For British Columbians and all Canadians concerned about salmon habitat, climate change and reconciliation with First Nations, today’s decision is profoundly troubling,” said Christina Smethurst of Dogwood, B.C.’s largest citizen group. 

“It does not restore public trust in the federal environmental review process.”

The announcement comes on the heels of the Liberals pledging to repair relations between Canada and First Nations, but then approving permits for the Site C Dam against their wishes (the dam has been pushed by Clark in part to power the fracking fields in northeastern B.C. that will feed the Pacific Northwest LNG export terminal).

Adding to the heap of broken promises, the Liberals are also expected to approve the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline to Vancouver sometime before Christmas.

“Nation-to-nation” rhetoric is awfully convenient until you have to live up to it.

It’s also one thing to care about climate change as a concept and quite another to have the guts to turn down a project when you’re being barraged by lobbyists.

A refusal of Pacific Northwest LNG would have proven the federal government is one willing to make tough decisions to live up to its promises  — one that would refuse a project if it put climate targets out of reach. One that would invest in renewables, energy efficiency and public transit infrastructure.

Perhaps, one day, we’ll see some real change.

On the bright side, there are doubts Pacific NorthWest LNG will even be built.

“As the cost of renewable energy continues to fall, it is increasingly uncertain that LNG exports can compete in Asian markets,” Merran Smith of Clean Energy Canada said.

A new world is coming. Question is: will Canada compete in it?

Photo: Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr, Federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, Premier Christy Clark and Fisheries Minister Dominic Leblanc. Photo by Province of British Columbia.

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