As scientists at the forefront of endangered species research, we are concerned that government backpedaling on endangered species legislation will be a major setback for threatened species, their wild spaces, and the benefits that we derive from them.

British Columbia has a whopping 1,807 species of animals and plants at risk of extinction, more than any other province or territory in Canada.

And yet B.C. is still one of the only provinces in Canada without legislation dedicated to protecting and recovering species at risk.

B.C.’s NDP party platform included the creation of the province’s first endangered species law, and Premier John Horgan reinforced this in the mandate letter to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, George Heyman.

We welcomed this announcement and have worked over the last year to advise the government so that the new law is based on strong science.

But recently, Premier Horgan appeared to back-track on his promise and his ministries’ efforts to build ‘made in B.C.’ legislation, stating: “There’s no significant species at risk legislation on the docket for the foreseeable future here in B.C.”

This potential reversal comes as a result of backlash from parties concerned about how habitat protection for southern mountain caribou could affect their bottom line.

Let’s be clear about what’s going on: particular parties that are highly invested in the status quo of habitat loss and degradation have persuaded cabinet that they will make job loss an election issue in retaliation for strong conservation.

But the evidence is abundant that — contrary to popular belief — protecting the environment doesn’t undermine net job growth. If anything it boosts it, by redirecting and encouraging economic growth towards less damaging practices.

The bottom line for caribou and many other wildlife species is crystal clear: without timely and meaningful protection and restoration measures, including a provincial endangered species law, these creatures will be lost forever.

Mountain caribou in southern B.C. where three herds have been declared extirpated or locally extinct. Photo: David Moskowitz

Over half of B.C.’s 52 surviving caribou herds are at risk of disappearing. A dozen of those herds now have fewer than 25 animals. Three herds have no reproducing individuals left.

Southern mountain caribou were listed under the federal Species at Risk Act in 2003. Sixteen years later, B.C. still does not have sufficient habitat protection to recover caribou. Instead, efforts focus on culling predators and protecting mothers and baby caribou during calving season.

Without meaningful habitat protection, these measures are band-aid solutions, treating the symptoms but not the underlying issues.

But it’s not only the fate of caribou that is at stake.

Wildlife species nearing the brink of extinction include plants and animals of southern B.C.’s Garry oak ecosystems, many runs of sockeye and chinook salmon, and the iconic southern resident killer whales.

Allowing this situation to continue is simply not acceptable — delayed decision-making leads to extinction.

Poor decisions about resource use in the past still haunt us today.

For instance, between 1955-1969, thousands of giant basking sharks were slaughtered in B.C. waters with the aim of reducing commercial salmon losses resulting from the shark’s entanglement in fishing nets.

Fifty years since that eradication program ended, basking sharks are still largely absent from B.C. waters. In other countries, revenue from eco-tourism to view the basking shark’s relative, the whale shark, generates over $100 million per year.

B.C. lost this opportunity when we killed off basking sharks.

We hope that one day, people will come to B.C. to see thriving herds of southern mountain caribou and admire killer whales feeding on a bounty of wild salmon.

The social, economic, cultural, and environmental return on investment from habitat protection and species conservation programs has been shown to be three-fold. Few other industries can compete with these types of economic returns.

B.C.’s economy is changing.

Our future lies in sustainability and the protection and ecologically responsible use of our resources. Protecting nature is also our best strategy to fight climate change.

We urge the B.C. government to show leadership and live up to its promise of creating a B.C. endangered species law.

This critical legislation would show that B.C.’s environment and wildlife matter. It would be a legacy for generations to come.

Signed:

Tara Martin, Professor, Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia

Arne Mooers, Professor, Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University

Brian Starzomski, Ian McTaggart Cowan Professor, School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria

Chris Johnson, Professor, Ecosystem Science and Management Program, University of Northern British Columbia

Cole Burton, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia

John Reynolds, Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University

Julia Baum, Professor, Department of Biology, University of Victoria

Kai Chan, Professor, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia

Karen Hodges, Professor, Department of Biology, University of British Columbia Okanagan

Marco Festa-Bianchet, Professor, Département de biologie, Université de Sherbrooke

Peter Arcese, Professor, Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia

Sally Otto, Professor, Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia

Shaun Fluker, Associate Professor of Law, University of Calgary

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The B.C. government tried to steer clear of controversy over liquefied natural gas exports, the Site C dam and fish farms in the Speech from the Throne Tuesday. The speech laid out the NDP’s “affordability” agenda and unveiled plans to revitalize the environment assessment process and address fugitive emissions in the oil and gas sector.

“As B.C. develops its abundant natural resources, we must do so in a way that meets our obligations to the environment, First Nations and the public interest,” read the speech, presented by Lieutenant Governor Judith Guichon to mark the start of a new legislative session.

“This year, government is taking important steps to restore public trust in B.C.’s environmental stewardship.”

Those steps include new efforts to meet B.C.’s climate action targets, increasing the carbon tax to position B.C. to meet the federally mandated price of $50 per tonne by 2022, investing in parks and protected areas and hiring more conservation officers.

More details about how the government plans to move forward with these priorities will come on Feb. 20 when the budget is unveiled.

“It’s time to get B.C. back on track,” the throne speech stated, noting B.C. “has fallen behind on its climate obligations” and that the previous BC Liberal government failed to achieve its own greenhouse gas reduction targets.

The NDP government also pledged to develop a cross-ministry framework to meet its stated commitment to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Tsilhqot’in decision.

The rights and needs of B.C.’s Indigenous peoples “have been set aside for far too long,” said the throne speech.

“This government understands the enormous responsibility it has to Indigenous peoples in the wake of inaction by government after government.”

Site C dam a sore spot for Indigenous rights

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, called the government’s commitment to reconciliation with Indigenous peoples “encouraging,” but said he has still not forgiven Premier John Horgan “and his inner circle” for “completely violating the rights of Treaty 8 people” by greenlighting the $10.7 billion Site C dam in December.

“I find it highly hypocritical that they can talk about the need to acknowledge the principles and intent of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and at the same time make such an egregious decision in complete violation of those same rights,” Grand Chief Phillip told DeSmog Canada.

“I’m finding it very hard to get beyond that colossal hypocrisy.”

Grand Chief Phillip also said he has heard scores of throne speeches during more than four decades of his involvement in B.C. political issues and that generally there is only a “passing reference” to Indigenous peoples.

“I’ve never heard a throne speech that has been so explicit in its acknowledgment of the responsibilities of the government of British Columbia to act on the rights enshrined in UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the multitude of court decisions” handed down by the Supreme Court of Canada and other levels of court, he said.

“But again they have to walk the walk. They completely and utterly failed in regard to the Site C dam decision. You only get one chance to do the right thing and in regard to Site C they completely blew it.”

Site C, the most expensive publicly funded project in B.C.’s history, was not mentioned in the 20-page speech. Nor were fish farms, which have been in the news recently over the discharge of contaminated bloodwater.

In January, West Moberly First Nations and Prophet River First Nation filed notices of civil action claiming that the Site C dam — along with two existing dams on the Peace River — infringes on rights guaranteed to them in Treaty 8, which promised they can continue their traditional way of life.

A third Treaty 8 nation, Blueberry River First Nations, has launched a civil lawsuit claiming that the cumulative impact of industrial development in their homeland, including the Site C dam, means they can no longer continue traditional practices guaranteed to them in the treaty.

The grand chief said an important first step to realizing commitments outlined in the throne speech would be for the B.C. government to bring forward legislation that “enshrines” the UN declaration in the government’s legislative agenda, “as opposed to simply paying lip service to it in the context of throne speeches.”

Premier John Horgan told press he would not be provoked into a trade war with Alberta. Photo: Chad Hipolito | The Canadian Press

Fracking, fugitive emissions on the agenda

The throne speech said little about the government’s plan to address fugitive emissions in the oil and gas sector, and from slash burning, noting only that “research is underway.” A recent investigation by registered professional biologist John Werring found that B.C. is vastly underreporting its “fugitive emissions” — emissions vented or leaked during the natural gas extraction process.

Environment Minister George Heyman told DeSmog Canada that the NDP will work with the Green caucus “on a variety of measures to deal with fugitive emissions.” He said the finance ministry is working on taxation measures and that the issue will also be considered by B.C.’s new climate solutions and clean growth advisory council.

Heyman said the government will be announcing a timeframe for revitalizing the environmental assessment process “in the coming weeks.”

The throne speech also reiterated that the potential of a diluted bitumen spill in B.C.’s coastal waters “poses a significant risk to our economy and our environment.”

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley announced a B.C. wine boycott last week after B.C. said it would set up an independent scientific advisory panel to look at how diluted bitumen can be safely transported and cleaned up, if spilled.

But the throne speech made no mention of an inter-provincial spat over the Kinder Morgan pipeline, in keeping with Horgan’s statement that he refuses to be provoked into a trade war with Alberta.

Following the throne speech, Horgan reiterated to the media that the risk of transporting raw or diluted bitumen through B.C.’s inland waters and along the coast is “a risk too great” for British Columbians.

“We will continue our discussions with the federal government any anyone else who wants to talk to us about how we can ensure that British Columbia’s environment and economy are not affected by any movement of this product through our territory.”

Nor did the speech from the throne mention Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), an issue over which B.C. Green Party leader Andrew Weaver has threatened to bring down the government.

“We cannot pretend that a market exists when a market doesn’t exist,” Weaver told the media following the throne speech. “For year after year after year I’ve been saying it is folly for us to try to chase a falling star.”

“They [the NDP] were cautious. I think they did the right thing. And I think that people are sick and tired of being promised unicorns.”

On a recent Asian trade mission, Horgan met with Korean, Japanese and Chinese partners in LNG Canada, a Shell-backed project near Kitimat that is in the planning stages.

Weaver pointed out that B.C. will not be able to meet its climate targets if any major LNG project goes ahead, telling Desmog Canada in a previous interview that, “I am not standing by and watching us give away the farm yet again to land an industry we’re not competitive in. That’s my line in the sand.”

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Premier John Horgan said this week he’s anxiously awaiting a court decision on charges against Mount Polley mining corporation brought in a private prosecution by former Xat’sull chief Bev Sellars for violations of B.C.’s environmental laws — but B.C.’s role in that case is still unclear.

B.C.’s crown prosecution service is responsible for the final decision on whether and how B.C. will proceed with the case regarding the 2014 tailings pond collapse that released 24 million cubic metres of mining waste into Hazeltine Creek and Quesnel Lake, a source of drinking water.*

Sellars filed the case on August 4th, 2017 — the last day a case under provincial law could be brought against the company due to a three-year statute of limitations — as a means of holding open the legal door for government, which had only recently come under NDP power.

The courts are expected to make a decision on the fate of the private prosecution by the end of January.

“By filing a private prosecution on August 4th, I preserved the right to prosecute Mount Polley Mining Corporation for destroying the environment on which we all depend,” Sellars told DeSmog Canada in an e-mailed statement.

“I did so to uphold Canadian law, traditional law of the Xat’sull people, and for the sake of the next seven generations to come. I hope the province will do their part.”

At a press briefing on Tuesday, Horgan told DeSmog Canada the province is awaiting the court’s decision.

“I think all British Columbians were mortified that three years would pass with no consequences to the most horrific mine disaster in B.C. history,” the premier said. “I remain concerned and I am anxious to hear what the courts say,” he said, adding there is still time to press charges under federal laws.

The province still has the capacity to pursue charges under the Fisheries Act, which “have far greater penalties for non-compliance,” he said.

“What the province can and should do is fortify the regulatory framework which this industry is working within.” https://t.co/HsA8mRuRWx

— DeSmog Canada (@DeSmogCanada) January 17, 2018

“So this isn’t the end of justice or consequences for the failure,” he said.

Patrick Canning, counsel for Sellars, said the provincial Crown could still choose to take over the case or have the charges amended, adding the province’s ability to pursue provincial charges is still practically as open now as it was before the deadline of August 4, 2017.

The B.C. Conservation Officer Service is participating in an ongoing joint provincial-federal investigation into the Mount Polley disaster alongside the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Environment Canada.

Canning said the B.C. Ministry of Environment could direct the findings of that investigation to the provincial Crown.

In an e-mailed statement to DeSmog Canada, B.C. Ministry of Environment spokesperson David Karn said, “While the statute of limitations for the Environmental Management Act may have passed, the investigation continues.”

“Be assured that both levels of government are committed to a thorough investigation within the timeframe of the federal statute of limitations.”

Karn suggested a “choice of charges would have to be made in any event,” suggesting government must select between provincial or federal laws.

Yet Canning said there is no legal basis for such a choice.

Sellars said as a grandmother her duty is to protect the environment for future generations.

“Indigenous people’s law stresses that you have to take care of the land for seven generations ahead,” she said.

“It’s not too late for the province to see that justice is done.”

Sonia Furstenau, environment critic for the BC Green party, told DeSmog Canada regardless of how the province chooses to treat violations of provincial or federal rules, government should take steps to rebuild public trust in B.C.’s regulatory regime.

“What the province can and should do is fortify the regulatory framework which this industry is working within.”

While one can acknowledge that mining plays an important role in B.C.,  given what we’ve seen with the Mount Polley mine, the situation in Shawnigan Lake and a similar issue now unfolding in Campbell River, it’s important to acknowledge a loss of public trust in industry and the government’s ability to regulate, Furstenau said.

“What I’d like to see from the premier is assurance that this industry can operate in a way we can trust, to demonstrate the environmental impacts won’t outweigh the benefits of the jobs and materials that are being produced in these mines.”

* This story has been updated to clarify that the decision on how to proceed with the Mount Polley case lies with B.C.’s Crown prosecution service.

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In October, B.C. Premier John Horgan made a visit to the Rio Tinto Alcan smelter on the banks of the Douglas Channel in Kitimat.

He praised the facility for being “a great example of how companies can improve conditions for workers and reduce pollution all while improving their bottom line.”

What he didn’t mention was the ongoing battle at Rio Tinto Alcan over a provincial permit that allowed the company to increase sulphur dioxide pollution by more than 50 per cent, or the union representing 800 workers at the smelter that appealed that permit, saying the increase in pollution was a direct threat to their health.

Exposure to sulphur dioxide aggravates the respiratory systems of asthmatics and is known to negatively affect the respiratory systems of children and the elderly.

At the heart of the controversy is a decision by the B.C. Ministry of Environment in 2013, which allowed the smelter to increase its sulphur dioxide emissions into the Kitimat airshed during a $5 billion expansion project. The ministry approved the increase in emissions under an environmental monitoring plan that would measure, but not prevent, the impacts of the pollution on human health until 2019, when the plan would be revisited.

B.C. did not require the company to install scrubbers, commonly used in smelters to remove airborne pollutants from emissions, a decision that still bothers Sean O’Driscoll, president of the smelter’s union, Unifor local 2301.

“Having a monitoring program ongoing, with suitable human health mitigation plans required to be implemented at a later day, has folks feeling like they, their children and neighbours are being treated like guinea pigs,” O’Driscoll told DeSmog Canada.

ICYMI: Rio Tinto Alcan Polluting Kitimat Airshed to Save Money, Tribunal Hears

ICYMI: Rio Tinto Alcan Externalizing Air Pollution onto Kitimat Households, Says Expert Witness

The B.C. Environmental Appeal Board previously told the union it had no right to challenge the environmental effects monitoring plan. But the court of appeals has now overruled that finding, kicking the original appeal — first launched in 2014 — back into action.

“This [appeal] opens a path for Unifor to challenge the mitigation plan on the basis that it is insufficient to protect workers and their families from growing levels of sulphur dioxide,” Jason Gratl, lawyer for local 2301, told DeSmog Canada.

O’Driscoll said the company was essentially given permission to subject workers and the community to a health risk to minimize costs.

“Our full expectations of the new Horgan NDP government is that they take another look at this issue and put the health of communities first,” O’Driscoll told DeSmog Canada. “Industry and stringent environmental standards need not be mutually exclusive.”

Gratl said the appeal will address whether or not it was appropriate for the government to approve the pollution increase without a clear plan to protect human health.

Governments increasingly approve projects with the explicit plan to work out details after the fact, Gratl said, adding pipeline approvals that come with more than 100 conditions are a prime example.

“What happened with Rio Tinto Alcan is the government said ‘let’s start making aluminum and we’ll figure out the environmental and social issues later.’ And they keep trying to push these issues further down the road.”

BC Using #Kitimat Smelter Workers as ‘Guinea Pigs’ for Air Pollution Monitoring, Union Says https://t.co/CcjzYKZcOE #bcpoli

— DeSmog Canada (@DeSmogCanada) November 6, 2017

Experts-for-Hire at Heart of Rio Tinto Alcan Concerns

Chris Tollefson, lawyer with the Pacific Centre for Environmental Law and Litigation, brought a previous challenge against the Rio Tinto Alcan on behalf of two Kitimat teachers: Lis Stannus and Emily Towes.

In 2015 Tollefson and his co-counsels provided an Environmental Appeal Board tribunal with evidence of alleged regulatory capture.

Regulators and statutory decision-makers within the Ministry of Environment were inappropriately close with Rio Tinto Alcan and relied heavily on science and analysis provided by the company’s hired scientists, Tollefson argued.

Tollefson said this case gives rise to the problems of “professional reliance” — the practice of using proponent-hired experts rather than independent analysts during environmental assessments.

ICYMI: ‘This is B.C.’s Version of the Duffy Scandal’: Government Officials Refer to Rio Tinto Alcan as ‘Client’ in Work Journal

ICYMI: Tribunal Hears Regulatory Capture Behind B.C.’s Decision to Increase Rio Tinto Alcan Pollution in Kitimat Airshed

In August, the B.C. government ordered a review of the professional reliance system, which rose in popularity in B.C. under the tenure of the BC Liberals as cuts to the civil service were made.

Tollefson said the reopening of Unifor’s appeal will start a new discovery process that may provide crucial insight into what decisions and decision-makers played a role in the permits and adaptive management plan being approved.

“We’re concerned that the Ministry of Environment relied far too heavily on Rio Tinto Alcan’s experts, on Rio Tinto’s preferred approach and did not subject the environmental effects management plan to the kind of rigorous scrutiny that it deserved; and that it rushed its approval of that management plan in a way that compromised its scientific integrity,” Tollefson said.

‘We Feel Like An Experiment’

Tollefson also said the appeal provides new ground for his clients to relaunch their legal challenge.

Stannus said that is something she plans to pursue.

“Since this permit was approved, we have learned a lot more about the problems of professional reliance, a lot more about the health impacts of sulphur dioxide,” Stannus said.

Kitimat resident Lis Stannus poses for a photogaph with Premier John Horgan during his October visit to Kitimat. “I walked up to Horgan and I said, ‘I’m from Kitimat and I’m worried about sulphur dioxide pollution,’ ” Stannus recounted to DeSmog Canada. Photo: Province of B.C. via Flickr

“It’s a little shocking to me that this is allowed to proceed. We feel like an experiment and I don’t recall ever giving consent to this experiment.”

Stannus said her ears perk up whenever she hears the new government criticize the practice of professional reliance.

“But they never bring Rio Tinto Alcan up,” Stannus told DeSmog Canada. “They never mention the fact that the project’s studies were bought and paid for by Rio Tinto.”

Kitimat Residents Try to Raise Concerns with NDP Government

Stannus said she sought out the premier on his last visit to the area.

Stannus and a community organization she belongs to, the Kitimat-Terrace Clean Air Coalition, have sent three letters to B.C. Environment Minister George Heyman, expressing their fears that Rio Tinto Alcan’s permit to increase sulphur dioxide emissions is a threat to their health. The group has repeatedly asked for meetings with the minister, Stannus said.

“I asked [the Premier] why they won’t meet with us and he said it is because they have only been in power for 100 days,” she said.

ICYMI: Kitimat Residents ‘Muzzled’ From Speaking Out On Rio Tinto Alcan’s Plan to Increase Air Pollution

In a statement to DeSmog Canada, Minister Heyman said he can “empathize with those who have concerns about air quality in their community.”

“I want to assure everyone that we will restore public confidence in government’s ability to protect our water, land and air,” Heyman said.

He added the environmental effects monitoring plan is currently under appeal with the Environmental Appeal Board.

“As such it would be inappropriate for me to comment further.”

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Nearly two months have passed since the polls closed in B.C. and at last British Columbians know who will get to form government.

On Thursday, upon the conclusion of a no-confidence vote that ousted former Premier Christy Clark, NDP Leader John Horgan has been offered the opportunity to lead a new B.C. government under a historic partnership between his party and the Greens.

While B.C. awaits the swearing in of a new premier, we thought we’d take the time to tally up some critical promises the NDP and their Green collaborators have made on the environment file.

So Long, Site C?

The NDP and Greens have promised to send the controversial $9 billion Site C dam in B.C.’s northeast for an expedited review by the B.C. Utilities Commission. Site C is the most expensive public infrastructure project in B.C.’s history and numerous experts  have come forward to question the need for the electricity the dam will generate.

The dam will flood 107 kilometres of Peace River valley, displacing residents and flooding valuable agricultural land and sacred indigenous sites.

The Utilities Commission review will look in detail at the cost of the project and demand for the power — something that until this point hasn’t been done.

Supporters of the dam say B.C. will eventually need Site C’s power and that the 2,000 jobs created by the project are reason enough to let the dam go forward as planned. But with less destructive and cheaper alternatives more available now than ever, the debate over Site C is a complicated one.

A preliminary report-back is expected to take about six weeks once the new government takes power.

The Kinder Morgan Pipeline Battle Levels Up

In their agreement to work together, the NDP and Greens have committed to “immediately employ every tool available” to stop the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain oilsands pipeline running from Alberta to export facilities in Burnaby.

There are a number of ways the pipeline, which has already received federal and provincial approval, can still be stopped.

The pipeline is currently being fought by local First Nations who say the project’s review process failed to meet legal guideline for consultation. The province could also implement other regulatory processes the pipeline must pass.

The pipeline is supported by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, so how Horgan and Weaver deal with the project will likely involve some sort of messy political showdown.

What BC’s New NDP Minority Gov’t Means for the Environment https://t.co/lShnokdBtX #SiteC #KinderMorgan #CarbonTax #IndigenousRights #bcpoli pic.twitter.com/dqn356cnaz

— DeSmog Canada (@DeSmogCanada) June 30, 2017

Step Up the Carbon Tax

B.C.’s famed carbon tax languished under Christy Clark and the B.C. Liberals. The former ruling party froze the tax and created exemptions for some of the province’s biggest polluters.

The NDP and Greens plan to increase the carbon tax by $5 per year starting in April 2018 in an effort to bring the price up to the federally mandated price of $50 per tonne by 2022.

The carbon tax will also be re-jigged to deal with the major climate problem of fugitive emissions, greenhouse gasses that leak or are vented from the province’s massive gas projects and transmission lines. These emissions have been poorly measured and wildly underestimated, so bringing them more fully under a carbon tax regime is important for meaningful climate action.

Beefing Up B.C.’s Project Review Process

There have been major systemic problems with B.C.’s environmental assessment process. These problems have led to a lack of public trust in how major projects are reviewed and approved in the province.

The NDP and Greens have committed to revitalizing the environmental assessment process, which goes hand in hand with a major review and improvement of the federal process.

Respect for B.C.’s Indigenous Peoples

Whether it’s pipelines running through traditional territory, the Site C dam flooding sacred indigenous sites, or the cumulative effects of industrialization leading to species extinction, many First Nations communities are on the frontline of B.C.’s biggest environmental battles.

The NDP and Greens have stated explicitly that a foundational part of their political partnership is the two parties’ shared adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

Both parties also take to heart the significance of the historic Tsilhqot’in Supreme Court Decision and what that means for untreatied First Nations in B.C.

Many First Nations are fighting off multiple mining, oil and gas and hydro projects in their traditional and treaty territories across B.C.

If the NDP and Greens take indigenous rights truly to heart, this could mean big changes for the way projects are evaluated and given the go ahead.

Funding for Transit!

For all those daily grind commuters near big cities, this should be an exciting one.

In their agreement, the NDP and Greens promised to “act immediately to improve transit and transportation infrastructure” to “reduce emissions, create jobs and get people home faster.”

Shifting into a New Economy

Renewable energy hasn’t gotten the foothold it has needed in B.C. and there are ways to make the transition to a clean, 21st century economy easier. That’s what the new “Emerging Economy Task Force” is designed to do.

This task force will look at the changing nature of business in B.C. over the next 10 to 25 years.

One way the NDP and Greens want to prepare for the changes ahead is by shifting from a measure of GDP ( gross domestic product) to the use of a new metric: the Genuine Progress Indicator or GPI.

Under old GDP rules, anything that is of profit to society is considered of benefit. But analysis has shown that while disasters like oil spills may be a short-lived boon to the economy, they can degrade other measures of social wellbeing like health, safety and a clean environment.

The GPI measure will help B.C. understand, measure and prioritize those opportunities that represent a truer benefit to British Columbians.

Electoral and Campaign Finance Reform

The current political system is set up to advantage the wealthy and powerful. But with changes to how campaigns are financed and run that could help put power back into the hands of the people.

The Green party in particular would benefit from the two parties’ shared commitment to electoral reform. In the fall of 2018 a referendum will be held to ask British Columbians if they want to switch to a proportional representation system.

The NDP and Greens have also promised to ban big money in politics at the first available opportunity. The new rules will place an outright ban on corporate, union and out-of-province donations to political parties and also limit the amount individuals in B.C. can give.

As a bonus, the NDP/Green agreement also lays out a plan for revising lobbying rules that prevent politicians from becoming lobbyists for several years after leaving office.

These promises signal a big change in B.C., where fossil fuel and mining interests are some of the most powerful lobbyists and political donors.

Image: NDP Leader John Horgan and Green Leader Andrew Weaver sign a coalition agreement, May 30, 2017. Photo: B.C. NDP via Flickr

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