The adult population of genetically unique westslope cutthroat trout in a river in B.C.’s Kootenay region dropped by 93 per cent this past fall compared with 2017 levels, according to a monitoring report from Teck Resources.

The company operates four giant metallurgical coal mines in the Elk Valley region, where levels of selenium pollution, which originates from the mines’ many waste rock piles, have increased steadily for decades.

Teck has conducted fish surveys in the Upper Fording River since 2012. A fall presentation from Teck reviewed by The Narwhal shows that monitoring conducted by contractors in September and October 2019 identified a precipitous decline in adult and juvenile westslope cutthroat trout in the Upper Fording and that such a decline “represents a trigger” for a population crash.

Upper Fording River adult trout counts dropped 93 per cent and juvenile counts dropped 74 per cent from 2017 levels, according to Teck.

In Harmer Creek, near Teck’s Elkview mine, adult fish counts dropped 26 per cent and juveniles 96 per cent. In Grave Creek, near the Line Creek mine, juveniles declined 25 per cent, but counts for adults increased 25 per cent compared to 2018 counts.

“It’s very significant to see that drastic of a drop in numbers for westslope cutthroat trout,” University of Montana biologist Erin Sexton told The Narwhal. “It’s very unfortunate news.”

Sexton began studying selenium in the Elk Valley in the early 2000s and was involved in a process that led to the creation of the Elk Valley Water Quality Plan. It is under this plan that the province has continued permitting Teck’s mining operations, despite growing selenium pollution.

The plan was informed by a 2014 report prepared for Environment and Climate Change Canada by Dennis Lemley, a renowned selenium expert. The report warned that selenium pollution from mining in the Elk Valley was negatively impacting fish and concluded that increases in selenium pollution would inevitably lead to “a total population collapse of sensitive species like the westslope cutthroat trout.”

Sexton said she was disappointed but not surprised to see Teck reporting the population drop. “It’s déjà vu,” she said. 

A meandering bend in the Upper Fording River where high levels of selenium have been measured. Photo: Jayce Hawkins / The Narwhal

Sexton added it is evident B.C. ignored available science when structuring permits for Teck’s Elk Valley operations. Under the Elk Valley Water Quality Plan, the province allows Teck to continue operating its mines as long as the company is working toward a long-term plan to stabilize selenium levels by 2023 and reduce levels after 2030.

“I think for a lot of us who participated in the process to create the plan, it feels like a wasted effort because the province didn’t set any limits that are protective of fish and aquatic life.”

The Elk Valley is a prized spot for fly-fishers, who refer to these unique trout — which have dark freckles, orange gashes along the throat and small teeth lining the mouth — as “cutties.”

Westslope cutthroat trout are only found in a small portion of their original habitat and are thought to be one of the first species to populate B.C. after the last ice age. Pacific populations are listed federally as a species of special concern.

The trout living in the slow-flowing waters of the Upper Fording River are considered genetically distinct because they exist above Josephine Falls, which isolates them from other trout in the Elk and Fording Rivers.

“The Upper Fording is the closest to the biggest mines,” Sexton said, “so it has the highest levels of selenium in the system. As you move away the levels decrease.”

Selenium, a naturally occurring element, is commonly found in coal-rich deposits and is essential to human health in very small doses. While selenium can be toxic to humans at high levels, even small amounts can be harmful to egg-laying creatures, including fish and birds. In trout it can cause spinal and facial deformities, missing gill plates and reproductive failure.

Westslope cutthroat trout showing spinal deformities. Photo: Environment Canada

A westslope cutthroat trout with a missing gill plate, a telltale deformity caused by selenium poisoning. This trout was caught in 2014 in Coal Creek, a tributary of the Elk River. Photo: Environment Canada

Westslope cutthroat trout exhibiting deformities have been found in the Elk Valley with increasing frequency in recent years.

B.C.’s general water quality guidelines recommend selenium levels be kept to two parts billion to protect aquatic life. Yet in waters throughout the Elk Valley, selenium has been measured at levels higher than 150 parts per billion.

Sexton pointed out the province’s guidelines for daily selenium levels in the Upper Fording River allowed 155 parts per billion in 2014 with an expectation they would be reduced to 71 parts per billion by 2023.

“From a scientific perspective, I’ve never understood how the province of B.C. has been able to set these thresholds for the entire Elk River Valley that are dangerous to fish health,” Sexton said.

“I always say that when I read Teck’s permit, it looks to me like the Elk and Fording Rivers are a sacrifice zone.”

In response to emailed questions, David Karn, a spokesperson for the B.C. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, said the province is aware of the recent trout monitoring results and “is concerned about the declines identified.”

For decades B.C. failed to address selenium pollution in the Elk Valley. Now no one knows how to stop it.

Karn said third party consultants are investigating the causes of the declines and Teck is reporting to provincial regulators bi-weekly on the findings and its efforts to limit risk. He added that B.C. is working with other provinces and the federal government to oversee the investigation as well as proposed fish population studies this year.

Chris Stannell, public relations manager for Teck, told The Narwhal the “reasons for the lower fish counts are unknown at this time” and the company has put together a team of external experts to evaluate possible causes of the population crash, including “water quality, flow conditions, habitat availability, predation and other factors.”

“We take this issue very seriously,” Stannell wrote in an email. He said the company has invested $437 million to implement the Elk Valley Water Quality Plan and estimates an additional $649 to $690 million will be invested in the region, in large part for water treatment facilities, over the next five years.

In 2014, Teck introduced the $600-million Line Creek water treatment plant, which caused an accidental fish kill six months after coming online. In 2017, the plant was taken offline after Teck discovered the treatment process was releasing a more bioavailable form of selenium into the environment, meaning it was taken up more readily by biotic life. 

Since the plant was recommissioned in 2018, Teck has seen “reductions in selenium concentrations downstream of the operating Line Creek treatment facility,” said Stannell, adding that two more water treatment plants are being built.

Teck’s five metallurgical coal mines are all upstream of the transboundary Koocanusa Reservoir. Map: Carol Linnitt / The Narwhal

More mines planned for the Elk Valley

Lars Sander-Green, an analyst with the local conservation group Wildsight, said the population collapse should lead to a change in the way coal mining is done in the Elk Valley. But, he said, that’s far from the case.

“What’s really crazy is even with this massive loss of fish, we still have Teck pushing hard on new mining expansion that would push farther into this river,” Sander-Green said.

Recently Teck began the early consultation process for a major expansion of its Fording River operations, the largest of the company’s mining operations in the Elk Valley. The Castle expansion project would extend the Fording River operations “for decades,” according to a February presentation Teck delivered to the District of Sparwood. According to Teck, the Fording River operations produce 8.5 to 9.5 million tonnes of metallurgical coal for use in steelmaking each year.

“It’s another major expansion but it’s only going to be subject to a B.C. environmental review and not likely a federal review because it’s an expansion and not a new mine,” Sander-Green said.

The proposed expansion comes at the same time as proposals for new Elk Valley mines from three other companies.

“What’s happening with trout suggests things need to change in a big way if we’re going to have fish in that area,” he said. “It creates a lot of concerns about what is going to happen downstream in the long term.”

Concerns across the border have been mounting for several years as the Elk Valley watershed drains into the Koocanusa reservoir, which extends into Montana. Selenium levels are rising in that reservoir.

“This wildlife and these landscapes don’t know political boundaries,” Sexton said. 

Teck coal mine in B.C.’s Elk Valley. Photo: Jayce Hawkins / The Narwhal

“I know these things get polarized across international boundaries, but I have a lot in common with people in the Elk Valley and I see it as a shared watershed. I think the U.S. gets pitted against Canada, or Montana against B.C., but I think we should all be being good stewards of our rivers together.”

She added it has been “very complicated and challenging” for U.S. agencies and communities to be collectively outside the decision-making process in B.C., which has permitted increasing mining activity and allowed selenium pollution to grow in the Elk Valley through the decades.

“It creates this complicated environmental challenge for anyone who is a stakeholder in the watershed,” Sexton said, adding there is a frustrating lack of transparency from both B.C. and Teck when it comes to monitoring and sharing raw data.

Canada has no specific, legally binding regulations on the pollution that emanates from coal mines. While such effluent regulations exist for metal mines, specific rules for coal mines have been stuck in limbo for years. 

The most recent draft of the regulations proposes two sets of rules, one for all coal mines and another tailored to Elk Valley operations. 

The rules proposed for Teck’s mines are weaker as a result of years of lobbying, Sander-Green said.

When asked about those lobbying efforts, Teck’s Stannell referred The Narwhal to a 2018 sustainability report that states Teck “remained actively engaged in the review process for the draft regulations through 2018.”

“For Teck, the final design of these regulations is critical for long-term planning for our steelmaking coal operations in Western Canada. We will continue to participate in the review and dialogue process with the Government of Canada in 2019 to help ensure the regulations are well designed and science based.”

Sander-Green said he thinks the federal and provincial governments are capitulating to Teck.

“B.C. has shown again and again they are willing to sacrifice our clean water and fish for coal mining revenue. We’ve seen that for decades now.”

The province first established a task force to address selenium in the late 1990s. 

“Since then problems have been getting worse and worse. A lot of talk but no action,” Sander-Green said.

He said Wildsight is asking for a moratorium on new mining in the Elk Valley. 

“We’re in a big hole and we have to stop digging.”

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FERNIE, B.C. — Teck Resources is reducing its workforce by 50 per cent at its Elk Valley operations after concerns were raised the company was not doing enough to protect employees and contractors from COVID-19 at its four operating metallurgical coal mines near Fernie, B.C., in the West Kootenays.

Teck, Canada’s largest diversified mining company, employs 3,000 people at its Elk Valley operations and houses out-of-town workers at a 500-person lodge at its Elkview mine site, which is currently undergoing a scheduled upgrade. 

On Friday, The Narwhal published reports from employees expressing concern about the company’s lack of suitable safety measures in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. One mine employee, who The Narwhal is choosing not to name for privacy concerns, reported on Facebook that he is infected with COVID-19. Since then, numerous additional workers from Teck mines have contacted The Narwhal to voice their frustrations with a lack of workplace safety, saying the company’s public response measures to the coronavirus differ starkly from the reality on the ground. 

On Sunday, local officials  — including the mayors of Sparwood, Elkford and Fernie — wrote to Teck, stating “the most significant danger of this pandemic reaching our doors is through transient travel that occurs daily in the Elk Valley.” 

Teck’s Elkview work camp, the representatives wrote, “is of significant concern to local government. … The transient nature of the work camp aids itself to a higher exposure to COVID-19.” 

The mayors requested Teck Resources “review the Elkview work camp immediately and delay [planned] upgrades to the Elkview Plant.” The Elkview mine currently produces and processes 7 million tonnes of coal each year. The planned upgrades will increase the Elkview processing plant’s output from 7 to 9 million tonnes.

Chris Stannell, public relations manager for Teck, said the Elkview work camp, known as the ‘lodge,’ will operate at 70 per cent occupancy for the next two weeks, saying only 320 of the facility’s 484 beds are currently occupied. 

“The dining room of the lodge will no longer allow residents to be seated and meals will be for take-out only,” Stannell told The Narwhal. “Residents are to eat in their rooms or take meals to the work site, following social distancing protocols. While in line for meals, residents must be two metres apart to observe proper social distancing.”

The accommodation at the lodge, according to one recent resident, are “Jack and Jill rooms,” with every bathroom shared by two rooms. This worker said some out-of-town contractors had chosen to leave or stay home, but it was “pretty much business as usual for those who choose to stay… The camp is not the most sanitary place at the best of times.” 

Questions to Teck about room arrangements, including whether bathrooms are now being used privately, for instance, were not answered, but Stannell said food waste must be disposed of immediately by each individual, and the lodge’s common recreational spaces — which include a movie theatre and a gym — have been closed. 

B.C. mine workers fear Teck not taking adequate precautions against coronavirus

Two-week reduction in workforce proposed by Teck

Teck’s Elkview facilities, which include a mine and a coal processing plant, are located three kilometres from the company’s Elk Valley headquarters in Sparwood.

While Teck has suspended construction activities at its mining operations in Chile and banned out-of-state travel for workers at its Alaskan Red Dog mine, a scheduled upgrade for the Elkview processing plant, which began on March 17, will continue on, according to a number of Teck employees and contractors spoken to by The Narwhal. The facility is expected to come back online in early April.

The United Steelworkers Union Local 9346, which represents hourly workers at Teck’s Elkview and Coal Mountain operations, sent out a text on Monday evening, informing workers that the reduced workforce at the Elkview facilities will occur via rotating shifts.

“Elkview Management and the Local Union have agreed the best way to achieve an orderly reduction in the quickest possible way is through a 50/50 split where half the workforce will stay home paid for one set, and the other half paid at home the next set,” the message, now posted to the union’s website, reads. 

“This is the quickest way to achieve social distancing requirements.”

In a statement posted on its website Teck confirmed “all employees available for work will continue to be paid as normal during this two-week period.” The company said it will reassess the situation in two weeks time “in light of the evolving situation.”

Teck said the reduction in workforce is taking place in addition to “extensive preventative measures already implemented,” which “include enhanced disinfection protocols, eliminating all large group gatherings and reducing bus occupancy, screening contractors and external visitors, requiring employees with symptoms not to come to work and self isolate, and implementing work from home where feasible.”

Teck did not respond when asked to clarify how “available” workers would be defined and whether contractors employed on Teck sites would also be paid if unable to work.

The union asked for patience from workers, saying “these are difficult times.”

“Our inspectors are in regular contact with mines and are requesting updates on the measures they take with regards to COVID-19,” Kent Karemaker, of the B.C. Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, told The Narwhal on Wednesday afternoon, adding the ministry is “aware of concerns raised from workers in the mining industry around mine COVID-19 safety measures.” Karemaker said that B.C. companies “must continue to adapt” to the “quickly evolving” orders given by Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer.

Social distancing a challenge at Teck’s Elkview operations

Despite the measures being taken by Teck, some workers have told The Narwhal conditions on site make it difficult to work safely, especially for workers whose responsibilities require being in close quarters with other individuals. 

One Teck employee who works at the Elkview operation and who asked not to be named told The Narwhal he feels the company is doing the best it can to quickly adapt to the reality of the novel coronavirus.

“I hope people realize that the company is being very generous towards the workers with the paid time off. For my wages, that’s an extra $2,000 or so in vacation time. Factor in the large number of employees and Teck is paying a lot of wages they certainly don’t have to,” he said.

But, he acknowledged, the Elkview mine puts workers into very close quarters with one another.  “I just don’t think that we can contain it like senior management and shareholders are hoping we can.”

“Things aren’t the same at each mine, either,” a different employee told The Narwhal. “Each mine is different.” 

Over the weekend there were reports that some bus services had been increased, while others hadn’t. Commute buses seem to be sanitized more regularly than field buses, but three employees who spoke to The Narwhal said they were expected to clean their own vehicles, a task many refuse to do as it is not part of their jobs. 

The extent of social distancing on the field vans, one member of staff told The Narwhal, consisted of putting six people on an eight-seater field bus. Employees are not permitted to park at mine operations without parking passes and are provided bus access to sites. 

“So gross,” wrote one Elkview camp worker on social media of the “packed” bus he’d been on earlier that day. “There were people coughing and shit [aboard,] I’m almost ready to say fuck it and just stay home.”

“They’re trying their best,” a contractor says of Teck, but added they and colleagues were frustrated by inconsistencies. On Tuesday evening, for instance, Teck informed contractors at Elkview temperature checks, using forehead thermometers, would be implemented at all access points to the plant, but the next morning these checks were skipped due to a “malfunction” with the thermometers. By Wednesday evening, some contractors were seen returning for the night shift without any screening whatsoever. Some jobs are done “with minimal crews,” one contractor said, while others continue to run “with three people to a truck.”

A Teck Elk Valley coal mine. Photo: Garth Lenz

In practice, one contractor says, “there is no social distancing in a situation like that,” either at the lodge or at the Elkview plant, simply because of “the mass amount of contractors on site.” 

“Staying a metre from your co-workers is just not possible,” another employee wrote The Narwhal. “You can try your best to social distance,” another contractor said, “but there’s so many surfaces that everyone touches. I guarantee that handrail [for instance] has been touched by twenty people since it was last disinfected.”

Over the last week The Narwhal has spoken to or directly corresponded with 22 employees or contractors who currently work at or have previously worked at Teck’s Elk Valley mines. Family members of workers have also spoken to The Narwhal and individuals claiming to be workers have submitted information via The Narwhal’s anonymous tip line. None of the individuals spoken to agreed to give their names for fear of jeopardizing their jobs, or the job of their family members.

Teck’s health screenings amount to a simple self-disclosure form for individuals who have been abroad in the last 14 days, exhibited any symptoms of illness or come into contact with anyone diagnosed with COVID-19. 

Such voluntary disclosure screenings, similar to those used at Canadian airports, have been criticized for not being strong enough. 

One contractor told The Narwhal that the upgrades at Teck’s Elkview mine are considered a massively disruptive operation that, once started, cannot be halted. Another employee on site told The Narwhal a conveyor belt used to move coal to the site’s processing facilities has been dismantled to allow for the upgrades, stalling the site’s workflow. In February the site’s coal belt went offline due to mechanical failure, forcing Teck to supplement production at its other sites, according to a company sales update.

A CBC report on the Elkview lodge, published Sunday, was immediately flooded with comments from Teck employees. “The camp is filthy,” one wrote, and “shift changes are weekly,” each set of out-of-town contractors replaced by others. “This is a breeding ground for COVID.” 

According to another, there “is no way to properly self distance in the camp, its shared washrooms, the buffet line, the busses, what about jamming 300 workers into a small building on site … I was on site many days when there was no water in the bathrooms / wash cars, we were always out of sanitizers and the sewers overflowed on a weekly basis.” One person on Teck’s Facebook page compared the lodge to “a cruise ship.”

The B.C. Building Trades Council, which represents 35,000 unionized construction workers, has called for the shutdown of megaprojects that house large numbers of people at remote work sites, and on Friday WorksafeBC announced it would be sending inspectors to construction sites to enforce social distancing measures. A spokesman said the inspections were a response “to concerns raised by workers” in the province. 

The council encouraged workers facing unsafe conditions to report their experiences to WorksafeBC.

BC Hydro has scaled back the workforce at the Site C dam but 856 people are currently staying at the work camp, with 12 in self-isolation for flu symptoms. BC Hydro has not said if any workers staying at the camp or any local workers have been tested for COVID-19. The LNG Canada project has also cut its workforce in half. 

New rules for mines, released Wednesday by Dr. Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, recommends workers be kept two metres apart where possible, both inside and outside of work hours. Additional measures include limiting in-person meetings and gatherings, regularly cleaning common areas and shared surfaces and increasing the number of hand-washing stations.

Dr. Henry is “directing all mines and smelters to take additional precautions to minimize the risks of COVID-19 transmission and illness to their employees.”

B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry provides an update on COVID-19 on March 25, 2020. Photo: Province of British Columbia

The situation at Elkview last week, a contractor says, was “more cleaning than I’ve ever seen before” — but today, with cleaning supplies running low, the regularity of the cleaning has actually decreased. A Teck employee told The Narwhal deliveries of sanitary supplies have stalled. 

Sanitary supplies for the Elkview mine are delivered by Vallen. An update on the company’s website says that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, supplies such as respirators, disinfectant cleaners, soaps and hand sanitizers may not be available due to “global inventory shortages.” 

Vallen was not immediately available for comment. 

‘I feel sick to my stomach’

As of Wednesday there are 659 confirmed coronavirus cases in British Columbia, 41 of which are under the jurisdiction of Interior Health, a geographical area that covers the Elk Valley. 

While a worker at Teck’s Fording River mine claimed on Facebook last week to have contracted the virus, Teck itself states none of its employees has tested positive as of Tuesday. 

B.C.’s health authorities do not disclose the details or specific geographic location of coronavirus cases. 

In the Elk Valley, as everywhere across Canada, communities share rumours and reports of local cases privately and on social media, stoking concern without any possibility of government confirmation. But as testing becomes more available, the number of cases in several Canadian provinces is surging, suggesting the virus has already spread further than official numbers show. 

And with COVID-19 aggressively spreading in clusters of infection — such as those in assisted living facilities across B.C., a call centre in South Korea, even a birthday party at a Trump golf club — local Elk Valley workers, residents and politicians continue to worry Teck sites, and the Elkview Lodge in particular, is putting their communities at risk.

“Every morning I wake up and I feel sick to my stomach,” an Elkview contractor told The Narwhal. “Because I’m afraid. I am — I’m afraid. I know I’m not the only one with these concerns, and that’s what’s even more concerning.” 

Two other local workers told The Narwhal they were considering sleeping in a tent or trailer at home rather than in their bed, out of fear that, if they caught the coronavirus while working at a Teck site, they would pass it on to vulnerable family members at home. 

Teck’s mines “need to shut down,” one of them said.

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The small businesses are closed. Spring break programs are cancelled. Children play outdoors and — though they live next door from one another — do not go inside each other’s houses. The playgrounds are empty. At the ski hill, for the first winter ever, the lifts are silent and the slopes are bare of skiers — a month before the scheduled closing of the season.

Fernie, B.C., is one of thousands of communities across Canada responding to the COVID-19 outbreak with collective efforts. Following provincial and federal guidelines, many businesses have temporarily shut their doors, schools are suspended and families are self-isolating at home. The stores that have remained open are plastered with warnings recommending patrons practice self-distancing and use the now-ubiquitous hand sanitizer bottles. Checkout staff wear gloves.

But, residents say, there is one notable exception to this state of preparedness. Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s “largest diversified mining company,” is the Elk Valley’s single largest employer. The corporation operates four steelmaking coal mines in the valley, employing more than 3,000 people, and workers are warning the company’s failure to properly face COVID-19 is putting the area at increased risk of an outbreak.

Although Interior Health, the health authority in the Kootenays, has banned medical staff from speaking to the media, some are unable to hide their concerns — and are taking to social media to vocalize them. 

Teck’s mines “need to CLOSE down right now,” Dr. Johnny Peachell, an intensive care physician at the Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital in Trail, said in a post on Teck’s Facebook page. “We are already feeling the stress of this COVID outbreak and we WILL NOT be [able to] handle a surge of cases from Teck.”

He warned that “Canada is at the exact same point Italy was three weeks ago” and urged Teck to shut down operations temporarily.

A March 17 press release from Teck announced the implementation of “extensive preventative measures” amid the coronavirus crisis, including home working for all corporate office staff, the reduction or elimination of large meetings and gatherings, “enhanced cleaning and disinfecting protocols, including frequent disinfecting of employee buses and work areas,” “promoting preventative measures, such as frequent handwashing,” “screening all contractors and external visitors to site for risk factors and symptoms,” “increasing social distancing practices at site,” “expanding sick leave coverage for affected employees,” and “requiring” employees who show flu-like symptoms or return from abroad to stay away from work and self-isolate.

‘We will not be paid’

The reality, staff say, is very different.

I spoke to eight Teck workers, who all spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.  

One witness tells of foremen making the rounds to warn workers: “If we have to be quarantined we will not be paid.” (In 2015, the combined annual revenue generated by Teck’s four current Elk Valley mines was just under $2.7 billion and in 2018 reported record revenues of $12.6 billion.) 

“We were all told if we are unable to work because of this virus we will not be paid,” another shop worker wrote me, while pleading for anonymity. Management, they say, are known for “trying to look for things” they can use to fire anyone who speaks up about Teck operations. 

When contacted for comment, Teck’s Doug Brown forwarded the company’s press release of March 17, and specified employees unable to work due to COVID-19 would have “immediate access” to their established sick leave benefits, though it’s unclear to which employees this applies to, to what extent and under which specific conditions. 

Brown said Teck is following COVID-19 guidelines from B.C.’s Chief Inspector of Mines that recommends groups of more than 50 individuals should be avoided and meal facilities should operate in shifts to “minimize interactions.”

LNG Canada sent half its workforce home this week from its facility in Kitimat, B.C., in an attempt to prevent COVID-19 infections. BC Hydro also announced this week that it will only continue with “essential work” at the Site C dam, where more than 4,000 workers are employed, to help reduce the number of workers staying in camp.

The terraced slopes of coal mine in the Elk Valley. Photo: Jayce Hawkins / The Narwhal

On Tuesday the B.C. Building Trades Council recommended large remote resource projects that house workforces be shut down to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The council mentioned work camps servicing the LNG Canada and Site C dam workforces but did not mention operations like Teck’s mines, which has a 500-person work camp called the Elk Valley Lodge. Many of Teck’s employees live in Sparwood full-time, while others fly-in.

A family member of one electrician wrote to me to confirm much of the information sent in by others, but added, “I have been scared to write a letter or take any kind of action [about the current COVID-19 situation at the mines] for fear of what the company response may be.” 

There is “so much anger about the culture that persists at the mine,” the partner of yet another miner says, but “people need their jobs. And the fact is that when anyone stands up for their rights, they get bullied in one way or another … ” 

According to several sources, non-disclosure agreements are a common requirement for Teck staff upon joining, and include clauses prohibiting staff from any public comment negatively portraying the company. Teck’s anonymous reporting line, 1-888-873-3745, is jokingly referred to internally as the “whistleblower” line, due to suspicions it is used by the company to weed out and identify those who speak up.

Teck employees concerned about a lack of screening, social distancing

“We’ve had multiple employees on site after international travel,” one Teck employee says, and Teck’s “screening” for visitors to site is a simple paper form, to be filled out voluntarily. Oil and gas workers continue to “fly in” and out without screening, travelling from other parts of Canada to the mines as needed, according to another employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Not all computers or workspaces are being disinfected, according to one employee who uses that equipment daily. Miners are provided with standard respirators, but the cleaning crews say they are not provided with safety masks — and since Teck mines operate around the clock, there are no closed hours for those crews to catch up on sterilization away from everyday staff or visitors. 

By March 19, according to one Elkview worker, these crews were “running out of wipes and spray” already — a complaint echoed by numerous commenters on Teck’s Facebook page.

In the March 17 company statement, Robin Sheremeta, Teck’s senior VP of Coal, states Teck is “focused on continuing to ensure the health and safety of our employees and the communities in which we operate.” This, too, is scoffed at by the people who work at Mr. Sheremeta’s mines. 

And while Teck publicly claims “operating sites are very large” and “employees are widely distributed,” shop workers at the Elk Valley mines insist their workspaces are crowded. 

“We are all working very closely with each other,” one shop staff says, “touching all the same things all day.” (At one of Teck’s mines in the area, the shop can be occupied by 50 people or more at any given time.) 

“Social distancing is not occurring to [the] operations staff at the mine,” an employee’s family member posted on Facebook. 

For decades B.C. failed to address selenium pollution in the Elk Valley. Now no one knows how to stop it.

On Wednesday, a day after Teck’s press release, a meeting was held at Teck’s Elkview site “with 100+ contractors,” a person with knowledge of the situation says. Those contractors were “packed in like sardines.”

The situation on Teck’s employee buses is the same. According to Teck, the number of buses has been increased (a Teck representative, contacted for this piece, did not specify to what number), and workers are made to sit well apart from one another on the vehicles. And yet, on the ground, staff are “worried about the bus rides to work and back but … feel they can’t speak up,” one resident says. 

Teck’s commitment to put “one person to seat on the buses to site,” according to another employee, is hollow: “that’s not the case.” A second employee says more buses have been provided, but they follow the same routes and halt at the same stops — where workers wait, in close groups, on the usual schedule, all looking to board the same vehicles. “They added one bus on the last shift so everyone can sit a bit further apart,” a third employee says. Late Friday evening further buses were brought in, with seats taped off and “no more than 15 [passengers]” allowed on each bus, according to staff.

Some on-site staff have taken to carpooling instead of riding the buses, preferring to take their chances with a smaller, consistent group of travelling mates than with crowded buses. Others have tried to drive to work themselves but have been told by Teck getting a parking pass at the mine would be “unlikely.”

On Thursday, according to a Teck internal release to all employees, one worker at the Elkview mine was sent home after exhibiting a cough. It is unclear how long the employee was at work, or in what proximity to other staff. Just days earlier, according to several employees, another member of staff was sent home — after riding the shared bus, and after reaching site — for exhibiting flu-like symptoms. The worker in question had recently returned from the United States. 

In response to questions, Karl Hardt, a spokesperson for Interior Health, said the province does not publicly identify the location of confirmed cases. “We need everybody to be aware that the risk is not just in one place. It’s in all communities. People need to be taking the same measures now everywhere in B.C. and across Canada and, quite frankly, globally, right now,” Hardt wrote in an email.

Hardt also pointed to a recent statement from Dr. Bonnie Henry, the provincial health officer, in which she said COVID-19 “is being transmitted very rapidly. It doesn’t serve anybody to think … ‘it won’t affect me. It’s not in my community. It won’t affect my family.’ We know people travel back from all over the place. We know that we can’t always tell everybody that has this disease.”

On Friday, a maintenance shop employee at Teck’s Fording River site, posted on Facebook that “iam [sic] off right now because I have it.” His posts suggested he had been sick and symptomatic for at least three days. Following these posts, on Friday evening Teck updated its internal onsite policies to specify any worker who calls in sick must remain home for fourteen days.

In an email sent Friday evening Teck’s Brown wrote: “Employees continue to be paid under sick leave benefits. As noted, sick leave benefits are applicable for employees with symptoms or who are told to self isolate by a health authority because of close contact with someone with symptoms.” Brown did not clarify if all employees are entitled to sick leave, or only those to whom they were already guaranteed, or whether some employees will be required to take time off unpaid (as claimed by several workers at the time of writing)

Recent studies suggest between 19 and 30 per cent of COVID-19 sufferers carry, and spread, the virus while asymptomatic Even in those who do eventually show symptoms, the asymptomatic incubation period is thought to last anywhere from four to 11.5 days. The Public Health Agency of Canada recommends voluntary quarantine (self-isolation) for all persons who have had “close contact with a symptomatic person … to prevent transmission of the virus.”

A Centex gas station in Cranbrook, which services Teck trucks, closed the same day, due to an employee testing positive for the virus, according to a gas station employee. As of 3 p.m. on Friday, Teck had not communicated with any of its employees about any positive tests, or announced any changes to its COVID-19 response.

Many of the Teck employees The Narwhal contacted are concerned for themselves — but all are worried for the community at large, and the impact their employer may be having on it. 

Sparwood, where Teck’s local headquarters (and the Elkview, Line Creek and Greenhills mines) are located, is a town of 3,500 people, 475 of which are over 65, according to 2016 census figures. Nearly 4,000 of Cranbrook’s 24,000 residents are over 65. Approximately 666 people in Fernie are over 65.

Teck’s Elk Valley metallurgical coal mines. The Coal Mountain mine closed in 2018. Map: Carol Linnitt / The Narwhal

The East Kootenay Regional Hospital in Cranbrook is equipped with six ICU beds (77 total). All of them, according to Interior Health figures, are at or near 100 per cent capacity already, a situation mirrored at the Elk Valley Hospital (Fernie) and the Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital (Trail). Chronic pulmonary disease and pneumonia are among the most common reasons for inpatient treatment at these hospitals, conditions which increase the risk of contracting COVID-19. With the current testing shortage and widespread misinformation, the local population profile and a limited number of beds (and an almost total lack of ventilators), the region is particularly vulnerable.

“We can’t test! Don’t wait for a positive!,” one local nurse practitioner posted this week, adding that swabbing of “high-risk patients” had only just begun, in a limited supply. “We have no capacity to handle the outbreak that is coming,” a local GP adds. “Once we have our first positive case, there will have been hundreds of people exposed.”

 The Elk Valley now has two rumoured positive tests. At least one of them passed through Teck Resources Ltd.

Teck representatives Robin Sheremeta (vice-president of coal) and Nic Milligan (manager of community and governmental affairs) were contacted for this story for comment. As of March 20 no response has been received. Teck Resources’ media office responded on March 16 with a list of the measures outlined in the next day’s press release, and as of March 20 has not responded to further follow-ups. 

Update Saturday March 21, 2020 at 11:40 a.m. PST: This article was updated to include comment from Karl Hardt of Interior Health. This article was also updated to include reference to Teck’s 500-person Elk Valley Lodge work camp.

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As pipeline politics dominate headlines, British Columbia is poised to overhaul the process that guides how major resource and development projects proceed.

The review now underway of the environmental assessment process has the potential to restore public confidence in the system that evaluates large developments — from open-pit coal mines to pipelines to hydro dams — by considering the combined effects of multiple projects in a single region and instituting other sweeping changes that critics say are long overdue.

“We had this ridiculous situation in northern B.C. where we had 18 LNG projects, five different pipelines and an oil export project all proposed at the same time here,” said Greg Knox, executive director of the SkeenaWild Conservation Trust.

“People were asking ‘can Kitimat handle these LNG facilities, plus [the] Enbridge [Northern Gateway pipeline], plus [the] Rio Tinto’ [Alcan aluminum smelter], and wondering how it would all impact the environment and people’s health.”

The projects would have affected local air quality at a time when the B.C. government had already granted a permit to the Rio Tinto Alcan smelter allowing the company to increase sulphur dioxide pollution in the Kitimat airshed by more than 50 per cent.

Under B.C.’s current regulations, each resource project is assessed separately, as though the others do not exist. There is no mechanism to study the cumulative impact of various projects on, for example, a single caribou herd, or on overall water or air quality in a community like Kitimat.

Concern about additional air pollution from LNG plants prompted the Kitimat community to ask the B.C. government to conduct a regional environmental assessment to address the combined impact of all the projects and figure out how to proceed with fewer ecological and community impacts.

“We had pipelines going everywhere when it would have made sense to have a pipeline corridor,” Knox said.

But the request was ignored, Knox said.

“They refused. They basically sent some form letter. They rejected doing a regional environmental assessment. It was a boilerplate response.”

The Elk Valley coal mines in southeastern B.C. are another case in point when it comes to the cumulative impacts of resource projects. The valley, which is part of one of North America’s most important wildlife corridors, is home to five operating coal mines.

More than 100 years of coal mining has polluted the Elk River with worrisome contaminants such as selenium, a heavy metal highly toxic to fish and birds. Yet each new mining proposal is examined as though it is the only project polluting the river.

B.C. Auditor General Carol Bellringer flagged the government’s failure to manage the cumulative impacts of the Elk Valley mines as a cause for concern, pointing to the environment ministry’s failure to address known environmental issues and the “lack of sufficient and effective regulatory oversight and action” that has allowed the degradation of water quality.

B.C. Environment Minister George Heyman has said the review of the environmental assessment process is designed to restore public confidence in the system.

But how far must the changes go to examine the impacts of a proposed project like a coal mine expansion in the context of other significant resource projects in the same watershed or airshed? Or to prevent projects staunchly opposed by First Nations from advancing through the system at considerable cost to taxpayers?

Decisions currently made in ‘black box’

West Coast Environmental Law lawyer Gavin Smith and other experts say the overhaul of B.C.’s environmental assessment regime must address the lack of a clear rationale behind government decisions to grant certificates to projects with grievous impacts on First Nations and the environment — projects such as the $10.7 billion Site C dam.

“What’s been happening is that the environmental assessment regime goes into a black box,” Smith told DeSmog Canada.

“All of this work on the assessment happens, and it goes to ministers and they just make a decision. Communities are left feeling like all the time and effort they’ve put into the process has been totally ignored. It’s not actually even clear on what basis the decision was made.”

The B.C. government issued an environmental assessment certificate for the Site C dam in 2014, even though First Nations are fighting the project in court and the dam will cause more ecological damage than any project ever examined in the history of Canada’s Environmental Assessment Act, according to more than 200 leading Canadian scholars.

Only three projects ever rejected in B.C.

No matter how environmentally egregious a project is, or how intense the opposition from First Nations and other local communities, when a major resource project exits B.C.’s current environmental assessment process it is almost certain to be stamped “approved.”

“Even projects which, according to federal law, have been found to have unjustifiable impacts on the environment and on Indigenous culture and governance have been approved through the provincial system,” Smith said.

“It’s a pretty strong indication that the system is built to facilitate getting to yes.”

Only three projects have ever been refused a B.C. environmental assessment certificate, according to an email from the provincial environment ministry.

The Ajax mine, a 1,700-hectare open-pit gold and copper mine proposed for the outskirts of Kamloops by Polish mining giant KGHM, is the only project to be rejected in the past seven years.

A proposed landfill for Metro Vancouver garbage, on the Ashcroft Ranch near Cache Creek, was turned down in 2011, while the Kemess North gold and copper mine north of Smithers was rejected in 2008 — but then approved last year.

Rejected projects often return

Smith said there must be mechanisms built into the revamped environmental assessment process to ensure rejected projects can’t simply be tweaked and re-tendered.

Lawyer Sean Nixon vividly remembers his reaction on the day he heard Taseko Mines had submitted a new plan to extract gold and copper from the area around Fish Lake in B.C.’s interior, a lake sacred to the Tsilhqot’in Nation.

“The first response was incredulity,” recalled Nixon, who had represented the Tsilhqot’in National Government several years earlier during the environmental assessment for Taseko’s project, dubbed the “Prosperity” mine.

The B.C. government granted Taseko a provincial environmental assessment certificate in 2010.

But Ottawa refused to issue a federal certificate, largely because the mine would drain Fish Lake — known as Teztan Biny to the Tsilhqot’in Nation — and turn part of it into a toxic tailings pond that would destroy rainbow trout habitat and wetlands.

That was supposed to be the end of the matter.

But then the project was back again. This time, when Nixon heard about it in 2011, it had a different name: Taseko called it the “New Prosperity” mine.

The project was virtually the same, with one major exception. The company said it would move the tailings pond upstream from Fish Lake — enough of a change to spark a second federal environmental assessment review, at an unknown cost to Canadian taxpayers.

In B.C., the process the company went through was a breeze by comparison. Taseko merely requested an amendment to its environmental assessment certificate, which was duly approved by the provincial government even though Taseko lacked a clear plan to keep tailings pond contaminants out of Fish Lake.

“The province didn’t need details about how the company planned to keep chemical contaminants from destroying the lake,” Nixon told DeSmog Canada. “The mining company said it would work out the details later. And B.C. accepted that claim at face value.”

As with the Prosperity mine, there’s nothing to stop the Ajax project from being re-submitted to the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office with modifications and a new name.

The KGHM website still lists Ajax as a project “under development,” and the company has said it is considering its options.

Early-planning phase would axe non-starter projects

Smith says the revamped system needs to include the ability for the B.C government to say “this project doesn’t stand a reasonable likelihood of success so we’re not wasting taxpayer money doing, for example, a third assessment on a project that’s already been rejected.”

Sustainability criteria — such as targets for maintaining air and water quality – need to be built into the law, and decision-makers need to justify their decisions based on these criteria, Smith said.

To deal with projects as controversial and destructive as the Site C dam or the New Prosperity mine, Smith said B.C.’s environmental assessment process needs to include an “early planning phase,” during which the views of First Nations and other local communities are taken into account well before the project advances through the system.

Perhaps the project is “a total non-starter from the get-go,” said Smith, in which case communities should be able to say “there’s no way this project is going to happen.”

In the case of Taseko, the former B.C. Liberal government approved exploration permits for the New Prosperity project last summer during its final days in office, while Tsilhqot’in members were under a wildfire evacuation notice, even though the federal government had also refused to grant the project an environmental assessment certificate the second time around.

The company subsequently took the federal government to court and lost in December.

Yet Taseko’s website still lists the New Prosperity mine as one of the company’s five properties, while noting “there is considerable uncertainty with respect to successful permitting of the project.”

Smith said he would be surprised if the company submitted a third iteration of the project to the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office. But until B.C.’s environmental assessment process changes, he said, “on paper, Taseko’s New Prosperity project still exists and is still a risk.”

A 12-member advisory committee, led by ecologist Bruce Fraser and Lydia Hwitsum, former Cowichan Tribes chief and former chair of the First Nations Health Council, is due to release a discussion paper on the review process in May, including feedback from the Environmental Assessment Office.

After a public comment period, the government will introduce reforms in the late fall.

The federal government is simultaneously overhauling its environmental assessment process with Bill C-69, but the bill has been criticized for falling short in several key areas.

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.

For over a century, the landscape north of Kimberley, B.C., was used for intensive industrial hard-rock mining — but now it’s home to the largest solar farm in all of British Columbia.

Over the decades, the site of Teck’s (formerly Cominco’s) Sullivan Mine hosted a steel mill, fertilizer plant and tailings ponds, rendering the area tree-less for the forseeable future.

What to do with an elevated, south-facing slope that could never again see natural shade? Ecosmart, a Vancouver-based nonprofit, had a brilliant idea in 2008. Why not mine the sun?

“Solar energy is one of the fastest growing industries in North America and its potential in B.C. is exceptional,” explains Ecosmart president and CEO Michel de Spot, one of the main visionaries behind the project.

The solar potential of the sunny Kootenay region of British Columbia is obvious to residents, many of whom moved to, or stayed in the region because of the reliable sunny weather, particularly in Kimberley, a town of 7,500 people.

At 1,120 meters above sea level, it is known as one of the highest elevation municipalities in Canada — high enough to be clear of the dreary inversions that blanket many interior British Columbia valleys with cloud for much of the long winters.

Monitoring activities from 2008 to 2010 showed that Kimberley bakes in the sun for more than 2,150 hours per year, and the sun shines on more than 300 days. This makes the south-facing slope in the Teck lands prime solar power real estate.

With land and capital contributions from Teck, the Province of B.C. Innovative Clean Energy Fund, and a $2 million loan to the City of Kimberley approved by 76 per cent of voters, Kimberley’s SunMine project powered up in June 2015.

“EcoSmart convinced us it could be done without any taxpayer money,” explains Kimberley Mayor Don McCormick.

“All expenses would be covered with revenues generated by the SunMine, including repayment of the $2 million the City borrowed as its share of the capital cost. So with the money questions out of the way, we launched.”

SunMine is the largest solar tracking facility in Western Canada, the largest solar project in British Columbia and the first solar project in the province to sell power directly into B.C. Hydro’s power grid.

SunMine solar farm in Kimberley, B.C. Photo: City of Kimberley.

After the first full year of operation, the numbers are looking good. The SunMine’s 4,032 solar cells generated 1,681 MegaWatt-Hours (MWh) of electricity, which was just over 87 per cent of projected production. The shortfall resulted from the failure of four of the 32 inverters, and delays in finding and installing replacements. Spare inverters have since been purchased and stored at hand to ward off this kind of setback in the future.

In terms of revenue, the SunMine generated 88 per cent of projected annual income, due to the aforementioned technical set back. With power shortfall insurance, returns came in at 95 per cent of the projected $202,375 annual revenue to the City of Kimberley.

Not bad for year one.

Annual operating expenses came in a sunny 28 per cent below expected costs, at $55,203. This left ample revenue to cover loan payments and left more than $12,000 in profits to go toward the City’s SunMine reserve fund.

At peak operation, SunMine powers an estimated 200 Kimberley homes, and can generate nearly $250,000 annually in revenue to help repay the initial $2 million loan, cover operating costs and, hopefully, expand the project in the future.

Thomas Metzler is a local electrician who counts himself lucky to have been part of the project.

“To be part of the largest solar project in western Canada makes me want to do more,” Metzler said. “Thanks to the City of Kimberley’s leadership, we are doing something for our planet, will generate clean energy for our homes, and have taken the first steps for others to follow.”

With acreage and transmission capacity for a 200-fold increase beyond its current size, the project could one day become the largest facility of its kind in the world. SunMine’s partnerships with local colleges as well as a host of other local governments and organizations mean that Kimberley is poised to blaze the trail for solar power production, research and development into the future.

This Old Mine Is Now B.C.’s Largest #Solar Farm https://t.co/pHMYLFrJZ1 #bcpoli #cleanenergy #kimberleybc #SOawesome

— DeSmog Canada (@DeSmogCanada) March 29, 2017

Forward-thinking electricians such as Metzler see the project as a leader that will not only pave the way for more large-scale projects, but also for smaller, home-based solar power generation.

“The cost of solar technology has decreased by 30 to 40 per cent over the past four years,” explains Metzler.

With B.C. Hydro’s net metering option, which pays small power producers 9.99 cents per kilowatt-hour, not only can homeowners reduce their power bills to zero, but they can actually begin to pay off their systems.

Smaller producers and the many owners of sunny, south-facing rooftops are waiting for British Columbia to offer more realistic incentives and pricing for small energy producers.

Solar energy has taken off in many parts of the world, but has been slow to catch on in British Columbia, mainly due to a lack of power production incentives. Programs in Ontario pay residents the true costs of power generation and delivery (between 40 and 80 cents per kilowatt-hour), while B.C. will still only pay the heavily subsidized B.C. Hydro rate-payers rate (currently 9.99 cents/kwh), which does not take into account all the costs associated with the generation and delivery of electricity, or the mitigation of impacts associated with power generation, such as endangered species recovery due to river impoundment and valley inundation behind hydroelectric projects.

Nova Scotia offers lucrative incentives for in-home solar hot water heat, home heating and photovoltaic panel installation.

Many hope the Sunmine project will help raise the bar and urge B.C. Hydro to encourage more renewable energy sources, ones that help B.C. meet its energy conservation targets while concurrently negating the need for multi-billion dollar investments in mega-projects, such as the controversial Site C hydroelectric dam on the Peace River.

Countries like Germany, which generates nearly seven per cent of its annual energy needs using solar power, and China, Taiwan, Japan, and Italy are leading the way in the production of solar renewable energy, while Canada ranks eighth globally in solar energy production. Canada is well positioned to take the lead, however, with 30 per cent higher solar potential than even Germany.

Kimberley’s SunMine has its own ground-breaking individual power purchase agreement with B.C. Hydro, the first of its kind for a solar project, and one that will bring in over a quarter million dollars annually to help cover the start-up costs and ongoing maintenance of the site.

So far, the SunMine has won a total of six major national and regional sustainability, energy, and innovation awards, including 2017’s Canada Clean 50: Outstanding Contributors to Clean Capitalism, sponsored by TD Bank.

Beyond the project’s accolades and stellar PR returns, Mayor McCormick believes the SunMine was worth the financial risk.

“This project created many firsts, and is definitely outside the usual services associated with a municipality. It was an opportunity for Kimberley to rebrand itself as a progressive community. The SunMine is the vehicle to get that message to the world.”

The City is currently seeking a partner to help it move forward towards its vision of expanding the SunMine to eventually power a business park near the facility.

“We are looking to sell the SunMine to a partner with deep enough pockets to expand the facility, ensuring it will make money long term. We then collect taxes, which is really our business model,” McCormick said.

So, who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? As a century of hard-rock mining evolves into the next century of sustainable energy innovation, the City of Kimberley knows it can be done. Now, they just have to wait for the rest of the pack to catch up.

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.

Christy Clark recently turned down the opportunity to limit foreign and corporate donations to political parties in campaigns. She justified her position by simply stating, “I represent everyone.”   Yet a new poll conducted by Insights West found the vast majority of British Columbians — 86 per cent — support a ban on both corporate and union political donations.   The poll, conducted on behalf of the Dogwood Initiative, a democracy advocacy organization, suggests Clark’s cozy relationship with major foreign and corporate donors could put her in the hot seat leading into the province’s next election.   That seat is likely to be even hotter after revelations Clark takes a cut of funds donated to the B.C. Liberal party through exclusive cash-for-access events that can cost up to $20,000 dollars to attend.   A high percentage of B.C. Liberal donors, 81 per cent, and an even higher number of B.C. NDP voters, 91 per cent, support putting a ban on corporate and union donations before the next election.

B.C. has long been called the “wild west of campaign donations” because, unlike most other provinces in Canada, it has no rules to prevent unlimited, foreign, union and corporate money from pouring into elections.    It’s a problem the Dogwood Initiative would like to see remedied through its Ban Big Money campaign before British Columbians hit the polls in early 2017. The group’s recent House of Cards-esque trailer for the corrupting influence of money in B.C. elections has been viewed on Facebook over 85,000 times.

BC's House of Cash

With apologies to Netflix, here's the high-stakes drama British Columbians can't get enough of: http://BanBigMoney.ca #BanBigMoney

Posted by Dogwood Initiative on Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Kai Nagata, energy and democracy director at Dogwood, said B.C. has created a situation “that has made bribery legal.”   He said the recent spate of arrests of cabinet ministers in Quebec on corruption and fraud charges were for activities “commonplace and totally protected by law in B.C.”   Recent Elections B.C. data on 2015 political donations shows that since 2005 the B.C. Liberal party raised $70.2 million from corporate and business donors. In that same period three donors exceeded donations of one million: Encana Corporation at $1.1 million, the Aquilini Group ($1.2 million) and Teck Resources ($2.3 million).

“So you ask companies, ‘why would you donate that money to a political party?’ It’s not charity; it’s an investment because you get something back,” Nagata said.   “You get policy decidedly tilted in favour of people who are able to fund political campaigns and ordinary citizens have their voices diluted in this process.”   “You go anywhere in this province and it’s hard not to see that virtually everything is for sale,” Nagata said, listing contracts for the Site C dam, B.C.’s trophy hunting, U.S. coal exports, LNG projects and the contemptible Vancouver real estate scene.   “There are a lot of decisions by government —decisions or calculated inaction — that amount to outcomes that are against public interest.”   “In B.C. because laws are so permissive people can donate unlimited amounts of money from overseas,” Nagata said. “So you don’t even have to be from Canada to have a say in public policy in B.C.”   Dermod Travis from IntegrityBC said there are a number of issues with political donations in B.C. that cause him concern.   “The most concerning thing is that money is being donated by corporations and individuals that can’t vote in the province,” Travis said. “If you can’t check a ballot, you shouldn’t be allowed to donate funds.”   Travis said British Columbians are worried about the level of influence companies like Encana and Teck Resources are able to purchase with consistently large donations.   “With Encana you see exactly what kind of sweetheart deals people have come to expect,” he said.   Travis said the BC Liberals consistently award contracts to companies that are party donors.   “Look at the companies that Partnerships B.C. has awarded construction contracts to and you will see a direct correlation between being contracts and being a donor to the BC Liberals.”   “People don’t have enough assurance the government is protecting the public’s interest, rather than corporate interests,” he said.   Travis also criticized the data publicly released by Elections B.C., saying the documents aren’t easily searchable which creates convenient loopholes for individuals who want to mask their donations.   “There are little tricks that get played in the process,” Travis said. “I’ll use my own name as an example: if you were to use the Elections B.C. database and search Dermod Travis any donations I made as Dermod J. Travis would not show up and that’s a problem.”   Both individuals and companies take advantage of this “initial game,” Travis said, “you might be left with the impression it was done deliberately so you couldn’t find their donations.”   He said an outright ban on corporate donations and a strict cap on individual donations would eliminate that problem.   “I think it creates an incredible level of cynicism that’s going to take a long time to remove even with a ban on these types of donations,” Travis said.   “It creates sense that there are winners and losers and the only way to be a winner is to be a donor.”   By leaving donor rules so open, government is fostering a sense of mistrust in the public, Nagata said.   “By refusing to take action to limit corporate money in elections they are leaving the question to voters: is government making decisions on behalf of citizens and in the public interest or are those decisions informed by the amount of money donated to politicians’ campaigns by these large corporations?”   “Obviously you don’t give someone a million dollars and say do whatever you want. There’s an expectation of a quid pro quo,” Nagata said.   “Citizens can’t collectively donate that amount of money to balance that influence — all you have is your vote,” Nagata said. “People don’t even do that because they feel cynical about the whole process.”   “That’s what we see, that’s our diagnosis. It seems the solution is simple: the government could restore public trust by not taking money from these outside influences and ensure they are making decisions on behalf of those who elected them.”

For more on political donations and how they cost taxpayers money, watch Kai Nagata break it down in this video below:  

How corruption can increase your tax bill

B.C.'s weak political donation laws leave the door open to corruption. Corruption destroys democracy and costs taxpayers, too. Join the movement to #BanBigMoney in B.C. politics: www.BanBigMoney.ca

Posted by Dogwood Initiative on Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Image: Province of British Columbia/Flickr.

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