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