Sep
12
By Carole James
It's crucial that we approach economic growth in a responsible way that addresses the needs of today and the challenges of the future. We need to be investing in jobs, technology, and infrastructure that builds on renewable resources, clean and green jobs, and a 21st century economy that will be as non-polluting as possible.
In Victoria, we are seeing a glimpse of what that better future can be with remarkable performance in our technology, tourism, and arts and culture industries. Growth in those sectors has been good for the city, creating jobs and spin-off benefits for today and into the future.
But instead of the government looking at how to support those industries, MLAs spent two weeks debating Bill 30, the LNG Project Agreements Act. I voted against it, as did my colleagues in the New Democrat opposition. But the government used its majority to ram the legislation through.
The Liberal government’s LNG deal is a sellout of our finite natural resources for the next generation with practically no benefit to British Columbians. Premier Clark has negotiated a deal with Petronas that includes no job requirements for British Columbians and locks us into a fixed low tax regime for the company for 25 years. While it’s clear the Premier is working hard to meet the interests of Petronas, she is not looking out for the interests of the people of British Columbia.
Premier Clark’s deal also brushes First Nations communities aside by placing them in the category of “other matters.” She has set up a legal framework that allows 70 per cent of the emissions from LNG production to go uncounted towards her promise of the cleanest LNG in the world. We can do better than that. British Columbians deserve better.
Even Martyn Brown, a prominent BC Liberal who served as Gordon Campbell's Chief of Staff for almost a decade, knows this is a bad deal. Recently he wrote: "The fine print of that deal will commit our province to a course that is environmentally reckless, fiscally foolhardy, and socially irresponsible. I say that as someone generally supportive of the merits of LNG development, to the extent that it is invited without giving up more than we collectively stand to gain."
There is no question. This deal is a bad agreement for British Columbia, signed entirely for political purposes with no care for the consequences for citizens today or into the future.
Our society is facing critical choices that will determine the future habitability of the planet. If we choose to continue down the same unchecked path of burning fossil fuels and polluting, or whether to switch to a path of responsible development that sees the environment and the economy as inherently intertwined. Sadly, current provincial and federal governments seem to be firmly on the first path.
British Columbia needs responsible economic growth that puts a clean environment first. We must protect the air, land, and water, or there will be no future.
I appreciate hearing your views on this topic and any others of interest to you and your family. Please contact me at:
1084 Fort Street
Victoria, BC V8V 3K4
Phone: 250 952-4211
Carole.James.mla@leg.bc.ca