Whichever one of you is entrusted with the opportunity to lead Alberta into the future after the provincial election, here is what you need to know to navigate the most challenging issue in your province’s history — the era of stranded assets in the oilsands.
A rushed process that emphasizes hatcheries and coastal fisheries over habitat restoration and inland spawning streams has some worried the province’s new plan is meant, first and foremost, to serve commercial fishing interests
Efforts to create a made-in-B.C. strategy to assure the future abundance of wild salmon is off to a rocky start — marred by rushed consultations and a process dominated by coastal fishing interests, leaving environmentalists, scientists and interior communities on the outside looking in.
In April 2010, when then-premier Gordon Campbell announced that B.C. was resurrecting plans to build the Site C dam, atmospheric scientist Andrew Weaver was along to lend support.
Well before he became an MLA, and later the leader of the B.C. Green party, Weaver used words to describe the controversial project that became a template for Liberal and NDP premiers to come:
Hydro power is “clean.” It is “zero-emitting” power. It “does not produce greenhouse gas emissions.” Therefore, it is good.
A study written for Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives by earth scientist J. David Hughes offered a conclusion on the success of neoliberal politics in Canada. Success, that is, for the corporate world.
A pull quote in the executive summary of the Hughes report provides the gist:
Rita Wong, Mel Lehan, Barry Morris, Kyle Farquharson, Will Offley
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
As you will see from the attached materials, we are a group of defendants charged with blocking the Kinder Morgan expansion project last year. We will be going on trial in April charged with criminal contempt of court, and facing both fines and jail terms if convicted. We are raising a defence of necessity with the goal of changing Canadian legal precedent if we are successful, which would have significant positive consequences for climate defenders facing charges for peaceful civil disobedience in the future.
