East Toba River and Montrose Creek generating station in the Toba Valley

The following will demonstrate, as if that were necessary, that the Liberal Government has lied through its teeth.

Below is a direct quote from Colin Hansen, found by Googling “Colin Hansen, private power”

Here’s what Hansen says:

“ … where we can encourage small companies to build small scale hydroelectric projects that are run of the river, and what that means is, instead of having a big reservoir, a big dam that backs water up, and creates a great big lake, these are run of the river, so the river continues to flow at its normal but we capture some of the energy in the form of hydroelectric power from this.

Now please look at a copy of the March 8 Vancouver Sun, section C, the Business Section and look at the picture of that “small scale hydroelectric project” at Toba Inlet. Here it is: Magma Energy, Plutonic Power team up

This lack of acquaintance with the truth goes back to the beginning when Campbell took the moratorium off fish farms in 2001, Since that time he has consistently denied the evidence that open cage fish farms are a menace to our wild fishery. As each independent study came out, from the best scientists in the business, Campbell would peddle deceit saying that scientists supported his policy which is a terminological inexactitude, as Churchill called such things when Parliamentary practice forbade him to use the word “lie”.

The entire energy policy has been the very opposite of what he’s said and the video statement by Colin Hansen I spoke of last week lays the falsehoods out for all to see. (I must apologize for spelling Hansen’s name the English way; I was trying to avoid embarrassing Scandinavians).

There is a sense of helplessness in the air. What can we do with the government having another four years to wreck the environment and fill the pockets of their friends and paymasters?

We can quit, of course. We can blame those 50% who didn’t vote. We can blame the NDP for running an appalling campaign – which they did. We can spend the next four years cursing and crying.

That’s certainly not what I’m going to do. It’s not the course I suggest for you. For while Campbell has the legislature seats we know they’re based on 23% of eligible voter and that he has no moral basis for what he’s doing. This means, in my mind, that we have a moral duty to oppose with every means at our disposal and to keep opposing until we have another election.

It means that we must process and, where appropriate, use civil disobedience. The injunction process used to send decent people to jail works like this. The company, cheered on by the government, has protesters charged for interfering with a legal contract of similar offence with an application before the courts to order protesters to stop. When they don’t, they’re charged with contempt and sent to jail. We have to be ready to take this route, odious as it is. When this happens the public see that as a reward for destroying our environment and bankrupting BC Hydro huge offshore companies can throw decent, caring people in jail.

The difficulty will be keeping on the pressure. But we have a lesson before us in the Kemano II project that the public stopped in the 90s.

In a way we’re like an occupied country with malicious masters. And as Churchill advised people in occupied countries during the war – we must make their policies as hard to implement as we can.

For all of us there are hugely important issues at stake. Are we going to stand idly by as fish farms decimate our precious wild salmon? Are we going to stand on the sidelines as large corporations murder our rivers and streams? Are we going to just sigh and accept the destruction of BC Hydro?

These are not the ordinary issues of ordinary politics but go to the very root of the relationship of the governors and the governed. We the people have never been consulted on the energy policy the Campbell government is implementing.

Now, when there are public hearings the people are not permitted to deal with the merits.

Our options, then, are to watch in sullen silence or do everything we can, short of violence, to stop them.

Just prior to the last election, Mr. Hansen did a short interview, on camera. Let me tell you what he said and I was taught by one of the best libel lawyers never to call I’ll ask you how I can describe this in a manner that won’t get me using the “L” word.

Mr. Hansen says “BC is a net importer of electricity.”

This simply is not true. Both the National Energy Board and Stats Canada, the most reliable sources we have, tell a different story: Over the past decade BC, our public power province, has typically been a net exporter of power. Mr. Hansen makes his statement based upon BC Hydro figures which don’t count energy created and exported by Alcan, Teck-Cominco and Fortis – all of which form part of our larger public power system, and are considered by the National Energy Board as part of BC’s energy imports and exports. We grant these companies access to our public resources to produce and distribute power, in exchange for job creation and access to purchasing excess power they create at an affordable rate.  For instance, BC Hydro just bought a share of the power from one of Teck Cominco’s dams, which further reduces our need for new private river power, yet Mr. Hansen’s government makes no policy change in private power development to reflect this.  Perhaps I just call Minister Hanson disingenuous which means, according to Merriam dictionary, “giving a false appearance of simple frankness”.

Disingenuous statement #1

Mr. Hansen says that these are small scale projects. This demonstrably is not so. If you check out www.saveourrivers.ca and look at the Powerplay videos you will see what these things look like. Far from being “small” the Bute Inlet project which will divert or dams 17 rivers and the operating Upper Toba project are both controlled by General Electric, one of the biggest companies in the world. The Ashlu project is Ledcor, a construction giant, while the Glacier-Howser is proposed by the immensely rich Dupont family.

Disingenuous statement #2

Mr. Hansen says that the private river power project proposals to date represent just “.03% of the rivers in BC that could sustain any kind of hydro electric activity.”  Mr. Hansen knows this is simply untrue, as very few rivers and streams in BC have large enough flows to make the development of them economical – nevertheless, this industry has so far been able to find 700 of them!  The web of transmission lines and roads needed for these projects would indelibly impact virtually every major watershed in the province – to the contrary of what Mr. Hansen says.  Just go to www.saveourivers.ca and look at the google map there depicting all the proposed projects around the province and you’ll see what I mean.
Again, in deference to my legal advice, let’s call Mr. Hansen’s nonsense as “disingenuous”.

Disingenuous statement #3

Mr. Hansen says that these are “run of the river” projects which allow rivers to have their “normal stream”. Again, please look at the videos at www.saveourrivers.ca and see for yourself the massive diversions of rivers running for many kilometers and involving hundreds of kilometers of industrial roads and transmission lines through our wild places. The Glacier-Howser project in the Kootenays proposes to take the majority of waters from five different rivers, diverting them through 16 km worth of huge tunnels, then dumping them into a lake so that they never return to the riverbed.

Perhaps, out of an abundance of caution, we will once more characterize Mr. Hansen as disingenuous.

Disingenuous statement #4

Mr. Hansen says that BC needs “its own secure source of energy.” This has two aspects to it: Do we need more power and, if we do, will private power companies do the job?

On the first point, all the independent experts tell us that if we practice some conservation, upgrade current Hydro generators, build generators on flood control dams and take back from the US the power we are entitled to under the Columbia River Treaty we have all the power we need for decades to come.

Disingenuous statement #5

On the second point, if we did need power we would never get it from these private river power projects because for the most part their power making ability is confined to the few months of the Spring run off which is when BC Hydro, will full reservoirs doesn’t need it. This power is for export as the head of the Plutonic/General Electric Don McInnis admits. In fact he says that anyone who doesn’t know this “would have to be in a coma”. This is a very important point and the public is entitled to have the same candor from Mr. Hanson. Why aren’t they getting it?

Disingenuous statement #6

We can, I think, assume that Mr. Hanson has the Bute Inlet project in mind since that was the major issue at the time he made his statement. This government loves to compare the two saying “if you don’t want our rivers policy you’ll have to accept Site “C”, This is a false dichotomy set up by the Campbell government to demonstrate that Bute Inlet will out produce Site “C”. This, again, is demonstrably untrue since, again, Bute Inlet can only provide power during the spring run-off when we don’t need it.

Again, a false statement by the minister.

While the Bute project would have an immensely larger ecological footprint than the proposed Site C dam – it would yield approximately half the annual power output, mostly at a time of year when we don’t need and can’t use the power!  And despite being less valuable and useful power, it would cost us considerably more than the power from Site C, and would be private instead of public power!  We at Save Our Rivers don’t favour Site C either – this just to illustrate how much of a better deal it would be for British Columbians than the disastrous GE Bute proposal.

Mr. Hansen is dead wrong in what he says and is guilty of misleading by not telling the whole story about what we need and the inability of private power projects to supply appreciable energy to BC when Hydro’s reservoirs are low.

I must say that I’m sore tempted to use a stronger word but let’s just say that, once again, Mr. Hansen is disingenuous.

Disingenuous statement #7

Incidentally, the clip I’m alluding to has less than two minutes and, if you’re a fan of disingenuousness, can be seen here (go quickly – as I wouldn’t be surprised if it disappeared soon after this  article appears). It’s not often that I recommend that anyone watch a Liberal government clip but this one demonstrates in graphic terms the utter falseness of the Campbell’s statements. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYzKzvNQkrE (transcript)

Now let’s see where we stand. Leaving aside the things Mr. Hansen didn’t  address but should have, in 1 minute and 51 seconds we can record 7 huge, may I say world class,  disingenuous statements. Perhaps we can characterize this video as a “tissue of disingenuousness”.

And here is where I need your help. When a man, a senior member of cabinet, in just a few seconds, pronounces seven completely false statements in formal defence of the government of which he is a big part, seven statements that are demonstrably untrue, false statements deliberately made to fool the public,  is “disingenuous” the most I can say?

Your suggestions welcome!