A Provincial Townhall Tour for Common Sense Canadians – Coming to Your Community

Salmon, rivers, oil tankers, democracy. These will be the subjects of a rousing tour of BC this Fall and Spring, led by Rafe Mair and Damien Gillis, founders of the popular new online journal, The Common Sense Canadian – a voice for the public interest and source of dynamic information on topics vital to Canadians. Beginning in late October in the Kootenays, Rafe and Damien will embark on a tour of some 30 communities around the province over the next half year. Listed below are a first round of confirmed events – with more announcements coming soon. Keep checking the calendar for updates and info.

Following a similar, highly successful series of shows just over a year ago led by Mair and Gillis to raise awareness about the devastating policy of the privatization of BC’s watersheds, these two-hour townhall events will feature Gillis’ new short documentary on the proposed Enbridge pipeline to BC’s North Coast, “Oil in Eden”, speeches by Mair and other prominent guest speakers and local community organizers – plus the opportunity to hear from the public, answer their questions, and provide action items they can undertake to get involved in these critical issues.

Mair will bring his trademark no-nonsense wisdom and inspiration to these topics, while other guest speakers like biologist Alexandra Morton, BC political icon Corky Evans, and Greenpeace co-founder Rex Weyler will contribute their expertise and solutions to the dialogue.

The tour is designed to inform and empower British Columbians, while expanding Gillis and Mair’s new journal, The Common Sense Canadian, through signing citizens up to their email bulletin and raising much-needed financial support.

Join us as we work to take back our BC. Now is the time!

Upcoming Events – More Announcements Coming Soon:

-Oct. 26: Golden - 7-9 PM @ the Golden Seniors’ Centre, featuring guest speaker Rachel Darvill from Wildsight

-Oct. 27: Nelson - 7-9 PM @ The Capitol Theatre, featuring the inimitable Corky Evans and Raelynn Gibson from Ecosociety

-Oct. 28: Rossland - 7:30-9:30 PM @ The Miners’ Hall, also featuring Corky Evans and Raelynn Gibson from Ecosociety

-Nov. 7: Courtenay – 1-3 PM @ the Florence Filberg Centre, featuring Alexandra Morton

-Nov. 7: Quadra Island – 7-9 PM @ the Quadra Island Community Centre, also featuring Alexandra Morton – co-hosted by The Sierra Club of BC Quadra Island Chapter

-Nov. 28: Parksville – 2-4 PM @ the Parksville Community & Conference Centre – co-hosted by Oceanside Coalition for Strong Communities and Parksville/Qualicum KAIROS

Other communities we plan to visit include: Campbell River, Coquitlam, Dawson Creek, Delta, Fort St. John, Kamloops, Kelowna, Kitimat, Maple Ridge, Merritt, Penticton, Powell River, Prince George, Prince Rupert, Quesnel, Saltspring Island, Smithers, Squamish, Terrace, Vancouver, Victoria, and Williams Lake.

For more information of these and other upcoming events, stay tuned to TheCanadian.org

Conservative Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Gail Shea

As BC’s sockeye disaster unfolded, she flogged fish farms in Norway.

Here is the story from the Black Press, scarcely known for left wing tendencies –

The Fraser River sockeye run is winding up and millions of missing salmon still haven’t shown up.

The Pacific Salmon Commission estimates the run size at 1.37 million sockeye – the worst on record and significantly below the last two dismal years, which fishermen had hoped would not be repeated.

Observers see the result as a sign of ecological catastrophe.

And there’s little hope more of the forecast run of 10.5 million sockeye will materialize.

Moreover, as we have long known, several runs of Pink salmon are near extinction in the Broughton Archipelago.

In the meantime, at the height of the collapse of the world renowned Fraser River sockeye, where was Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Gail Shea?

She along with 50 government financed delegates were in  Trondheim Norway attending the world’s largest Aquaculture Conference on behalf of the Government of Canada! When asked by filmmaker Damien Gillis why she was there she said it was because she “supports aquaculture in Canada which is an important part of our economy”. When Gillis tried to video the Canadian delegation he was refused by the Canadian DFO Director for Information because he wouldn’t tell her how he intended to use the film!

Let’s lay some facts on the table here. Sea Lice from salmon farms are killing our migrating salmon including sockeye from the Fraser. As Dr John Volpe, a noted fish biologist  recently made clear. the world’s independent fish biologists “spoke with one voice” and that the impact connection of lice from fish farms on wild salmon is “indisputable”. Minister Gail Shea, on her junket to Trondheim demonstrated beyond doubt that not only did she know nothing of this west coast catastrophe but didn’t care to learn. So we have from the leading scientists of the world that the connection of fish farm sea lice and wild salmon is indisputable” while the Minister in charge uncritically supports the fish farm industry. Clearly, to her, we’re just typical BC bitchers trying to interfere with the legitimate work of government.

Let’s turn now to Otto Langer a highly respected scientist with DFO who, in 2002, quit in disgust after 32 years when he could no longer stand the department forgetting its mandate and shilling for fish farms, He talks of the duty of DFO under the legislation “to conserve and protect fish habitat”. Mr. Langer pointed out that the DFO policy would not only condemn our salmon to extinction but also wipe out BC icons such as bears and eagles.

Now let’s move back to Minister Shea. Some years ago the DFO, which was responsible for aquaculture, turned this responsibility over to the provincial Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fish who made an ongoing balls-up of their new mandate. Earlier this year, Alexandra Morton, who has led the fight to move fish farms out of the path of migrating salmon, won a landmark court decision which sent the responsibility back to DFO. Ms Morton said that she just wanted the DFO to “enforce the law”. And this gets to the meat of the matter.

It is NOT the job of the DFO to promote aquaculture but to protect Canada’s fisheries. If Canada is to promote businesses – and there are many deserving of promotion – it is the sworn duty of the Industry Ministry to ensure that his promoted industries, as a condition precedent, obey the law very much including those which are or should be administered by DFO.

The Ministry in charge of the DFO is the cop in this exercise. It is her job to ensure that any industry which affects Canada’s fisheries obey the strictures of the Fisheries Act. That is her sworn duty.

We are bovine masses in this country. One in awhile we raise our faces out of our beer glasses, divert out attention momentarily from the sitcom and mumble “yes I suppose the Fisheries Minister shouldn’t be shilling for fish farms, now where were we?”  Moreover, as we plod our weary way to the polls – 50% of us that is – we will vote the government back in or elect a new one which we know will change nothing.

What other country calling itself a democracy would throw peaceful protesters in jail after pepper spraying them as we did during APEC Conference in 1997? (One law student was physically abused and thrown in jail for carrying a cloth sign saying “Free Speech” and “Democracy.”)

More to the point and up to date, what country would spend a billion dollars making sure that protesters at the Olympics would be kept out of sight of those protested against thus meaning – and this is the main point – no TV cameras could show that everything wasn’t “all things bright and beautiful” (in the words of the syrupy Anglican jingle) – amongst those paying for this extravaganza?

With this national attitude, is it any wonder then that our fisheries are destroyed under the watchful eyes of those set in authority over us when they know we won’t do anything about it? I’ve been part of a good many protests and for the most part they are made up of the same young people (with one notable exception) each time.

I leave this epistle with this question – to all of you British Columbians who care about our salmon, see it as the soul of our province, who are pained at the sight of what the governments are doing – what the Hell are you going to do about it?

Are you too busy to support Alexandra Morton, the Wilderness Committee, the Save Our Rivers Society and others who are carrying this fight on your behalf?

Will you not challenge the bloody liars that lead you? Will you not take this fight personally and fight as if these fish were yours, which they are?

You might all, for starters, try joining a protest – you’ll find out that at least you have the satisfaction of trying.

To all British Columbians, if you don’t try you’re no better off sitting on your asses than are those in authority who have chosen the same position.

This is not an unusual situation. The last Fishery Minister who knew his brief was John Fraser who, unhappily, did not stay in the ministry long enough to locate the private loo.

When I was Environment Minister for BC many moons ago I researched the history of Ottawa and the Pacific Fishery. This history is festooned with short term solutions that lasted only until the next crisis. There were reports and studies galore.

Just one example. At one point the fishery was being over fished. The Minister then decided that there were too many boats chasing too many fish so he organized a buy back of licenses. The minister didn’t reckon with the ingenuity of man for in no time flat the boats that remained increased their capacity and we were back where we started!

The political bottom line is this – we will either elect the Tories, who won’t change, or the Liberals who won’t change or the NDP which has no power to change.

Next stop – a dam on the Fraser north of Lytton because there are no fish values to be concerned about.

Targeted for project: Homathko River entering Bute Inlet. Photo Damien Gillis, Save Our Rivers Society.

Memo to media: time to expose Campbell’s fallacy

Last week I spoke of the appalling mainstream media in BC and how it let Premier Gordon Campbell get away with murder of our rivers and the ecologies they support. The exception and a major one is Mark Hume of the Globe and Mail whose BC section, combined with the national edition, gives better coverage by far of BC affairs than The Vancouver (Seriously West Coast) Sun, The Province and Global combined.) I need hardly add that thetyee.ca encourages full debate on all issues.

I want to make it clear that I’m not asking that the media agree with any or all of the positions I’ve taken. I only ask that they examine the facts plus the motives and actions of the Campbell government with the same thoroughness as, in Vaughn Palmer’s case especially, they brought to the “Fast Ferry” debacle of the last NDP government. There are three main ways the media can deceive us – by not telling the truth or using half truths at best; not talking about the issue at all; by cherry picking issues and avoiding the dodgy ones. The mainstream media in BC does all three.

There are winners with private power. There is short term employment to build the plants and according to Don McInnes, CEO of General Electric backed Plutonic Power about 2/3rds of that comes from sources outside the area; there are jobs after the plants are built – as many as two workers will be needed to look after the computerized outfit; one cannot, of course, forget the shareholders of the companies who make these sweetheart deals.

Let’s look at the Campbell argument that we need private power to meet our own needs. This is a plainly not true since the vast majority of this private power comes when we don’t need it and since electricity itself in bulk cannot be stored it will all go south. It is critical that all British Columbians know that private power has nothing to do with our power needs but has from the start been targeted for export. This bases Campbell’s energy plan on an utter falsehood thus their entire private power argument collapses.

I’m going to quote from a piece written by my colleague, Damien Gillis, the film maker, who does the Powerplay series for Save Our Rivers Society (www.saveourrivers.ca). It was written for The Campbell River Courier-Islander on the recent BCUC ruling that rubbished Campbell’s energy plan.

Writing in support of the recent BCUC decision which found that BC Hydro’s private power program is not in the public interest Gillis says  “the majority of the power these private river projects produce comes in spring – when our public dams are full and demands at their lowest, meaning that all this private power will be for export. Only here’s the kicker: since we’re being suckered into paying two to three times the market rate for this power, we will have to flip it to our neighbours at a huge loss, driving up our power bills and taxes as BC Hydro goes from making a profit for the people of BC to being a drain on our province and economy. Our regulator [BCUC] blew the whistle on vastly exaggerated claims of our power needs by BC Hydro, which really just enacting the government policy it is shackled to, whether it agrees or not”.

This is the nub of the matter. BC Hydro is forced by Campbell to pay private power companies, on a “take or pay” basis  2 – 3 times what it must can be exported for. That was the idea from the beginning even though we were all told that BC needed this power for its own use. Don McInnes, who heads the Plutonic/General Electric partnership, in what was clearly an unguarded moment, said “You’d have to be in a coma to not see where the B.C. government is going; now we need consistency of policy and certainty of timelines … An export plan is an obvious place for us to go.”

What does this mean to the taxpayer?

Because nearly all private power must be exported and because BC Hydro has been forced into sweetheart “take or pay” deals at 2-3 times the export market value, it must now export this power at ruinous prices. With around 30 outfits up and running BC Hydro owes them $31 BILLION – if (God forbid) Bute Inlet is approved that will add approximately $20 BILLION. Each new license adds to the bill. And, remember, folks, BC Hydro is our company and this is your money.

But that’s not all. BC Hydro has always paid a very large dividend to the government – as high as a BILLION Dollars one year – and that can no longer happen for obvious seasons. That’s money that builds our schools and hospitals.

And where, pray tell, is that money going?

Into the pockets of shareholders such as, in General Electric’s case, Warren Buffet, for one.

It’s said by people like Guy Dauncey, president of BC Sustainable Energy Association (always be wary of companies that state they are for sustainable and green power because as often as not they’re the very opposite) says that the fact we can’t use private energy “enables us to export green power to the USA, where the new Clean Energy Act mandates that 20% of electricity be from renewables by 2020, which is to our collective global environmental benefit”.

Dauncey, who makes his living making speeches spinning this rubbish, answers the obvious fact that we don’t need private energy with the cheery thought that the poor old US will be beneficiary, as indeed will be the world! I’m no knocker of America but before we bugger up our rivers and our world renowned power company shouldn’t the States bugger up theirs first? Imagine the politics of this south of the line! The Governor tells his legislatures and the voters that there is no need for us to make any sacrifice of our environment because BC is happy to do that for us!

(It’s to be noted that Dauncey’s organization is heavily funded by the BC and federal governments and the private power industry.)

Isn’t it obvious that once we go down the slippery slope to being the energy source of some States we will never be able to stop?

Besides, how the hell does destroying our precious watersheds to dump a bunch of power on the market at a hugs loss to all British Columbians, without any assurances that our neighbours will shut down coal fired plants or not start up new ones, lead to any reduction of green house gases? What’s to stop Washington, just as an example, start up a fossil fuel plant then re-selling our power that they got so cheaply to California?

That’s the Campbell commitment to British Columbia its people and generations to come – an energy plan that permanently ruins our rivers for energy we can’t use, forces BC Hydro to pay over twice what it’s worth then sell it to the United States for half or less of what it cost them, thus ensuring Hydro will go under.

There it is: are the people of British Columbia ever going to wake up to what is happening here?