Damien Gillis accepts Eugene Rogers Award on behalf of Rafe Mair
The Wilderness Committee, Canada’s largest member-based environmental organization, honoured hall of fame broadcaster and co-founder of The Common Sense Canadian Rafe Mair with its annual Eugene Rogers Award for outstanding contribution to environmental protection in BC at its AGM this past weekend. Mair, who joins a long list of distinguished recipients of the annual award going back to its inception in 1992, received the tribute “for his outspoken determination to protect BC’s environment and wild fish from threats posed by salmon farming, private hydropower and proposed oil pipeline projects.”
Mair’s colleague, filmmaker Damien Gillis, accepted the award on his behalf as he was unable to attend. In a statement read by Gillis, Mair said, “I cannot express how thrilled I am to receive the coveted Eugene Rogers award from an organization I have so long looked up to as the premier environmental organization in British Columbia.” Noting the many ways in which he and the Wilderness Committee have worked together on issues of mutual concern, Mair added, “I know that, again and more successfully, we will fight our battles side by side.”
Video of Damien Gillis accepting the award on Rafe’s behalf: click here
As hard as the many different groups in BC are working to stop Enbridge’s pipeline and expanded oil tanker in BC plans, it will all be a moot point at the end of October this year, when the Harper government ratifies the Canada-China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPPA).
And as much as Christy Clark would like to position herself as our champion, thereby attempting to pull her government out of the gutter in advance of next May’s election, the ONLY way that she can show British Columbians that she is serious about this issue is to challenge the constitutionality of this Agreement in court, asking that it not be ratified until the courts have reached a decision.
Otherwise, Canada will be locked into a 31 year agreement, and any BC provincial government who objects or interferes with the profit margin, or forecasted profit margin of any of the oil and/or gas Chinese investors in BC, will be risking being sued by any of these companies. This Agreement also protects these companies from any demonstrations planned by citizens. Correct me if I’m wrong. I did not realize that the Prime Minister had the authority to sign multi-year Agreements affecting provinces without at least consulting them first.
Scarry, scary stuff. Question is: Will Christy do what needs to be done, or will she continue to deliberately muddy the waters with her staged theatre?