Transitioning

 

I think most environmentalists are still in a state of shock over the Liberals' victory – or more correctly, the NDP loss.

 

The NDP campaign was the worst I have ever seen, and that’s saying something! I thought 2009 was bad but it wasn’t a patch on this one.

 

There’s no point in trawling over the ashes – suffice it to say that I publicly advised Adrian Dix, about half way through that politics in BC was a blood sport and that he was in danger of losing.

 

It didn’t take the Vancouver Sun long to get back into the swing of things with a four-page corporate blow job getting every point of view save those opposed to pipelines and tanker traffic. All the faces of unrestrained capitalism were there, including the great floor crosser himself, David Emerson. The environmentalist’s position was confined to a couple of quotes – I can assure you that neither Damien nor I was questioned.

 

The evidence from Environment Canada and the US government confirm that spills on land and at sea are certain thus the question is not “if” but when.

 

A great portion of quotes from industry tallied about their improved cleanup techniques, making one wonder if the prospects for spills were so slim, why bother about clean-up preparations?

 

There are consistently two obvious questions always avoided - first, if you can clean up spills, what happened to Enbridge and its Kalamazoo spill, now nearly 3 years past?

 

Perhaps more obvious and important is the question: if your spill occurs anywhere along the Enbridge Gateway project, how are you going to get men and machinery to it?

 

We’re talking here about the Rockies, the Rocky Mountain trench, the Coast Range and the Great Bear Rainforest. If Enbridge couldn’t control or clean up the Kalamazoo spill - easily accessible - how to they deal with a spill where no one can get at?

 

And if Christy Clark does defy her lack of credibility on the issue and follow through on recent bold statements against Enbridge, what of the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline tripling she's now turning to? Or David Black's proposed refinery in Kitimat, which she has also supported? These projects present many of the same problems, as I have often noted in these pages.

 

A battle has been lost, although considering Adrian Dix’s waffling on environmental matters generally, perhaps the NDP would have been no better than the Liberals.

 

It’s up to First Nations and the rest of us to go to work to stop the destruction of what we love so dearly and we must be ready for civil disobedience. If we’re not prepared to do that, it’s like going into a poker game saying, "remember, I’m always bluffing."