{"id":733,"date":"2018-02-06T17:59:56","date_gmt":"2018-02-06T17:59:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nortonspeaks.com\/?p=733"},"modified":"2018-02-06T17:59:56","modified_gmt":"2018-02-06T17:59:56","slug":"open-letter-new-democratic-party-members","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nortonspeaks.com\/index.php\/2018\/02\/06\/open-letter-new-democratic-party-members\/","title":{"rendered":"OPEN LETTER FROM NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY MEMBERS"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Open Letter from NDP Members About Site C<\/strong><\/h3>\n

An appeal to the provincial government to reconsider its decision.<\/h3>\n

By\u00a0<\/strong>Andrea Craddock<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong>Rita Wong<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/strong>Mary Madsen<\/strong><\/a>\u00a02 Feb 2018\u00a0|\u00a0TheTyee.ca<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rita Wong is an NDP member from Vancouver-Mount Pleasant, Andrea Craddock is a member from North Island and Mary Madsen is a member from Kamloops.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

More than a hundred members and supporters of the NDP have signed a statement hoping to school the provincial government on its controversial Site C decision.\u00a0 Premier John Horgan pictured above.<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

We are NDP members and others who care about water, land and Indigenous law, and who are deeply disappointed with the government\u2019s decision to proceed with Site C damn Dam development. While it is painful and difficult to speak out, it\u2019s in times like these when truthfulness and principled honesty are most needed. We will not be silent, and we hope our voices encourage more people to examine why this decision is a terrible mistake.<\/h4>\n

There are strong ethical, economic and environmental reasons to terminate the dam.<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

Upon careful analysis, the provincial government\u2019s arguments regarding Site C are not persuasive. This undermines public trust in our government\u2019s commitment to affordability, a robust climate change plan and meaningful reconciliation with Indigenous people.<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

Since the NDP was willing to cut $4.7 billion in revenue from bridge tolls from the province\u2019s coffers, without any word about accounting regulations or credit ratings, it should seriously examine why it is unwilling to absorb or restructure a smaller \u201cdebt\u201d of $3 billion in order to show that it is serious about reconciliation, equity, affordability and climate justice.<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

The assumption of endless growth based on mega dams to power fracking for LNG is the logic of a cancer. It is unsustainable and it will drive up our carbon emissions (including methane) at the very moment when we need to be reducing them. We need a plan for the future that builds locally resilient communities, strengthens food security and diversifies renewable energies across the entire province.<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

The BC Utilities Commission (BCUC) Review confirmed that there is no current need for the electricity Site C would produce and that BC Hydro\u2019s forecasts have been consistently inflated for decades. Indeed, Independent Power Producers (IPPs) have been paid millions to not generate energy in B.C. As we decarbonize our society, we can build out incrementally using distributed renewables, including geothermal. Public examination of the dam\u2019s cumulative environmental impacts and accountability processes is urgently needed.<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

As Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives economist Marc Lee (and many others) pointed out to the BC Utilities Commission, \u201cCompleting Site C will lead to higher debt for BC Hydro and higher rates for all BC Hydro customers. This will increase energy poverty among B.C.\u2019s low-income households.\u201d<\/h4>\n

We agree with CCPA director Seth Klein that \u201cunconvincing economic justifications \u2014 and the fear-mongering of credit rating downgrades \u2014 [need to] be challenged, otherwise the precedent is set for more disheartening decisions down the road.\u201d<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

Moving forward, we call upon the government to:<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n

    Not engage in an expensive and morally questionable legal battle with the two First Nations whose territories are most directly impacted by the dam, and who are seeking an injunction. Not opposing their injunction would be a good first step to show that this government is serious about implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
  2. \n

    Pause new contracts such as the billion-dollar contract going to companies including Aecon, which is being taken over by a Chinese-state-owned company, CCCC. In light of Aecon’s takeover, we urge also this government to examine what the effects of investor rights and trade agreements are on the dam and on B.C. ratepayers.<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
  3. \n

    Consider recent developments in the price of alternative energy, which is decreasing substantially. At the rate that these trends are going, B.C. will spend billions more on Site C only to receive much less in return on investment. That investment could be more effectively directed in ways that generate more jobs and a more equitable social structure, as the NDP\u2019s PowerBC plan shows. PowerBC is a wiser way to move forward to cultivate energy democracy across the entire province. In contrast, Site C may prevent diverse, more nimble, less destructive community-based alternative energies from developing by flooding the market for such energy. First Nations who spoke at the BC Utilities Commission proposed alternatives to Site C that would produce comparable energy while having Indigenous consent. We need a better distributed, community-based economic plan in our journey toward a fossil-fuel free economy.<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
  4. \n

    Commit to a full-cost accounting analysis of Site C, in accordance with the NDP\u2019s Sustainable BC vision. Using full cost accounting, the high value of the Peace River Valley is recognized as much more than \u201czero,\u201d once you consider the worth of its carbon sinks (forests), fertile farmland, sacred Indigenous cultural sites and multiple land uses. Even without predictably ballooning costs, the price of the dam is much higher than $11 billion, once we factor in the high reputational costs of not implementing UNDRIP, the loss of biodiversity and much more.<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
  5. \n

    Retain as much forest intact as possible, given we are in a time of impending climate destabilization and after a summer of terrible fires. They are a natural buffer, complex functional carbon sinks that we cannot afford to lose.<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
  6. \n

    Declare the Peace River valley a strategic asset needed for provincial food security and use this asset\u2019s value to offset or restructure the debt arising from Liberal mismanagement, which can gradually be repaid back under the BCUC\u2019s schedule.<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
  7. \n

    Focus on remediation jobs to help us to transition to PowerBC. Better jobs are possible for our union brothers and sisters. As UBC\u2019s Program on Water Governance points out, there are more long-term jobs generated by terminating Site C.<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    <\/h4>\n

    Environmental degradation poses a serious collective threat; it is not a luxury to consider this matter, but the necessary baseline if we are serious about addressing poverty in the long run. Clean water, clean air, reducing our carbon footprint: these are all simply required for our basic quality of life. We as a species need to respect the earth\u2019s natural laws and carrying capacity.<\/h4>\n

     <\/p>\n

    A future worth having is built upon meaningful reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, which leads to reconciliation with the land. In terms of climate action, everyone needs the forests and farmlands intact as much as possible now. Now is not the time to turn our remaining biodiversity into sacrifice zones. B.C. needs the Peace River valley for the greater good of the province.<\/h4>\n

     <\/p>\n

    This statement has been supported by the following signatories, the great majority of whom are NDP members:<\/p>\n

    Amy Lubik, Port Moody-Coquitlam
    \nAnita Romaniuk, Vancouver-Langara
    \nAndrea Glickman, Vancouver Mount Pleasant
    \nAnnie Booth, Prince George
    \nBarbara Mitchell-Pollock, Victoria
    \nBeat Klossner, Kamloops
    \nBeth Carruthers, Gabriola Island
    \nBeth Davies, Duncan, Cowichan Valley
    \nBernard Hink, Caribou Chilcotin
    \nBetty Baxter, Powell River Sunshine Coast
    \nBill Woolverton, Nanaimo
    \nCarol Crabtree, Vancouver Hastings
    \nCarol Foort, Heriot Bay
    \nCarolyn Jerome, Chemainus
    \nCharlene Simon, Victoria
    \nCharles Burns, Powell River \u2013 Sunshine Coast
    \nCharlie Richmond, Vancouver
    \nChris Markevich, Campbell River\/North Island
    \nCindy Ross Friedman, Kamloops
    \nColin Russell, Vancouver
    \nCorky Evans, Kootenay West, Winlaw (former MLA)
    \nDavid Spragge, Powell River
    \nDebara Wood, Vancouver
    \nDennis Bannert, Nelson\/Creston
    \nDiana Canning, Chetwynd
    \nDiana French
    \nDiane Lake, Vancouver Point Grey
    \nDon Prince, Port Moody
    \nEdith MacHattie, Port Moody
    \nElizabeth Ennenberg, Powell River
    \nEllen Woodsworth, Vancouver South
    \nEwan Quirk, Richmond Steveston
    \nFae Shaw, Kelowna
    \nFaye Griffith, Cowichan Valley
    \nGerry Gaydos, Victoria
    \nGillian Darling Kovanic, Bowen Island
    \nGillian Jerome, Vancouver\/Langara
    \nGina Gonzalez, Port Moody\/Coquitlam
    \nGlenda Woodward, North Island
    \nHarold Steves, Richmond
    \nHeather Kennedy-MacNeill, Courtenay
    \nHeather Royal, Denman Island
    \nHilarie McMurray, Steveston
    \nHolly Pender-Love, Trail
    \nJane Kilthei, Cowichan Valley
    \nJanet Fairbanks, Courtenay-Comox
    \nJeanette Leitch, Coquitlam-Burke Mountain
    \nJef Keighley, Surrey South NDP Vice-President
    \nJerry West, Gold River
    \nJillian Maguire, East Vancouver
    \nJim Beattie, former MLA Okanagan-Penticton
    \nJim Cooperman, Shuswap
    \nJoanne Banks, North Island
    \nJohn Cashore, Coquitlam, former Minister of Environment and Aboriginal Affairs
    \nJohn Yano, Vancouver Point Grey
    \nKaren Dean, Burnaby North
    \nKerry Jacox, Nimpo Lake
    \nLana Maree, East Vancouver
    \nLeah Main, Silverton, Kootenay West
    \nLinda Gray, Quadra Island
    \nLinda Kemp, Quesnel
    \nLori Goldman, Penticton
    \nMae Burrows, Burnaby
    \nMaggie Rader, Burnaby North
    \nMarie Purcell, Comox Valley
    \nMary Susanne Shaw, Kimberley
    \nMaureen Lyons, Winlaw, Kootenay West
    \nMichael Zeitlin, Vancouver
    \nMichelle Quaife, Barriere
    \nMona Fertig, Salt Spring Island
    \nmyna lee johnstone, Saltspring Island\/Saanich North and the Islands
    \nNita Tashoots, Terrace
    \nNorah Bowman, Kelowna
    \nOosha Ramsoondar, Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows
    \nPat Moss, Stikine
    \nPatty Tawiyaka, Fraser Lake
    \nPaul Sanborn, Prince George
    \nRaza Mirza, Vancouver
    \nRick Koechl, Charlie Lake
    \nRod Marining
    \nRoger Crowther, Cowichan Valley
    \nSaria Andrew, Victoria
    \nSandra Currie, Vancouver Mount Pleasant
    \nSandra Harris, Gibsons West Vancouver
    \nScott Colbourne, Gabriola Island
    \nSheila McDonnell, Courtenay
    \nShelley Wright, New Westminster
    \nSilke Sommerfeld, Victoria
    \nSonya Charlesworth, Quadra Island\/North Vancouver Island
    \nStephanie Smith, Vancouver Mount Pleasant
    \nSteve Gray, Victoria
    \nSusan Westren, Heriot Bay
    \nSusanna Dokkie-McDonald, Crossfield
    \nTerry Martin, Vancouver Point Grey
    \nTim Walters, Salmon Arm
    \nTina Filippino, Comox
    \nTom Perry MD, Vancouver Point Grey (former MLA)
    \nTracy Speers, New Westminster
    \nValerie Sherriff, Courtenay-Comox
    \nWayne Bradley, Courtenay-Comox
    \nWillow Johnson, Vancouver<\/p>\n

    Read more:\u00a0Energy<\/a>,\u00a0BC Politics<\/a>,\u00a0Environment<\/a><\/p>\n

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