Debacle in Delta
How the Campbell government is engineering a disaster.
Part of expansion plans.
The Campbell government, faking open government, has held phony "open" cabinet meetings with the real business done behind closed doors. Thus it's not surprising that residents of Delta weren't told about the real Deltaport expansion by candid politicians but from Freedom of Information exercises done by a suspicious (rightly) media and residents who (rightly) smelled a rat.
Let's do what the governments should do and lay out the real story.
The South Fraser Perimeter Road (SFPR) is an integral part of the Deltaport expansion and will result in the blighting of Delta, one of our oldest communities. Moreover, it will get worse with inevitable changes in the years ahead.
This raises a question that senior governments never ask. Does Delta want this massive change to their lifestyle?
This isn't a "NIMBY" issue, like a halfway house in a residential neighbourhood, but the radical alteration of an entire community with a very long history. Governments are not accustomed to answering such questions and prefer to decide first, and deal with the public when it's a done deal. It's "Ready ... Shoot ... Aim."
Managing the message
Because of their basic philosophy, the Campbell government is astonished that some people don't want "progress." That's probably because "progress" seldom changes where they themselves live and if it does, as with the RAV line and the Arbutus Corridor, they just change the plans and do their "progress," at greater expense, in someone else's back yard. This bunch can't believe that some areas don't want "progress" -- especially when the loot ends up in the pockets of others.
The SFPR, so critical to expanding Deltaport now but especially in the future, requires a deal between the government and the Tsawwassen Indian Band. This week band approval -- skillfully managed by the government -- will come. Nothing illegal here, just some good, old time politicking.
And when it comes to buying electoral certainty, the Liberals are in a class of their own. Here are a few of the moves made:
Stacked meeting. The government stacked the Tsawwassen Annual General Meeting on July 5 by flying in, at taxpayers' expense, enough non-residents to ensure that the deal would be approved.
The ratification will be done by a meeting on July 25th . Non residents can vote at special voting booths at Vernon, Bellingham and Tsawwassen or they can mail in their votes.
This strikes me as similar to giving me a vote in Vancouver Civic elections because I was born, raised and educated there. It's argued that for natives it's different because the land is their heritage but the fact remains that non-residents will not have to live with the consequences.
One of the band members, the outspoken Bertha Williams, says this: "How is it fair that band members residing clear across North America may vote on the treaty when they never resided here? ... Surely you can see the logic of us being outvoted by the many band members that do not live here. We are the direct descendants of our forefathers that dwell here, whereas the majority of voting band members have recently been re-instated ... Where is the fiduciary duty of the federal government to protect my family from this treaty that we are opposed to?"
PR blitz. The government, at taxpayer expense, flew 40 band members to Nisga'a so they could see how well that nation was doing. The government has spent $430,000 on PR flacks to help convince the rank and file that the deal is a good one. Minister Mike de Jong says that this was so band members would receive "accurate information."
If a PR company has ever, in history, presented "accurate information" that wasn't in its client's interest I would be shocked beyond belief.
Payouts. Upon ratification of the agreement, certain elders will receive a $15,000 cash bonus.
The government will give the TFN 1,000 acres of land currently within the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR), releasing 500 acres immediately which will soon be alienated for non-farm use. Important bird and wildlife values will be uprooted. No one in either senior government has shown the slightest concern about the massive increase in air pollution the additional traffic SFPR will produce. The SFPR has been deliberately changed from its initial path so that it now abuts, and accordingly threatens Burns Bog.
For the most part, the negotiations and monies expended by the Campbell government have been done in secret.
So long salmon
But, alas dear readers, there is more. Many believe that the Deltaport expansion will be for Gordon Campbell what the "fast ferries" were to Glen Clark. Over half the products brought into Deltaport are destined for eastern markets. In 2014 the Panama Canal will be expanded so that many vessels will save money by avoiding Vancouver and continuing to the product's final destination.
The Deltaport now, and as expanded, will have a profoundly adverse effect on the Fraser River salmon.
The 1979 Federal Environment Assessment Panel Review for an application for an expanded coal port facility at Roberts Bank said this:
"From the point of view of estuarine ecology, the Panel has concluded that the potential impacts on the Fraser River estuary, of which Roberts Bank is part, are too great to recommend that the port expansion be approved as proposed. The extent and ecological significance of the Fraser River estuary, particularly its use by fish and wildlife, make it unique in North America. A major salmon fishery depends on its preservation as do hundreds of thousands of migratory birds."
Robert Thibeault, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), wrote this on July 29, 2003, to the Vancouver Port Authority about plans to expand the port at Roberts Bank: "(DFO) Pacific Regional staff has met with VPA officials on several occasions over the last eight months to discuss this terminal expansion proposal. During these meetings, and in subsequent correspondence, DFO staff has clearly identified the unacceptable impacts to critical fish habitat that would occur with several of the proposed expansion options, specifically the Deltaport Expansion, and Terminal 2 Options #2 and #3."
Scientific consensus against
All good stories have a mystery. Somehow the DFO was shunted aside and the torch was handed to Environment Canada (EC) which, on April 27, 2005, said this:
"Vancouver Port Authority has stated that the proposed Deltaport Third Berth Project will not have significant environmental (ecological) impacts on Roberts Bank. EC does not share this view, for the following reasons:
"The footprint of the development, and the proposed mitigation, will directly impact productive habitat for migratory birds and other biota;
"The studies presented in support of the finding of no significant ecological impacts do not provide sufficient evidence to support that conclusion. As already discussed, the conclusions are based on data and analyses for which there exist major flaws; and,
"Perhaps most importantly, the evidence cannot show that the project footprint impacts will not act cumulatively with historical changes to the bank that have resulted from construction of the Deltaport and ferry causeways."
Enter the politicians
Then enter the bureaucrats, lawyers and politicians who, without in any way quarreling with their scientific warnings, pressured Environment Canada to start talking with the Vancouver Port Authority.
Without in any way quarreling with their previous assessments (above) Environment Canada was to talk about "an 'adaptive management plan' incorporating a comprehensive array of monitoring and environmental assessment protocols, to provide advance warning of emerging negative ecosystem trends during project construction and operation" ... blah, blah, blah.
This is politicized civil service double talk for "pay no attention to what we said before, do what you have to do, watch what you're doing and after the harm we predicted happens, try to find a way to make up for all the birds, fish and sea life you've displaced."
In summary, your senior governments, from the outset, intended to do as they pleased, to pay as little attention as possible to the community they're shafting, ignore environmental issues, fix votes when needed, all the while keeping the public in the dark.
Related Tyee stories:
- In Tsawwassen, a Cow for the Killing
When saving farmland and forging treaties conflict, sacred blood is spilled. - Democracy, Gordon Campbell Style
His 'process' angers even conservative people. - Denial as Projections Place BC Cities Under Water
Dyke plans, property values don't reflect sea rise predictions.
![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
- Shadow Workers of the World, Revolt!
- 'The Kids Are All Right'
- 'Leave Your Shoes On'
- Glaciers, BC Hydro's Melting 'Batteries'
- Frankie Rose Makes Life Tougher for Journalists
- Too Much Energy Used to Mine, Move Bitumen Says BC Firm
- Economist Calls Gateway Pipeline an Inflationary 'Threat'
- Could SOPA Pervade Canadian Copyright Law?
- Would You Buy a Used Car from These Libs?
- Who Pays Huge Power Bills for Clark's Gas Plants?
- Shadow Workers of the World, Revolt!
- Economist Calls Gateway Pipeline an Inflationary 'Threat'
- Eleven Oily Questions for Every MP
- Bill Rees' Last Lecture
- Is Canada Ignoring Signs of a Coming Economic Collapse?
- Too Much Energy Used to Mine, Move Bitumen Says BC Firm
- How First Nations Are Gearing Up for Legal Battle Against Gateway
- Harper in China
- Bruce Carson Scandal Greased by Harper's Oil Sands Agenda
- BC Child Care Advocates in Geneva to Complain to UN
- How First Nations Are Gearing Up for Legal Battle Against Gateway
- Make It the Canadian Webcasting Corporation
- Harper in China
- Shadow Workers of the World, Revolt!
- Who Pays Huge Power Bills for Clark's Gas Plants?
- Expert on Healthy Democracy Takes BC's Pulse
- Remembering Lloyd Dykk's Wit, Generosity and Superb Prose
- When the Prize Is a Chance to Toil on BC's Farms
- Three Ryan Gosling Pickup Techniques that Don't Work in Real Life
- Turning Turtle in Bangkok
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danneau
4 years ago
Those Who Do, and Those To Whom They Do It
That people would pull the kind of shenanigans that Campbell, Harper, and the Bush/Rove coterie are willing to perpetrate, that the press would cover for and facilitate for them, and that so many of us aren't interested in finding out or doing anything about it leads to the belief that we are far less evolved than we think we are. But carry on we shall as though we were optimists all.
DJT
4 years ago
Just plain sad
Sadly, all I can do is shake my head and am, quite frankly, at a loss for words as to the way our provincial government operates. The one thing I can say for certain is that I am not surprised in the least bit, and I suppose that is the saddest thing of all.
I may comment further when I am done head shaking.
KokuRyu
4 years ago
Cognitive Dissonance
While the current government (and Kevin Falcon) doesn't win any points for imagination (ring roads, twinning a bridge, virtually no extra funding for transit, etc), it's not really as though the Liberals are secretly plotting the destruction of Delta while sealing off Point Grey under a protective plexiglass bubble (although the golf course deal is rather hilarious).
BC's economy is booming, and, under our current paradigm, it's a good thing, because we as a society rely on growth for economic survival, and the government is trying to help maintain this success for future generations. I'd like to hope that my son is not forced to live through something like the 1990s again. People, including me, were lining up for dishwashing jobs.
But, just as the Lower Mainland and certain parts of BC have prospered during the last few years, the environment has taken a hit. Welcome to the future. The Lower Mainland is a small plot of real estate acting as the economic engine of the province. Don't expand Deltaport: the next strike will probably cripple the economy of not only BC but the rest of Canada.
Economic expansion, under our current paradigm, anyway, will always be accompanied by environmental decline.
The politicians are only giving us what we want - expanded infrastructure to help growth top 3-4% a year, so hopefully our kids don't have to leave and find work somewhere else.
As a society, we have to decide if we really want to continue "economic growth", or if we instead want to figure out some other way to live. Ten or fifteen years from now, there will be no fish or whales left in the Strait of Georgia, and lord only knows what asthma rates will be like in Abbotsford or Chilliwack. We have to decide ourselves. Government is not a cabal. It exists as part of a society that is predicated on using automobiles that run on gas to travel quickly and cheaply.
But I can guarantee the Lower Mainland, and, by association, the rest of BC, is going to continue to be one of the richest places on the planet. Hopefully we can eat money.
NicS
4 years ago
Why expand Delta Port?
Indeed, why? The experts and those in the know say we don't need the extra port/container capacity. So follow the money! Just recently the 3 Vancouver port entities were joined as one. How valuable is ALR (Agricultural Land Reserve)land, not too valuable compared to what a land developer is willing to pay and not very valuable to the Port Authorities if they can get it virtually for free from the Liberals Gordon Campbell Government by way of a crooked land negotiation.
It may be that the real question is who owns the 300 plus acres of downtown Vancouver Port Authority lands and Rail yards? All of which is the primest cut of waterfront land in Canada and maybe the world. Is there even going to be a Burrard inlet based container facility once the planned Delta Port expansion is complete? Is the Delta Port expansion just a shell game to hide the enrichment of lobbyists and political cronies and all their buddies at taxpayers, and I might add, the environment's expense!
Lets not forget that both the Federal Liberals and Conservatives both support the Delta Port expansion, and so do the Provincial NDP by their silence. If you support these parties, then you are as greedy as they are.
Grumpy
4 years ago
The 'rape' of Delta
Campbell and his disastrous crew, must be one of the most deceitful governments ever in power. They make Clark and his inept crew look like choirboys.
Deltaport & South Fraser Perimeter Road are a 'vehicle' to both take land out of the ALR, thus greatly increasing land value for the owners and a legal transfer of 'tax' money to supporters of the government.
Who owns the land being expropriated for highways? A gentle stroll through Delta's tax rolls will confirm who Campbell & crew deem naughty and nice (they reward the nice). Also the road Builder's association, good Friends of the government, will be assured tax money for many years to come with road and bridge construction.
RAV & Sea to Sky paved the way for this dishonest sort of government!
TFN's vote is as about as corrupt as the "rotten boroughs" in the UK in the 18th & 19th century.
Campbell will go down in history as one of the worst premiers ever to be elected to office.
Fiat lux
4 years ago
Wealth can not be created,
Wealth can not be created, only taken and costs can not be cut only transferred.
Environmental destruction, climate change, the growth of cancer and other illnesses are the transferred costs of fraudulent economic "growth", forced on by the deregulated banks "creating" imaginary capital that demands conversion into realities, licencing destruction.
Humanity will either have to stop this madness, or wipe itself out for the sake of fraudulent economic theories, now used as pseudo religions to mislead people.
BC's economy is not "booming", it is in a very poor shape, relying on the sale of capital.
As long as we permit a self appointed ruling aristocracy, now called big and multinational business, to control the economy, things will steadily worsen until the final collapse.
Ed Deak. Big Lake.
snert
4 years ago
A true statement but....
"The footprint of the development, and the proposed mitigation, will directly impact productive habitat for migratory birds and other biota"
'Impacting' is not all bad. Lots of new habitat was created with the original project. Both the BC Ferries and Roberts Bank terminals have created miles of new beach. The public can't get in to some areas of RB any more but starting now the western part of the causeway will be loaded with shorebirds that are still feeding in their original haunts as well.
BC Mary
4 years ago
MSM showing concern for censored BCPlace report, too ...
... and for the "necessity" of the South Fraser Perimeter Road, as follows :
Victoria must look at Deltaport truck route alternatives
The Province
Published: Monday, July 23, 2007
The longer Gordon Campbell's Liberals govern British Columbia, the more they seem to display a worrying lack of flexibility, especially when it comes to key issues like transportation.
Faced with rising gridlock in the fast-growing Fraser Valley, for example, the government has prepared a transportation plan -- and is sticking to it, come hell or high water.
The trouble is the plan appears to be based more on industry imperatives than the needs of local folks.
Thanks to booming Asia-Pacific trade and a sharp rise in container traffic at Deltaport, it envisages huge increases in the number of trucks rumbling through Delta, Surrey and other valley communities.
The plan includes the building the South Fraser Perimeter Road, which has proved highly controversial among homeowners -- who say that, as well as driving many people out of their homes, it will ruin valuable farmland and run dangerously close to environmentally-sensitive Burns Bog.
It also includes the building of up to nine railway overpasses to handle trains carrying coal and other freight to Deltaport, which is undergoing a major expansion.
Now, there's nothing wrong with encouraging B.C.'s trade with Asia. And clearly, special provision needs to be made to ease the flow of truck traffic, if only to get the trucks off roads used by regular commuters.
But for the average Fraser Valley ratepayer, the basic problems of getting around the region remain -- especially given the limited public transit available. And it seems that Victoria is giving short shrift to traffic alternatives proposed by community leaders.
Delta-Richmond East MP John Cummins, for example, has proposed moving freight from Deltaport to Abbotsford along a dedicated, electrified rail line running mainly through industrial areas.
The freight would be offloaded at a number of distribution depots, well away from population centres. Also, the freight-only line would free existing rail tracks for use as much-needed, inter-urban, public transit -- all the way to Chilliwack.
As Cummins points out, this kind of inland marshalling system, linked by rail to a saltwater port, is being built in Holland. It's also under active consideration by the Port of Los Angeles.
Now is the time for Victoria to examine this proposal and others that seem promising -- not only for the trucking industry, but also for long-suffering local residents.
Ads by Google
Grumpy
4 years ago
Notes on transportation
As much as i like MP Cummins, his 'electrified' transit plan is a non starter. Unless, we electrify Vancouver to Edmonton and Calgary, there is no long term benefit.
The cost of changing trains (Diesel to Electric)would be outweigh local benefits.
Sad to say, the present rail line is probably the best, best for the railways, as an electrified line (including tunnels, locos and land acquisition)would cost well over $3 billion.
What is needed is a comprehensive light rail plan for the valley and isn't it strange that TransLink, a Liberal bastion, hired a engineering firm with absolutely no experience with modern LRT (the most built rail mode in the world), to plan for rail transit from Scott Road to Abbotsford. The cost about $1 billion.
I have been told by experts in the industry that we could have a comprehensive Diesel LRT service from downtown Vancouver to Chilliwack for about $1 billion - go figure!
Jeffrey J.
4 years ago
You Go Rafe
Thanks for an article that in days of old, would be seen in the Vancouve Sun or heard on CKNW. But at least we have the Tyee, and there will be more to come. This has become a truly corrupt government, out of step with what British Columbians want and need. How sad.
off-the-radar
4 years ago
thanks Rafe
another great article exposing what really happens by those who "govern" BC.
G West
4 years ago
KokuRyu
I'm not sure if you're straight up and literal or being wickedly satirical. However, I don't believe for a moment that the people are actually getting what they want or need from the Campbell Government and it’s plans. I suspect the Tsawwassen people ought to look very carefully at the band's accumulated deficit that has been enabled by the provincial treasury through the process of negotiation; something they'll be wearing themselves if they approve this deal. I know Graham Bruce is drawing several thousand dollars a month as a consultant to the Cowichan Band on Vancouver Island…I wonder how many such deals for friends exist beyond the vote-buying and pandering that Rafe mentions in his article?
Like everything the Campbell government does, the real winners are not going to be the Band members. Have another look at what CN Rail has done for the province since it ‘got’ BCRail away from the real owners – the people of BC. The people are never winners when Gordon Campbell is involved…remember that.
The Tsawwassen should reject the deal and scuttle the whole Gateway fiasco before it's too late.
No average people will be living in the Lower Mainland anyway (once the current generation is gone their children will be sweeping and cleaning for the masters of the universe in Pt Grey, West Van and False Creek – and living in high-rent hovels back up the valley- replaced by nothing more than the friends of Howe Street and a lot of shady investors who contribute nothing to the community at all.
Good article Rafe, too bad it comes several years too late.
deeby
4 years ago
Has anyone checked for increased Tsunami risk...?
The Tsawassen ferry terminal and Roberts Bank have already been identified as a source of tsunami risk for the northeast coasts of Mayne and Galiano islands:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/wtcbytm6nbwvxaxp/
The risk arises from the possibility of an underwater landslide, due to all the dredging around the reclaimed areas. If there's going to be more dredging at Roberts Bank, does that risk increase?
No doubt that will be swept under the rug as well.....
bob the cat
4 years ago
Quote:But the downtown
Where’s the vision?
Vancouver’s visionaries are surely the most self-serving visionaries any city has ever been afflicted with. There has to have been more than a billion dollars of new architecture hucked up in Vancouver in the last 10 years, but has any part of that massive investment in buildings produced one iota of beauty? Is there anything of interest, anything of importance, that’s been constructed with any portion of that billion or so dollars?
No. Coal Harbour is a Berlin Wall of shaded glass that is all about the (sometime) residents inside looking out at the mountains and the sea and nothing about anyone in the city looking at the buildings. Make the windows smaller and it could be a prison complex.
full:
http://republic-news.org/archive/168-repub/168_briefs.htm
Potvin should have added..take away First Nations culture and what do you have? Why is the Canadian Embassy in Washington featured with Bill Reids " The Spirit of Haida Gwaii"?
The Vancouver International airport tells arriving visitors..this is who "We" are? The Jade Canoe? Take it away and all there`d be is Carole Taylors rainy day.
BigMan
4 years ago
C'Mon Snert....
"Impacting is not all bad"
Sure - like when we allow logging in old growth areas - We plant lots and lots a new trees... Hooray!
Break my nose with a punch in the face and then expect me to say it's all right when you hand me a towel and say my nose looks better than it did before?
Tieleman
4 years ago
Tsawwassen Treaty wrong in many ways
Thanks for this Rafe - and I will also be writing again in Tuesday's 24 hours newspaper about why the Tsawwassen Treaty should be rejected.
A new YouTube video featuring Bertha Williams is available at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbDd_-9gCIA
and well worth watching.
Regard - Bill Tieleman
AH HA
4 years ago
Best election advertisement ever
None of this matters the lieberals, will just continue on, and the Olympics will serve as their next campaign bumpf, enjoy it cause you bought it....
clubofrome
4 years ago
Fudge
Once you apply Ed's theory of economics, wealth cannot be created only borrowed, you must come to the conclusion that growth does not equate to progress. Surplus? We don't have a surplus, we have a massive, almost insurmountable debt to be paid and the bill is overdue. The interest alone on the wealth creation is enough to snuff out most economies, and wise guys pipe up and talk about how we need this growth for our children to live and work here. Economy must account for ecology. If the local ecology cannot support the local population the population must move. This is history, not the last few hundred years of industrial consummer overdrive. Balance of nature, only taking what can be replenished, living with values that include sharing and building communities. With no where left to go when these resources run out, collapse is the only conclusion, only the timeline is to be decided. To continue the economic pathway as seen on TV is commitment to chaos and a very brutal end to society as we know it. Not the end of the species the end of global wealth creation. Why this fact is not understood or accepted by our citizens is baffling. How you can look your children in the eye and promise them a better future than yours.... insanity. The trickle down from wealth creation is so massive and influential that the power and rich elite count on it to keep you contnet and not making trouble. Keep voting PC or Liberal or NDP for that matter they don't care. Just as long as you don't question the road we are on. Just as long as truth and justice are only words in a long forgotten and ignored constitution. Quite frankly, as I have said before, it's embarrassing to be part of this society.
Another clue. When the corporate masters and their political puppets chant slogans like "there's no such thing as job security anymore," then you should be very afraid. This is the kind of perverse message that ruins societys and creates the fear needed for total oppression. No job security? We will always need farmers, teachers, health workers, tradesmen, and sailors! Yes Frank, Sailors! To promote the "no more job security" is to promote a dog eat dog society. No wonder we don't know our neighbours any more, they build fences. No wonder there is no more courtesy on the roads, it's me first and fuck you. Communitys die and people are herded and treated like animals when there is no more job security. Unions take note. It's time to organize with all labour. Common values, common goals. It's the only answer to the criminally insane corporate masters.
Isabella2
4 years ago
Debacle in Delta
Rafe: What is it with Canadians that, in the face of all of this information, we seem not to be able to coalesce into an all-out revolt. People in other countries march in the streets by the tens of thousands to defend their rights. Yet people like you, me and all but one of the writers above, sit back helplessly as a majority of British Columbians shrug a 'What can you do?' as they wait for the next election - as though that idea ever solved anything. Meantime, our province is being parceled off piece by piece to the vultures. If we could answer the question, "Who is controlling this province?" maybe we could get at some of the truth - because it sure isn't Campbell and Falcon - there are much, much bigger influences at play. How else could they muster this much money and power?
As but one example - We are supposed to have Freedom of Information legislation in BC. So how come a report that warned about the state of the stadium roof, requested under FOI, arrived with all but one page blacked out?
Contracts, ALRs, "BC" Rail, "BC" Hydro, "BC's" wild salmon stocks, "BC's" forests, provincial legislation, the law - so far the Campbell Liberals are getting away with everything but murder. If they get re-elected in 2009, we might as well kiss the rest of the province goodbye.
allmyrelations
4 years ago
Debacle in Delta
Didn't this Delta folks voted for Gordo?
What are people expecting from a neo-con?
wiley
4 years ago
who owns Deltaport?
I was under the impression this port facity was now owned by Jimmy Pattison, richest guy in BC, who bought it for a song after the govts. of the day built it with our money, all to ship crappy subsidized coal to Japan. Is this not correct?
While it appears to be a 2-way container port these days, I've also heard rumour it's on the shortlist for a future LNG terminal when our own natgas supplies go phht in 10 years or so, since it's not too close to a big town if it goes KABOOM.
Anyway, it does seem that the BC govt is in bed with shadowy well-financed businessmen once again, trying to make billion-dollar babies that poopoo in everyone's backyard.
loblollyboy
4 years ago
Another Brick in the Wall...
Amazingly, the environmental impact of the DeltaPort expansion is something I actually know something about. Speaking about birds only, this project's proposed destruction of habitat for northbound and/or southbound migrants, for summer breeding or winter non-breeding resident bird species, whether shorebird, waterfowl, raptor or songbird, can be described in one non-sugar-coated word: catastrophic. In a country already notorious for contempt for its wildlife, and a province which exemplifies that contempt, the further degradation of this foreshore is a tragedy. If you ask who does what to protect our wildlife from this type of degradation in BC, the answer is always a simple one: no-one and nothing. Nothing new here.
BC Mary
4 years ago
Big Media in BC decides issues & they're not even embarrassed
Thanks for that information, loblollyboy. Unbiased info in B.C. is hard come-by.
Like, sometimes info is only delayed. I've felt uneasy about the Tsawwassen Treaty all along, seeing it (in reality) as part of the Basi-Virk-BCRail affair which I hope to God comes to trial where actual information can be given under oath.
But with the Tsawwassen vote tomorrow, July 25th, who could've imagined this "news" that the Semiahmoo have serious, neglected concerns in this same issue!
Riled Semiahmoo aims to block Tsawwassen treaty
Brian Lewis,
The Province
Published: Tuesday, July 24, 2007
When 300 members of the Tsawwassen First Nation vote tomorrow on a proposed treaty with the B.C. and federal governments, a neighbouring band will have more than a passing interest in the outcome.
The 75-member Semiahmoo First Nation, whose 130-hectare seaside reserve sits between White Rock and the U.S. border, holds no animosity toward the Tsawwassen.
But this small band is very concerned about the implications of a fully implemented treaty.
That's because the Semiahmoo claim some of the lands and rights that will be given to the Tsawwassen actually fall within traditional Semiahmoo territory. In other words, there's a significant claims overlap between the two first nations.
Because Victoria has failed to conduct meaningful consultations with the Semiahmoo about these overlaps during 11 years of talks, the Semiahmoo Nation is going to court... etc.
But the big daily newspapers in BC apparently forgot to mention this Semiahmoo factor. Totally forgot.
Many thanks to marysue, Isabella2, Frank, GWest and others who post strong, constructive thoughts. Because I've felt icky all morning, after writing THREE Letters to CanWest Editors in response to:
(1) Nobody wants Fast Ferries, everybody wants a new Convention Centre in Vancouver;
(2) How wonderful it is that Gordo's crusade can swing 180 degrees to achieve Tsawwassen Treaty;
(3) How CanWest decides on new CRD borders but, in last line, oh: maybe the public should have a say, too.
Ya call this a democracy? Nutsville, I'm thinking.
lomay
4 years ago
View from a Delta Resident
For some reason, the Campbell government seems to have a mad on for Delta. It doesn't seem to matter that half of the municipality is represented by one of his minions (Val Roddick). Our hospital has been down graded; we've had several of our bylaws struck down in favour of the business that have asked for them to be struck down (eg, greenhouses being allowed to burn wood waste for heat); now Roberts Bank/Deltaport expansion and the SFPR debacle.
Usually a riding gets protection and/or good things if they are represented by govenrment MLAs and not opposition. However, this has been going on ever since both Delta ridings were Liberal.
The whole SFPR issue doesn't make any sense at all. One of the other posts says the government takes the 'ready, fire, aim' approach, which seems to be borne out by the SFPR. Or maybe a bit more of 'my mind's made up; don't confuse me with the facts' attitude.
I really like living in Delta - it's kid-friendly, with established neighbourhoods and good services. However, if this attack on Delta keeps up, we may consider moving to another municipality.
DPL
4 years ago
lomay, you are simply
lomay, you are simply stating the sad truth. Your MLA just like so many other elected officials say one thing and after getting elected sort of drift off subject.
The present premier found a great way to get some ALR land removed( Mind you the policy papers for treaties stated that ALR or any other land that ended up in band hands would be subject to provincial legislation.That sort of disappeared under the present government and Migratory birds were under International treaties) If Gordo had taken ALR land and leased or sold it to the port he would have gotten a lot of flack. This way if a person comments he is automatically considered against treaty conclusion. So the band now gets to sell or lease it for a parking lot and Gordo is off the hook.If this deal goes through expect to see other provincial ALR Land to get into the treaty mix. The fed have very little loose land around cities so the provicne will be ready to pass some along. Your MLA is no worse than a number of others. She is doing what Gordon and Co. are telling her to do.Just reember for the next election
G West
4 years ago
DPL
A lot of land was alienated from BCRail by means of numerous Orders in Council during the past 5 - 5 1/2 years. It was, I think the phrase used is, "deemed surplus to railway needs"...I think you'll find that much of 'that' land in the lower mainland - and especially in the Fraser Delta - will turn up in Deltaport and or the SFPR one way or the other.
In other parts of the province it will be utilized in other ways - there's little question of that.
I suspect that when the sale of the additional BC Rail and Port lands and facilities to Omni Trax blew up in the Campbell Government's face after the Raid on the Legislature there was a quick meeting about how to proceed.
It certainly wouldn't surprise me to find that the Tsawwassen deal came into sharp focus subsequent to that...
Quelle surprise! We do know that the government's idea about land claims settlement is heavily influenced by business and commercial considerations.
Of course this is simply an opinion. But I do think the Campbell forces had a grand plan in mind from the moment they came to power.
clubofrome
4 years ago
Loop hole
Not understanding the legal or treaty process, it sounds to me like the BC Government, ignoring the law and process in place for assessments are working with a similar corrupt entity within the band or bands involved in this and other examples. Knowing that they cannot pass environmental assessments they give the land to a local band and let them develop or manage the project therefore bypassing the "right thing to do" by empowering the bands ability to do whatever it wants on their land. All in the name of development good for all I'm sure... Is that even close to what is happening here?
jimmy_laroux
4 years ago
KokuRyu:Quote:I'd like to
KokuRyu:
Ah... nothing like anecdotal evidence to prove a point :) EDITED TO REMOVE A PERSONAL INSULT AIMED AT ANOTHER COMMENTER. THAT IS NOT ALLOWED ON TYEE THREADS. -- TYEE EDITOR
DPL
4 years ago
G.West. when it took a ex
G.West. when it took a ex Socred Cabinet Minister Brain Smith a few years to convince business that to get certainty, a lot of easments had to be resolved. He used to talk about over 500 such things passing through reserves alone. the deal was, just like the oal Port. We need it and will give it abck when we don't need it anymore. The feds were always in agreement on the reserve easments but often didn't get around to actually paying the bands for the easements. The two farmers that had their land taken whihc is the ALR Lands we speak of , many years after the land was decided not needed for the port wanted it back and are in court arguing they should have first refusal. Gordo being a nit picker, property salesman did probrably what you indicated. Take those pieces of land with OIC( Nobody much ever notices those things) and set up to do the grand scheme of super roads.They have no shame. A few months ago we saw a long established berry farm get cut in two for a approach road, that by moving it a few yards would have kept the farm intact. No way said Gordo and Co. Roads come first, just like the old Socred ideas of paving just about everything. And port storage are beats farming anyday in their book.
G West
4 years ago
DPL - I'm more or less convinced you're right
I think I've pulled all the pertinent OICs but getting from there to determining exactly whom or what has subsequently become the beneficial 'owner' of the lands since they were severed is quite another matter. Requires a lot of research at Land Titles Offices and a sure way around the registry - most of the OICs include a phrase, which waives the production of the usual accompanying maps and drawings.
Given the fact that the Campbell Government came in with numerous promises about openness and businesslike tendering (and no special deals for their friends) it would make an interesting story for a reporter who wanted to do some digging, wouldn't it?
I expect some of the lands are going to end up as part of Roberts Bank or Delta Port.
You're right about no one ever noticing, I don't think a single paper picked up even one of the transactions at the time - or since.
snert
4 years ago
BigMan
Who knows? Breaking your nose might actually be an improvement. My point was that these changes do not just produce negative results. If you clear cut an area in the forest then replant is it not still a viable ecosystem?
There is very little old growth left and what is should be protected but there is a significant area of muddy bottom at the mouth of the Fraser River that is far from being totally destroyed.
When you see shorebirds feeding in an area where they normally wouldn't and that area has actually increased the habitat available to them is it all bad.
In this case I don't think you need worry about your nose.
clubofrome
4 years ago
Tyee Clarification?
Re: Personal insult removed above. Does this mean we can't call someone an idiot if they say clear cutting and replanting a forest is a viable ecosystem?
YES, IT MEANS YOU ARE NOT WELCOME TO CALL ANY OTHER COMMENTER, OR TYEE WRITER, AN 'IDIOT' ON THESE THREADS. KEEP YOUR ARGUMENTS SUBSTANTIVE, LEAVE PERSONAL TAUNTS OUT OF IT, PLEASE. TYEE EDITOR.
As science goes we study units of ecosystems and break them down individually. We don't know how they all interconnect. But we do know that an old growth forest is a fully developed functioning system. None of that remotely applies to a clear cut; see Amazon Rainforest. A clear cut is suseptable to erosion. Gradually over time or all at once in a massive slide caused by climate change or just plain above seasonal average rainfall.
No part of the Fraser River system is under renovation for the better. It's decline is mirrored all over the globe and the evidence is toxin levels and agricultural runoff as accumulated in the sediment and the wildlife which is never static, it along with the water, moves. Birds migrate, fish spawn, all look to this delicate ecosystems for clean, abundance of food. Not raw sewage, garbage, development and chemicals. Not only is Delta Port expansion a bad idea, Delta itself was a bad idea....
snert
4 years ago
clubofrome
I know. We should all vanish off the face of the earth. You first we'll be right behind you.
BC Mary
4 years ago
"We can lead and let the federal government follow," says Gordo
G West,
There's an astonishingly unflattering story in the July 24 edition of The Globe and Mail by Gary Mason: Campbell's new way of doing politics and business which explains how these things are happening. Like the Tsawwassen Treaty. Like the sell-off of BC Rail lands. Hell, like the dumping of BC Rail itself if you extrapolate.
Gordo was up in Anchorage, Alaska, pep-talking a "powerful group of business and political leaders from the Pacific Northwest."
"Mr" Campbell told the group, "We don't need permissions from our federal governments. We can't wait for them. We have to act. If we don't, we'll lose."
Grab a copy or you won't believe the grandiose scheming. It says how Gordo was speaking to the "annual conference of the Pacific Northwest Economic Region, a group that has been around for 17 years but has taken on a much higher profile in the past few years as state and provincial governments join to solve a host of shared problems. And to look at a range of new opportunities.
I gather that "The Globe and Mail" (i.e., Gary) got a few moments of Gordo's time, and duly took dictation: "This is the future of governance," said "Mr" Campbell. "Too often institutional inertia holds you back from doing things. The only way to move forward is to get together a group of people with like minds and say 'Let's act.'
" ... we can drive societal change by our action. We can lead and let the federal government follow in the wake of our momentum. I think that's what we're doing in the Pacific Northwest now and I think that's fundamentally different from the way we used to do things."
Has "Mr" Campbell blown a head gasket?? Thinks he's been crowned king or something?
snert
4 years ago
BC Mary
Here's a link to the article.
snert
4 years ago
Tsawwassen First Nation accept treaty terms
Tsawwassen First Nation accept treaty terms
clubofrome
4 years ago
Thank you Tyee!
For the clarification as to what is acceptable comment here at the Tyee. While I personally take no offence at any comments directed my way, however insulting they may be, I can see how this could be upsetting to some readers who appear to be genuinely trying to understand the issues but become frustrated easily when challenged. I applaud snert and his obvious passion for livley debate in a forum where foreign subjects like research and logic abound! The Tyee too should be applauded for the rules which allow even the most challenged of writers to participate without the fear of ridicule...
snert
4 years ago
Ridicule - A great debating tactic.
clubofrome
BC Mary
4 years ago
Many thanks, Snert!
Snert,
Many thanks for that link. As a fully-paid subscriber to the doorstep delivery of The Globe and Mail (about $30 a month), I dug my heels in when they insisted I pay a further $6.95 a month in order to get on-line access to that story. Some days, you just get ornery, that way.
So I appreciate very much that you've made it possible for people to see and use Gary Mason's story.
Why? specifically because Gary has been such a sycophant to Premier Campbell in the past, his obvious nervousness in this report is something well worth noting. Vaughn Palmer did much the same thing, next day. Winds of change?
Like, we coulda told them. But do they ever ask? Sigh.