In Kaslo, a Big No to River Power
More than 1,000 turn out to oppose Kootenay project.
Kaslo rally against Glacier/Howser river power project. Photo by Damien Gillis.
A couple of weeks ago, there seemed to be cause for celebration for those who join with marine researcher Alexandra Morton in wanting to see the end of fish farming in the coastal waters of British Columbia.
Morton had won a Supreme Court judgment that, among other things, ruled that only the federal government had jurisdiction over fish farms.
Marine Harvest, the principal Norwegian fish farmer operating British Columbia, appealed aspects of the decision, but not the constitutional finding that only the federal government calls the shots for fish farms.
This caused rejoicing among many fish farm opponents.
But others, including me, smelled a rat.
Well, a rat there indeed was.
I have been reliably informed that the provincial government has already made the necessary bureaucratic moves to transfer this file back to the tender mercies of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and that Marine Harvest abandoned the constitutional part of their appeal having been assured that nothing would change.
Both the provincial and federal governments, after the Liberals won the last election with 22 per cent of registered voters, have arrogantly assumed that the battle for our rivers and fish has ended.
In fact, it has barely begun.
From the coast to Kaslo
It continues, for example, in the Kootenays.
A death in the family prevented me from attending a meeting in Kaslo on June 23. However, my colleague, filmmaker Damien Gillis, was there and reports:
"It was a watershed moment in the campaign to protect B.C.'s rivers from private river power projects as 1,100 citizens packed the high school gym in Kaslo, (a town of just 1,000!) to speak out for their rivers at one of three public comment meetings regarding the environmental assessment application for the largest proposed project in the Kootenays -- a 125-megawatt, five-river diversion referred to as the Glacier/Howser project, in the spectacular Purcell wilderness northeast of Kootenay Lake. Not a single one in three hours spoke for the project."
The government representatives and proponent Axor Group -- a Montreal-based construction giant -- had refused myriad requests from citizens and local politicians to hold one of the meetings in nearby Nelson, the unofficial capital of the region, which would have afforded access to a much larger population base.
The move clearly backfired, reminding me of the time last year when the promoter of a comparable proposal on the Upper Pitt River booked a tiny venue in Pitt Meadows only to see hundreds show up, forcing the fire marshal to shut the meeting down and the company to hold another meeting in a larger venue. This time more than 1,000 showed up and the following day the environment minister pulled the plug on the project's controversial transmission line through a Class A provincial park.
That night, I remarked to a colleague that this would be the end of the project. It was a fatal misstep by the promoter.
I had a similar feeling from Kaslo, though this one is hardly over.
A resounding No
Far from being deterred by the denial of a meeting in Nelson, local environmental groups banded together to provide bus transportation and other means for getting people to the Kaslo meeting. The result was staggering.
People of all ages came with costumes, banners, marching bands, meticulously researched and passionately articulated speeches. First they rallied outside the school before the meeting, then they lined up one after another at the microphone to say a resounding "no" to the project and the whole idea of privatizing our rivers for power we don't need and can't use. Why can't we use it? Because the bulk of this power would come in spring, the time of our lowest demand and highest supply) vowing that this project would be stopped.
As local NDP MLA Michelle Mungall told the company to rousing applause, "These people are not uneducated about your project. They understand it. They don't like it. They don't want it."
After a disappointing provincial election for those who care about protecting our rivers, fish and wildlife, this night served to re-energize the movement around the province and showed this battle is really just getting started. And the people of the Kootenays, famous for their love of nature and commitment to protecting it, are once again leading by example.
Civil disobedience ahead
I do not and never have condoned violence but it would be irresponsible of me, after my experience as official spokesperson for the Save Our Rivers Society, not to warn that people around the province are fighting mad about both the rivers and fish farm issue, which are two sides of the same coin.
They are not prepared to allow companies with the blessings of the governments they have helped finance, destroy our rivers and wipe out our salmon.
What will happen is all too clear. There will be people lying down in front of dirt movers, followed by a lawsuit by the companies who will then get injunctions from a court. Turning civil disobedience into a crime in this way is the usual gimmick employed by environment-ravishing companies with the blessing of governments.
Under such circumstance, Harriet Nahanee and Betty Krawczyk went to jail for attempting to block the destruction of nature on Eagleridge Bluff in West Vancouver.
This time around it will not just be two very courageous women ready to risk the consequences. As I assess the situation, it will be many -- to the point of endless -- protesters.
Inconvenient facts
It would be a different matter if the fish farm and rivers issues were simply controversies where one side said they were right and the other side said, no, they were right.
But in this case, the science and the facts are not in issue.
Every single independent fisheries scientist to be found confirms Alexandra Morton's findings on the slaughter of migrating Pink and Chum salmon by lice from fish farms which is only the worst of many environmental assaults made by Marine Harvest and friends.
Not can it be denied that huge environmental damage is done by independent power projects as they dam and divert to produce power for the profit of shareholders of large corporations.
It cannot be denied that this independent power can, for the most part, only be produced during the spring run-off when BC Hydro doesn't need the power. The president of one of the largest companies, Plutonic, has said "one would have to be in a coma" not to know this power was for export. The record is clear that this power has been bought by BC Hydro, on instructions of the Campbell government, at prices double or more the amount BC Hydro can sell it for into the U.S.
Fulfilling these orders, now in excess of $31 billion, obviously will drive our electricity bills, both industrial and at home, through the roof and bankrupt BC Hydro.
Related Tyee stories:
- 'Good Luck BC': Morton's Cry of Despair
Marine researcher accepts voters 'chose' farmed salmon, sealing fate of wild stocks. - Fish farms floating in regulatory void
- Private River Power Draws Diverse Foes
'Green' claims disputed.
![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
Grumpy
05-07-2009
I think Gordon Campbell has............
...........lit a fuse of massive public discontent. A government with only 22% of the public vote is a government in name only and it is time to hit Campbell and his Campbell's where it hurts, the Olympics.
Imagine, massive civil unrest during the 2 week rich-man's games; mass political arrests and enough civil disobedience to make the world's media focus on how evil this man is.
Shut down the province is the only way for change and shut it down we must during the Olympics.
nechakogal
06-07-2009
Yes, I do believe the time has come again
When we need to amplify our voices and take our protest against the sale of our province to the streets. These governments have become too cavalier about their responsibility to the people, that is, all people in the province whether they voted for or against, or not at all. Good job Rafe.
G West
06-07-2009
The time has come
For the people of the province to make their views known - in no uncertain terms.
Elected officials in this country are for the most part, individuals who reinforce their power with ignorance, misinformation and slavish adherence to the 'directions' of their so-called leaders.
The reinvigoration of the people and the re-animation of democracy requires two things: a knowledge of what has been going on in the 'name' of the public and the courage to begin to speak out loudly and often against the actions of the compromised individuals who 'pretend' to the role of making decisions in the public interest.
Only when the current CEO of this province - (which, under The Campbell Rules, is NOT a functioning democracy but a sociopathic corporation) feels the hot breath of the people on his neck will he change.
Until then the rape and pillage of the public interest and the sale and ruination of the public's assets will continue apace.
Wake up people! Make those phone calls - polite and pointed; send those emails - insistent and respectful; crowd those meeting halls - loud and direct.
Keep the pressure up, let it build until it washes over the province and the sale and degradation of the place is brought to an end.
But it takes more than posting comments here at Tyee, it takes commitment and it takes action and it requires organization. Talk to you friends, talk to your neighbours, talk to your fellow workers, talk to your kids….talk to a few senior professional bureaucrats and ask them what’s actually going in the offices in Victoria….Please.
msuerowan
06-07-2009
Civil Disobedience
I sincerely hope that people in the Kootenays stand firm on this issue. The anger felt at Eagleridge Bluffs was not just by two brave women who went to jail but by a community of hundreds that worked tirelessly for years to save this area from destruction. Facing off against a multinational corporation and the courts is a risky and nerve wracking game. At Eagleridge, 25 people were arrest while hundreds of others lent their support. In the end, it doesn't matter how many people are arrested but rather that communities stand their ground.
But standing up to government is no longer enough. The public needs to begin to raise their voices about the way injunctions are used by judges to quell civil unrest. The courts are not acting responsibly when they fail to take the public interest into consideration during injunction hearings relating to public lands; when they use this process solely as a tool to remove the public's right to protest. To suggest that government represents the public interest at large under any circumstance is to deny that the public has any right beyond electing government officials every four years.
Judges are allowing government to act with impunity by recognizing only those legal rights granted to corporations by the government itself (governments don't grant legal rights to the public, hence the court does not recognize the public's rights beyond government). It is time to put pressure not only on government, but the court itself to view the public interest beyond the confines of government. If the purpose of an interim injunction is to protect assets from irreparable harm until the merits of a case can be heard, then the same process should not result in the destruction of the very assets at risk of irreparable harm. Protesting the government will have little effect without also pressuring the judiciary to consider the public interest beyond government in these land use disputes.
Ladarzak
06-07-2009
question
I don't understand the last 3 lines of the article:
>The president of one of the largest companies, Plutonic, has said "one would have to be in a coma" not to know this power was for export. The record is clear that this power has been bought by BC Hydro, on instructions of the Campbell government, at prices double or more the amount BC Hydro can sell it for into the U.S.
>Fulfilling these orders, now in excess of $31 billion, obviously will drive our electricity bills, both industrial and at home, through the roof and bankrupt BC Hydro.
Why would BC Hydro buy power for more than they can sell it for? Also, it sounds like some of these projects have already completed? A link to this background information would be helpful.
seth
06-07-2009
hijack
Rafe is obviously familiar with how easy it is to hijack a political party when voter apathy is so high. If those 1000 people bought BCLiberal party memberships they could go a long way towards giving the Gordo and his gang the boot, taking back and remaking the Liberal party in Gordon Gibson's and Gordon Wilson's mold.
Look at how the Gordo and his media wing was able to wipe out Gordon Wilson who was leader of an actual Liberal party until Neocon mass membership buys defeated him. Look at how Harper and Stockwell Day and the religious right were able to hijack the ReformaTories, and far leftie David Orchard the Progressive Conservative party.
There are already lots of real Liberals in the BCLiberal party Ken Jones, Carole Taylor, just booted Gordon Hogg and myriads more still hanging on hoping a messiah will come along and save them from the suffering neocon yoke.Now that is really constructive social unrest. To stop the Gordo, progressives across BC need to buy BCLiberal party memberships en masse, vote out the party apparatchik riding by riding, vote for massive policy changes and a new leader.
We see another article, where the far left wing of the NDP is trying to organize and retake the NDP. Nobody will vote for them in the next election or any other. They are right about one thing though, the BC NDP is a mess with a ineffective unelectable leader utterly incapable of organizing her party, her policies, her opposition and an election campaign. Her make nice parliamentary techniques resound with the voter and the hostile press as cowardly. Bloated Bill Good whips her ass in a one on one. She is driving progressives to the Green's who are utterly fed up with her and her current supporters. If and until that party gets its act together, progressives can still take action.
While Progressives protests, general strikes and such would be a great attention getter it is only the reclaiming of the Liberal party from its fascist hijackers that has any hope of winning. We can't afford to wait five more years, for another election that the fools in the NDP and Green party will lose for us once again.
There is a leadership vacuum at the BCCon party and Gordo's gang would fit in there nicely.
nechakogal
06-07-2009
expressing civil unrest
I think people are turned off when we use threats against people or property to try to further political and social or environmental ends. It reduces the effort to a sideshow and people just want to distance themselves as much as possible from it. I certainly wouldn't feel safe attending a meeting or a demonstration where these kinds of threats were being circulated. I doubt I need to remind folks, but the greatest movements have been brought about through non-violence - Ghandi comes to mind, as does Martin Luther King. The trick is that you need to gather the will of the people.
Wilfred Laurier, I think we all know 22 percent of eligible voters does not count as a majority and that means 68 percent of British Columbian's are not for sale. The beautiful thing about democracy is that people can choose to express their beliefs either for or against a government whenever they please. Governments have also fallen for less than this government has perpetrated against its people. In other words, the provincial government can be called to account at any time the people will. And sooner or later they will, I can guarantee it little man.
Wilfred Laurier
06-07-2009
Blah, Blah, Blah
"Wilfred Laurier, I think we all know 22 percent of eligible voters does not"
And it means even fewer voted NDP. Get your party in order and win the next election in 2013.
inthepaint928
06-07-2009
hydro power
Stop and think for a second about the power situation in BC if your anti-hydro protests had been successful during WAC Bennetts' time.....what would we be burning/using to generate the power needed to run this province....coal?...natural gas?....oil?......and oh my God. ...NUCLEAR ?...give your silly heads a shake and realize that water power is the best solution....that is unless you believe humans don't belong on the planet.....what say Raif?
otropogo
06-07-2009
Rafe Maier says "I do not
Rafe Maier says "I do not and never have condoned violence but...."
Can you say "weasel words"?
The lack of supporting voices indicates only a healthy sense of self-preservation among thoughtful individuals.
Here on the East side of the Purcells we see the same shortage of outspoken supporters for Howe-Glacier or Jumbo Glacier Resort.
A tiny group of three or four supports these projects in print, while the naysayers are legion. Bumper stickers opposing Jumbo are ubiquitous, while those in support are practically non-existent.
Yet when people are approached privately on these subjects the picture is quite different.
Could it be that people in our small communities are worried about being shunned, vilified, perhaps even having their tires slashed or windows broken, etc., by these oh-so-righteous self-proclaimed guardians of Mother Earth? I know I am...
So now, having succeeded in intimidating the public, but failed to bully their elected representatives sufficiently, Mr. Maier and company are bent on "persuading" the judiciary to abuse its power to block legitimate government actions
No matter how dismally poor the performance of our elected government and/or its appointed managers, British Columbia cannot be run by back-seat drivers. I may well agree that fish farming, or some other project with high environmental costs, should be stopped, but never at the cost of allowing a small vocal minority dictate the actions of elected government.
Nor do I believe that the so-called "local" residents should have veto power over development of major resources just because they happen to be located in their political jurisdiction.
These resources belong to all British Columbians, and to Canadians, and ought be managed and developed by professionals with the best possible technical skills and resources und the guidance of the highest levels of government.
If the eco-zealots really believe that the current government is needlessly corrupt or inept (or both), then let them defeat it at the polls. My feeling is that they have received far more support for their hair-brained schemes and interventions from government and the judiciary than they had any right to expect, and are now at the stage of having "enough rope to hang themselves".
Unfortunately, their extra-electoral power-grab threatens to seriously (and perhaps irreversibly) damage both the infrastructure and the international reputation of this province.
Grumpy
06-07-2009
The sad fact is......................
............as I was one of the few who actually saw the first comment, is now a refrain I am hearing all too often. It is a sad fact that this is happening; a sad fact that points to, not just the current people in power, but previous governments from about 1990!
Democracy is a fragile thing and with our current 'first past the post' parliamentary democracy a lot of the so-called democracy rested with a politicians honour.
But we have a government with politicians (both sides of the house)without honour, supported by those lacking in morals, which results in a parliamentary dictatorship. Absolute power (considering the BC Rail court case) even over the courts.
Campbell was elected with only 22% of the electorate, with about 50% of the eligible population not voting. This again is a dangerous thing, for about 78% of the population did not bother to vote.
When a large group of people feel disenfranchised, as I do, then off the wall comments seem (which in years gone by would seem unacceptable) acceptable.
I smell the winds of revolution, the revolution can be quiet, which change coming in an orderly fashion or violent, where a percentage of the population rise up against the ruling elites.
If enough people feel, as I do, that Campbell needs a serious public slap in the face, then civil disobedience, no matter what action is taken, is deemed acceptable.
Campbell's Olympics will be the focal point of mob rebuke.
This is where Gordon Campbell and his Liberal thugs have brought us to; this is where corrupt government, unchecked by the courts, have created.
It's so very, very sad.
BC
06-07-2009
Finally Push Back for Democratic Process
Residents of the area in the West Kootenay should not be denied a a voice on what is going on in their own backyard. Until now their voices have been silenced quite effectively
The massive destruction of Glacier and Howser creeks has everything to do with removing democracy from the people who live there.
They have been denied a voice at the Regional District level by Directors whose political aspirations reflect more the wishes of politicians in Cranbrook and Victoria than Kaslo and the pristine Purcells.
Democracy does not work top down, it never has but those who have little respect for democratic process are working hard to ensure people are denied.
Admittedly it will be hard to fight our own Canada Pension Plan and other assorted corporate interests, I doubt if they even have heard of Kaslo
Graeme Bevans
Graeme Bevans, vice president and head of infrastructure of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, serves on the boards of Puget Sound Energy and Puget Energy.
More
With more than 25 years of international experience in corporate banking and infrastructure investing, Bevans is responsible for leading the development and management of the infrastructure business in the Private Investments department. Prior to joining the CPP Investment Board in 2006, he headed infrastructure investment at Industry Funds Management, an investment funds management company located in Melbourne, Australia. He also serves on the board of Anglian Water Group, a UK water/waste-water company.
The Campbell government is joined at the hip and helping lead the charge of "development of infrastructure" at any cost.
lynn
06-07-2009
The BC Lunatic Party
Who's the real lunatic fringe?
I'd suggest:
1)Those lunatics who have put hundreds and hundreds of our rivers up for foreign sale and profit...
2)And who crazily dismantled the "power" of crown jewel, BC Hydro, to do so.
3)Those lunatics who sold BC Rail for 990 years. (The public railway that made 80 MILLION DOLLARS a year in profits for the people of BC.)
4)Those lunatics who think selling prime BC Rail land, (prime waterfront included), for ONE DOLLAR to CN is not only a good idea, but good business!
Talk about governance by Full Moon!
Who's crazy now?
jrminator
06-07-2009
the BC lunatic party
Lynn, you're absolutely right. And the opposition to Campbell's Lunatic Party is not just coming from the NDP or Green, but from all those who can see through the BS, recognize the wrong and truly believe that we're being sold down the river.
Rafe, I'm glad that this fight will go on and thanks for your participation.
Grumpy
06-07-2009
Democracy is not.......
......one day in four years, it is where the "state" actually listens to the people, not to their cronies.
We, the people, are the "state", not Gordo and his brand of political thuggery.
Campbell has ignored the people and it seems, ignored history; he savours power, for the sake of power and the Liberal hangers-ons savours the tax dollars he shovels off the back of a truck.
VivianLea Doubt
06-07-2009
CIVIL disobedience
"Wake up people! Make those phone calls - polite and pointed; send those emails - insistent and respectful; crowd those meeting halls - loud and direct... Please."
"I think people are turned off when we use threats against people or property to try to further political and social or environmental ends."
"It`s a marvelous night for a moondance"
"it's a marvellous night for a naked moondance"
Civil disobedience has a long and respected tradition in protecting the "fragility of democracy" - paraphrasing Grumpy. Violence and manning the baricades are not the same thing, have no place in a democratic society, and I surely see no one here exhorting the young to sacrifice themselves for a cause, all due respect, Patrick. My own belief equates (in a nutshell) to the thought that the citizenry willl re-engage with politics/ the political when it becomes CIVIL again; that, and when it addresses the personal reality of hardship or suffering rather than the statistical norm, or the so-called average.
There is surely a rising tide and growing chorus of voices of discontent - but surely even more obviously this must be channelled into content; not what we don't want, but what we do want. Now, I attended my first protest (againt nuclear testing on Amchitka Island) as a young child - but I sense that these are actions more suited to that era than this one.I inserted the above quotes because there is a spectrum of ideas/actions/attitudes that can take us forward, and each of us can contribute in the way most suited to our strengths. That is our strength, the strength of the amorphous "left', as I see it - the tools of the right are so predictable, so shallow corporate-think, so lacking imagination, so ernestly following the path of rectitude that it will not be difficult to shake them up. Trust me - naked moonlight dancing will do it every time. Y'all can think of that metaphorically if you like: insert your own inclination.
Matt T.
07-07-2009
No More BC Hydro Power In BC
The Peace Valley Environmental Association just prepared a 65-page report supporting its opposition to BC Hydro's Peace River Site-C dam. PVEA called the project non-green energy.
Former NDP election candidate Brian Churchill helped produce the report.
Let's keep BC green. BC Hydro can always import power from energy-rich Manitoba in the future.
nechakogal
07-07-2009
I found it
2009 Report: The Living Peace River Valley for others who may be interested:
http://itsourvalley.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/the-living-peace-river-valley1.pdf