Christy Clark Supports Economic Benefits of Enbridge Pipeline in British Columbia

Oct. 28, 2012

At the Union of BC Municipalities convention in 2011, newly minted Premier Christy Clark declared that she intended to be BC’s top sales person. On many different issues, she has shown that she meant to say that she’s willing to sell BC for the right price. Her position on the Enbridge pipeline project is particularly informative in this regard. She says that if BC gets enough economic benefit from the project, she’ll say yes. Otherwise there are too many risks and no benefits for the province. Despite the fact that British Columbians reject that position in favour of protecting our land, water, ocean and communities, Clark has adopted the worst kind of sales tactic – BC is for sale for the right price.

She just doesn’t understand that this project is too risky at any price and it must be stopped. And the best person to stop it is the Premier who is more interested in the sale than the risk. I think Clark’s willingness to boil everything down to money and to frame every policy idea in what she calls “free enterprise” is one of the reasons Clark’s popularity is dropping like a stone, particularly amongst women.

Selling ourselves to China seems to be a whole new level of risk to our sovereignty and our ability to make sound business decisions. The Canada-China Foreign Investment and Protection Agreement (FIPA) encapsulates that risk. It is unlike any other trade agreement that Canada has signed.

I am not a fan of so-called free trade agreements. I don’t subscribe to the consensus that North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has been good for Canada. I believe it was the first blow to Canada’s ability to maintain (or enact) high environmental standards and to respond to the urgency of climate change; and, it has contributed to the demise of meaningful jobs and good standards of employment. NAFTA lead to businesses sending good quality jobs to places with cheaper workers and fewer environmental standards. Manufacturing plants and jobs were the first to migrate out of Canada followed by professional jobs in service industries.

NAFTA set the stage for the continual assault on the environment and the free trade obsession has contributed to the generational crisis our young people face. An adulthood of indebtedness is the result for young adults. Costly education, lousy jobs and a “your to blame” message is the free trade legacy. And our economy has changed. Instead of a steadily diversified economy, Canada has returned to increasing dependence on export of raw natural resources. As the easy to get resources dry up, bitumen from the Alberta Tar Sands and unconventional gas are becoming an obsession.

But even NAFTA has an out. With a relatively short six months notice of abrogation of NAFTA, a bold and visionary Canadian government could declare their intention to withdraw from the pact. Not so with FIPA – no out for 15 years in this 31 year agreement. According to of Osgoode Law Professor Gus Van Harten , FIPA “gives China’s state owned enterprises, already under fire for corruption and inefficiency, the right to contest any Canadian standards that might stipulate the use of Canadian labour and materials in resource projects.”

FIPA scares the heck out of me. Van Harten’s analysis and that of Green MP Elizabeth May shows that this treaty will bind BC and reduce our ability to make decisions in the best interest of the province and the people of BC. FIPA looks to have the potential to override provincial jurisdiction and to force acceptance of projects like Enbridge over the opposition of British Columbians. Municipalities are entangled in its web as well.

There is part of me that believes Stephen Harper has agreed to this as a way to thumb his nose at British Columbians opposition to the Enbridge pipeline, the expansion of the Kinder-Morgan pipeline and to crude-oil tanker traffic along our coast. Harper is bound and determined that the tar sands will be developed no matter what.

I was so concerned about the provincial implications of the treaty that I wrote to both Premier Christy Clark and Opposition Leader Adrian Dix asking them to intervene. Clark’s letter in response shows she has no concerns about FIPA. In fact, she says the government “has been involved in the process that led to this agreement.”

Clark believes “we can agree that international investment is key to building our provincial economy.” In fact, I disagree. The key to building our provincial economy is to create strong, local economies built on an engine of renewable energy. BC Greens know that our hope for prosperity is in BC not in China.

I hope you will take time to write to the Premier to tell her you disagree with her support for FIPA. The time is short. Her email is premier@gov.bc.ca.