The Conservatives promised a new way of doing business. Total transparency!
Mr. Harper travels the world in search of trade deals.
CETA had been approved in principle with the European Union. Harper says the deal is good for Canada, but Canadians can’t see the details. When I contacted Dick Harris’s office in March to appear in Williams Lake to explain CETA, his executive assistant assured me Mr. Harris would be in town, and would raise the matter with him, and return my call.
I have heard nothing. It has been rumoured Mr. Harris lives in Kelowna. Who is he working for? During the B.C. provincial election, any mention of the Site C dam “flew under the radar.”
LNG took centre stage! The province would become an energy power broker, selling to the world. Jobs will be abundant.
Five new LNG plants! But wait. The B.C. government’s own figures in 2010 were the following: 12 per cent of B.C. natural gas production stays in B.C., about 33 per cent goes to the U.S. through pipelines to Chicago, and around 55 per cent goes to Alberta where the biggest industrial user is the Tar Sands.
Who is lining up to buy B.C. LNG? China hasn’t come knocking. Japan has invested billions to recover methane hydrate under its ocean floor. Only the energy company Petronas has expressed any interest. So far, B.C. wants to create “green” energy from Site C to power LNG production and ship gas to Alberta where it will be used to develop “dirty” energy and then move the bitumen through B.C. along Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline to Kitimat to be shipped overseas to China. Who is the B.C. government working for?
Section 8 of the new BC Water Act gives the BC Oil and Gas Commission sole responsibility for granting energy companies short-term leases to pump water from lakes and rivers. Other users such as municipalities and forestry must get permission for leases from the Water Stewardship Council. Already, hydraulic fracturing operations in northern B.C. are taking water from Williston Lake (the reservoir created by the WAC Bennett dam on the Peace River), with blessing of the province.
Is Site C to be used for domestic power or is the huge reservoir that will be created be used for industry: LNG fracking operations and tar sands development?
Who are our governments working for?
Peter Smith
Williams Lake