Friday, June 30, 2017

We Didn't Just Get a Fresh Premier Yesterday. We Got So Much More.


There's word of a giant, shredded paper sale in Victoria this Canada Day weekend. Barges full of the remains of 16-years of Liberal corruption suitable for repurposing as pulp and paper products are apparently rafting on The Gorge.

We have a new government albeit one with a tenuous hold on power. Still, as this summary from DeSmog Blog reveals, they've got an important and long overdue agenda of reform.

What's on tap? A major and honest review of the Site C dam project already rubber stamped by Trudeau and his hilariously hypocritical justice minister, Jody.

Then there's what promises to be a determined effort to derail the Kinder Morgan pipeline, likewise rubber stamped by Trudeau despite his empty promises that there would be no pipeline without First Nations approval, "social licence" and an honest environmental assessment in lieu of the patently rigged process of the industry-owned National Energy Board.

Ramped up carbon taxes that were stalled under Christy Clark's petro-politics.

A reconstituted environmental review process for British Columbia.

The formal adoption of the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The shift to a new economy with new rules and standards. The Greens have pushed for an end to GDP economics and the adoption of GPI or Genuine Progress Indicator metrics.

Rounding it out is reform - electoral reform and campaign finance reform. Horgan has pledged to support both initiatives and he knows he'll have a damned short mandate if he betrays the Greens on these matters.

If the new government follows through on these initiatives it could create a template for progressive reform in every other province, perhaps eventually the federal government too. There's too much at stake in British Columbia and the rest of Canada to let this fail. Let's hope.




4 comments:

Toby said...

The best bit is the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI). Getting governments to use the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is at the root of the biggest con job ever, neo-liberal economics. Disasters like that terrible Grenville Tower fire in London or the attack on the WTC in New York add to the GDP but subtract from the GPI as they should. Using the GPI shows very quickly that some of the things we do don't make any sense at all.

The Mound of Sound said...


Let's hope, Toby.

Kim said...

I was wondering when you'd get around to local (BC) politics. Why wait until now?

The Mound of Sound said...


Good question, Kim. Not sure I have a simple answer.