As Premier David Eby and a British Columbia delegation tours Japan, South Korea and Malaysia, Prince George’s opposition MLAs say the trip is “damage control” for his government’s previous policies as well as the reception to the recently passed bills 14 and 15.
Eby and a delegation left for a 10-day trip to Japan, South Korea and Malaysia on Saturday, May 31.
One notable absence from the trip is British Columbia Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Terry Teegee, who said in a Friday, May 30 media release that he could not participate in a mission launched by a government that passed legislation trampling First Nations’ rights.
Reached by phone on Monday, June 2, Prince George-North Cariboo, Prince George-Valemount and Prince George-Mackenzie Conservative MLAs Sheldon Clare, Rosalyn Bird and Kiel Giddens said the NDP are trying to make up for having closed British Columbia’s independent trade offices in Asia over the last eight years.
“They’ve actually moved some of them into embassies or consulates but not designated trade officers per se,” said Bird. “And in that timeframe, the number of exports to the U.S. has increased. BC exports the most products to the U.S. than any other province in the country.”
Even if the premier promotes sectors like BC forestry, Clare said, he has to handle domestic issues before trade can increase.
“We’ve got significant problems with permitting,” Clare said. “While we do produce very high quality two-by-fours out here that are needed for building projects in the United States especially and other places, there are barriers that have to be overcome to get our first industry in a way that’s going to work for the people who are up here making the money.”
Giddens said that the NDP have had a poor record on trade.
“Since the NDP came to power, exports to China are actually down 20 per cent,” he said. “Korea is down 11 per cent and even India is down. The only market where BC has shown any trade growth under the NDP is actually U.S., where it’s increased by 27 per cent.”
While Asian countries are interested in BC products like liquified natural gas, Bird said that Energy Minister Adrian Dix has indicated that the powers the government granted itself in bills 14 and 15 won’t be used to expedite LNG.
Bird and Giddens said there are many countries, not just in Asia, who want access to BC’s LNG, lumber, oil and minerals and they hope the government highlights the opportunities provided by the resources sector during their mission.
Bill 14 is aimed at streamlining permitting for renewable energy projects and allowing selected wind energy projects as well as the North Coast Transmission Line project to bypass the Environmental Assessment Act.
That includes the wind power project near Hixon co-owned by Lheidli T’enneh First Nation and Spanish Company Ecoener announced late last year.
Bill 15 gives the infrastructure minister, a position created after last fall’s provincial election, powers to expedite certain projects through the approvals process, automatically approve certain low-risk environmental assessments, assist entities like school districts and health authority with procurement and even bypass local governments on designated infrastructure projects.
Both bills narrowly passed third reading in the Legislature in late May after all MLAs not belonging to the NDP voted against them, forcing Speaker Raj Chouhan to cast tiebreaking votes.
In the lead-up to their passage, groups voicing opposition to bills 14 and 15 included the Union of BC Municipalities, whose president Trish Mandewo called Bill 15 an overreach, and the First Nations Leadership Council, whose representatives said they violated the government’s own legislation recognition the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
The bills led to British Columbia Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Terry Teegee to cancel his participation in Eby’s trade mission.
In a media release issued May 30, the BCAFN said “decision to withdraw from the trade mission reflects the profound damage inflicted on the BC Crown-First Nations relationship by Premier Eby’s government.
“While the premier seeks to strengthen BC’s economic relationships in the Indo-Pacific region and promote investment in major natural resource projects, his government has simultaneously undermined the very rights and relationships that are foundations to sustainable economic development in First Nations territories.”
Reached by phone on Monday, June 2, Teegee told The Citizen that he didn’t want to be part of a trade mission promoting projects and resources when First Nations don’t have the opportunity to provide consent for or be part of the decision-making process for those projects.
“First Nations are concerned about some of these major projects such as mine expansions like Mount Polley that Xatśūll First Nation has decided to file a judicial review against,” Teegee said.
“This is not about those public projects such as schools and hospitals. It’s about the private projects and especially the ones that don’t meet the requirement of free prior and informed consent from First Nations and those projects that have no First Nations involvement or minimal involvement.”
On May 9, The Canadian Press reported that Xatśūll First Nation applied for an emergency injunction to stop a four-metre addition to the gold and copper mine as it pursue a judicial review of the project’s approval by the provincial government.
That same mine was where a tailings pond breached in 2014, spilling 25 million cubic litres into nearby waterways.
After the bills’ passage, Teegee said his organization would like to see them repealed. He also said he’d like to see better consultation with Indigenous groups than the three days they received to review the legislation before they went to the Legislature.
While he said there’s a potential for public protest and legal action, Teegee also said he believes there’s still time for the government to change course and make things right.
Clare said Teegee’s cancellation was telling and that in a meeting with Xatśūll First Nation Chief Rhonda Phillips the previous week, she had expressed similar concerns.
“I don’t always agree with Chief Teegee on everything, but I know him to be a man of principle,” Clare said. “When you have pushed people the wrong way, you’re going to get a reaction.”
In a time when there has been a lot of talk of Canada being a united front in the face of economic threats from the United States, Clare said the NDP government seems to have a strange view of what that looks like.
Giddens said the Conservatives and the Greens tried to bring the voice of the groups opposing the bills forward, but debate on the items was ended early.
“I was a part of debating Bill 15 and only after 28 hours of debate at committee stage, I was cut off … debating clause eight out of this 48-clause bill.,” he said.
Bird said she thought the government pushing the bills forward instead of tabling them and pursuing further consultation sent a strong message.
“Although they talk the talk and say, ‘we are going to be engage, we are going to consult, we’re going to make sure everybody comes to the table,’ that is not reflective in the decision they made to push that through,” she said.
“They could have gone back to First Nations, they could have gone back to industry, municipalities, district and had further conversations. They chose not to do that.”
Other factors in Bill 14 that Bird said concern is was that it allows wind and solar energy projects to be built on lands that are part of the Agricultural Land Reserve and that this was decided without consulting the Agricultural Land Commission.
“There’s a reason that the Agricultural Land Reserve exists and we have the ALC and it is for the purpose of food security in Canada,” Bird said. “So, for Bill 14 to be able to override that and to not have those discussions is alarming.”
