I'm not one to often quote my mother. She's a kind and generous woman who has shared a great deal of wisdom with me over the years, but until I heard about the resolution proclaiming the right to a clean environment, I thought her proverbs were widely known truths. Clearly, I was wrong, though not as wrong as the authors of said document and the councillors who are considering moving it.
For their benefit, I'll quote her here: "don't make promises you can't keep."
It is rather unfortunate that this cardinal rule of the playground has been forgotten by a great many people who consider themselves political. Whether such outrageous proclamations of rights are outright grandstanding or genuinely misinformed well-wishing is sometimes hard to tell, but it all comes out as little better than the worst kind of self-indulgent do-goodery in the end.
To be clear, I would agree with supporters of the resolution insofar as I enjoy breathing clean air and drinking clean water, and I am very aware that there are parts of Canada that need improvements in these areas. But I'm unconvinced that resolutions are really the best use of our time, and that this topic in particular rates as much attention as they think it does.
Not only is talk cheap, but talking a lot about an issue that is not nearly as lethal as many others in this country actually cheapens the issue itself. Furthermore, it is clearly a tool of conflation, by which people will be lead innocently into supporting clean air and clean water, only to find themselves newly minted soldiers in the battle against some corporation this project's proponents just don't happen to like or collect money from, whichever comes first.
Like labour and tobacco, industry is highly regulated in this country. True, there are instances where the system fails, but these occasions need to be faced in an honest manner and on a case by case basis. If you think the Mount Polley disaster was egregious, or have evidence of misconduct within McBride's Community Forest, then "be the bigger person" and campaign specifically to rectify these issues. In an age of empty words, this will show integrity.
And ultimately, this is the lesson to be taken to heart, for the person who promises all and delivers nothing is quite quickly never believed again. What proponents, opponents, developers and so on just don't seem to get is that for the vast majority of us, it's all white noise. The Facebook campaigns, the signs on supporters' lawns, and even the committees dedicated to consultation are neither effective nor convincing, because we don't believe they're authentic.
Authenticity is a hard thing to bring across in politics, but it can be done. Representatives that speak honestly and frankly about where they stand, while pursuing projects personally gain infinitely more respect even from their opponents than all the branding and marketing in the world could ever do.
And in the end, this is what the world is missing and what voters are yearning for: representatives that take a personal interests and stake their projects on their own integrity. So please, don't moralize, wax philosophical, or make promises you can't keep. That's not progressive at all.
