I don’t doubt politics requires a limber back, with all that twisting and bending. It’s called compromise and, for the most part, that’s a good thing. Deals have to be made and not all promises can be fulfilled.
Even so, I’m feeling somewhat “dismayed” to use the City of Richmond’s term, with the federal Liberals of late. Call me naïve, but there were three critical campaign promises I actually thought would materialize.
The first was redressing the federal government’s relationship with First Nation’s people.
Justin Trudeau bent over backwards, (there’s that limber back) even throwing his own father under the bus, some may say, to apologize for past policies in regards to First Nations. He vowed to bring indigenous people to the table and give them a strong voice in projects that impact their communities.
Ya, never mind. Site-C damn is going ahead, as are those pipelines you’ve been opposing for years.
Second, electoral reform. During the campaign, the PM declared the 2016 federal election would be the last of its kind. The “first past the post” system doesn’t adequately represent the electorate, and reform is on the way, was the unwavering message.
Nope, changed our mind. Thirty nine per cent of the popular vote is just fine; at least, we’re doing well by it.
Third, the federal Liberals claimed they would strengthen the environmental review process (that very process they accused the “anti-science Tories” of gutting.)
Forget that as well. Building the biggest bridge in B.C. over the ecologically sensitive and vital Fraser River doesn’t require an environmental review.
Remember, this isn’t about nixing the bridge, it’s just about assessing it’s environmental impact. Even those who support the project, I hope, would also support third-party science contributing to the decision. (The provincial review was done by the very entity that stands to gain most from a super bridge — Port Metro Vancouver.)
I get there is a certain amount of horse trading going on. Trudeau gives Premier Clark the bridge, she gives him support for a carbon tax. But this is a dangerous game.
My son is home from university for reading week. He’s been talking about his environmental science course and the “runaway greenhouse effect” that could result in the extinction of 80 per cent of all life on Earth by 2030. My kids will be in their early 30s then, launching careers, having kids — maybe, or maybe just gasping for air in an overheated, toxic environment.
We can quibble the numbers, but clearly the stakes are high.
Dismissing environmental scientists from a massive project such as this bridge shows, not just a flexible back, but a lack of spine.
