The British Columbia environment and indigenous tribes got bad news yesterday as the tactics of the ruling NDP party backfired and a snap election brought a right wing autocrat to power for four years. This is the first time in nearly one hundred years the Conservative party has won. It couldn’t come at worse time. Make no mistake about it, this turns the politics of B.C. into a mirror image of Alberta, promising unrestricted logging and LNG production. The failures of the NDP to bring leadership worth voting for is also similar to the Democrats here in the U.S. Any opposition to the Canadian Federal Government promoting a vast increase in tanker shipments through the Strait of Juan de Fuca is likely gone for the foreseeable future.
An anti-environmental autocrat has won the snap election called by the ruling NDP party, who in one of the classic cases of stupid tactics, have found themselves getting the worse possible outcome.
Summary from the Narwhal:
- Lorne Doerkson led the BC Conservatives to a historic majority, defeating David Eby’s NDP.
- The Conservatives plan to cut taxes, expand LNG production and logging and “cut red tape like it’s never been cut before.”
- The government also plans to repeal the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA)
On the campaign trail, Doerkson presented himself as a mild-mannered former rodeo rider and grandfather, promising to bolster B.C.’s economy while cutting taxes, reducing regulations and courting investment.
First thing they did today, was to announce their intention to repeal B.C.’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, or DRIPA.
The Conservatives have promised to make B.C. an “energy superpower” by doubling liquefied natural gas (LNG) production by 2032 and tripling it by 2035. With LNG Canada the only LNG export facility currently operating in B.C., the province is already on track to more than triple the province’s LNG production by 2035 with five additional LNG projects currently in development.
Read the rest of the story at the Narwhal and support their independent journalism if you can afford to do so.
A more comprehensive list of what to expect is found on the CBC, here: