From the office of the still, un-elected premier in passing…

Posted on by Laila

A must read from Robyn Allen this morning, who has received a big WHATEVER of a reply from the politi-thugs staffing the as of yet, un-elected premiers office… It goes something like this: “Blah blah blah, yes we are only replying because we have to, but really we don’t give a crap and so we are passing this onto designated scapegoat, Terry Lake…”

Ok. Not really, but Robyn shares with us, exactly what the letter did say, and more importantly, what it did not…here is an excerpt, please go to Robyn’s blog for the full meal deal.

”  …reply from the Office of the Premier was received April 27, 2012.  The Premier’s Office has informed me that the letter has been forwarded onto the Minister of the Environment, Terry Lake.  Minister Lake has the power to reclaim our right.  I have posted the reply below.

From: Office of the Premier

To: Robyn Allan

Friday April, 27, 2012

cc Minister of the Environment, Honourable Terry Lake

Subject: BC’s Right to Environmental Assessment Needs to be Reclaimed

Thank you for your email, and attached letter addressed to the Honourable Premier Christy Clark, regarding the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline. Your comments relating to the environmental review process currently being undertaken by the National Energy Board (NEB) and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) Joint Review Panel have been noted.

 We appreciate the time that you have taken to share your views and insight with us and have forwarded your correspondence to the Honourable Terry Lake, Minister of Environment, for his review and consideration as well. You can be assured that the specific points you have raised in your letter will be included in related discussions between Minister Lake, members of his senior staff and officials in the Provincial Environmental Assessment Office.

 Again, thank you for writing.

Because it is not clear to me that Dr. Lake will reply to my letter once he has discussed it with his officials,  I sent the following letter to Dr. Lake.

April, 28, 2012

Dear Dr. Lake,

The Premier’s Office has replied to me and indicated that my letter to Premier Clark has been forwarded to you.

I am following up with you as the reply indicates that you will review and consider the letter and discuss the points with your officials.  However, it does not confirm that you will address my comments in a reply to me.

I would appreciate it if you could please confirm that after you have had a chance to review my letter with your officials that you will be responding to the specific points in my letter directly in a reply to me.

Sincerely,

Robyn Allan

cc Premier Christy Clark

Please write Dr. Lake, and copy Premier Clark,  requesting that the Province inform the Federal Government that BC’s right to review and decide on Northern Gateway is being reclaimed.

Dr. Lake’s email address is ENV.Minister@gov.bc.ca

Premier Clark’s email address is Premier@gov.bc.ca “

21 thoughts on “From the office of the still, un-elected premier in passing…”

    1. Which is why it is exceedinly good to see the NDP put into writing their opposition to Enbridge,and see some of their points sort of touch on this issue. I would like to see the NDP get on this issue, and I wonder why they and other groups, have not jumped on this? IS there something we are missing? Robyn is very concise, articulate and factual on all accounts.

      Galloping Beaver has this post, http://thegallopingbeaver.blogspot.ca/2012/04/british-columbians-act-on-this-now.html

      British Columbians should indeed be acting on this now. Robyn has done all the leg work and action thus far, please send your emails, make your calls and ask your MLA’s for answers on why this agreement was made and why the unelected premier and Minister Lake are not acting to terminate this travesty.

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  2. It will be interesting to see how Dr Lake responds.

    While we are at it we should encourage him to explain why he allowed for his decision making powers in this regard to be offloaded onto staff. The act clearly outlines the Minister has the right to enter into these agreements, not staff.

    Furthermore, the equivalency agreement was absolutely unnecessary as there already was an agreement in place that would have allowed for a Joint Review Panel to be established in order to prevent duplication.

    Moreover, equivalency agreements were actually tools used almost exclusively by Alberta to allow for the PROVINCE to undertake the reviews in order to avoid duplication by the Federal Government.

    However since Harper took over the reigns in Ottawa these agreements have been utilized to take that power away from the Provinces and place it in Ottawa. (this is an odd about face as most of the recomendations for EA changes have requested that Provinces be the sole arbiters)

    Finally we should also be asking when and where the required notice for such an agreement took place, because in order for an Equivalency agreement to be enabled it requires es a 60 day term for input and comments on behalf of stakeholders and interested participants.,

    Furthermore, after the 60 day period was complete, the agreement is supposed to be published by the minister, or put in the Gazette. None of which occurred.

    All questions that need to be answered IMHO.

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      1. Answers?

        lol

        As you may have noticed, in the reply to Robyn, answers are in short supply.I do however have a bunch of interesting material supporting all of these assertions and much more.

        Also you point above out that the NDP touched on these issues in their submission to the JRP – while leaving it out of their Press Release and Backgrounder – however I have noticed a trend in the coverage that is picking up on these pivotal issues.

        What is remarkable however is the silence of the ENGOS.

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        1. I am busy working on several items still,( sometimes things snowball) but please feel free to post whatever you like about this Kevin. And perhaps name some names of those ENGO’s that are so silent…

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        2. Yes indeed the snowball analogy is apt in this instance.

          To date, not a single ENGO has addressed these issues to my knowledge, and the issues have been before them in great detail for months now.

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  3. Not that I’m in any way endorsing Christy or the BC Libs, but we can’t go on saying she is unelected when in fact, she was elected in the by-election last year. Otherwise, it diminishes credibility of the piece…IMO.

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    1. No Sheldon Christy,being elected in a by-election, is in no way comparable to being elected to lead the province as a premier by general vote. She was voted to lead the Liberal party, by Liberals ( and other non-liberals) who took out memberships in order to vote and assist in her defeating Falcon. SHe had to win that riding to sit in the house as acting premier, however she has not received a mandate from the people of BC as a whole, nor has she faced them in an election to obtain that mandate.

      Until she calls an election and faces the will of the people of BC,not just the people of Pt.Grey, I refuse to acknowledge her as anything more than an interim premier… at best.

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      1. Hear, hear, Laila, I’m with you on this rather than someone who either is or is pretending to be a concern troll. I would like to add, that I also consider Christy to be (undeserved) un-indicted as unfortunately is also Gordo, Kash, and John the Les(ser).

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  4. Done Laila, my email is sent. Last week I also wrote to John Horgan, my MLA and forwarded the original Robyn Allen letter. He replied, “Thanks Kim, we are looking into this”. I asked him to forward me any links, so I will pass them on if they become available.

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    1. Thank you Kim,it is nice to hear the NDP are looking into this, and I do hope there is some kind of response heard one way or the other, or conversely the NDP hold the Liberals feet to the fire on this issue, publically.

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  5. Campbell, Boessenkool and Christy’s BC Liberals, all work for Harper. The BC Conservatives support, Harper and the Enbridge pipeline, the dirty tar tankers as well.

    To expect anything fair and honest from any of them, is an exercise in futility. Harper is an out and out dictator and he has spread his poison into BC. He even sent his poison, as far away as England.

    We in BC are having to deal in an unnatural situation, with abnormal politicians. Harper and Campbell worked frantically, to destroy BC financially, before Campbell got the boot. All of the said party’s, have betrayed their own people. They have all, lied, deceived, are corrupt, used dirty tactics/dirty politics and cheated to win.

    BC citizens have to battle the monsters in BC, as well as Harper’s tyranny and his monsters in Ottawa.

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  6. On the one hand, with the Equivilancy Agreement, BC gives up its
    requirement to do environmental assessments on four projects.

    On the other hand, the recent Federal Bill C-38 appears to be gutting the
    Federal Fisheries Act and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.

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    1. Good afternoon boys and girls, now let’s all spell S-C-R-E-W-E-D together now!!

      Welcome to false democracy in action.

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    1. From that link – and thank you Curt!!!

      “A provision of the Conservative government’s 425-page budget bill contains contentious revisions of environmental law that will allow Cabinet the power to overrule the National Energy Board and give the green light to controversial projects such as the highly controversial Enbridge oil sands pipeline across northern British Columbia, say environmental associations and MPs.

      The bill, which also implements new measures to monitor “political activities” of environmental groups who have opposed the pipeline, has sent a chill through the environmentalist charitable sector, with one of the largest environmental charities saying it could comment only on a background basis until elements of the legislation are clarified, The Hill Times has learned.

      According to the bill, which is under severe criticism from the opposition parties because of the range of environmental and social issues it lumps in with tax and fiscal measures to be studied by only one House of Commons committee, will open up an “extreme opportunity for political interference” with the National Energy Board (NEB),” says a lawyer and director with West Coast Environmental Law, one of the leading opponents of the Enbridge “Northern Gateway” pipeline.

      Green Party Leader Elizabeth May (Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.) told The Hill Times she believes the section in Bill C-38, the Budget Implementation Bill, which extends Cabinet control over NEB decision on pipelines to allow Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) and his Cabinet to overrule NEB rejections of pipeline projects that have been based on environmental reasons, is aimed at investors in China who may be getting cold feet because of widespread opposition in northern British Columbia and the province’s coastline

      Goodness gracious, I should be working harder on that followup China story if the Chinese investors might be getting cold feet on Enbridge!!!

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  8. Folks may also be familiar with Robyns analysis on the economics of Northern Gateway as outlined in her blog and with some of the media her effort has garnered.

    Here is a recently posted presentation that underscores many points many of us have tried to bring to the fore with respect to the business case put forth by the oily proponents. Robyn dresses them down in a remarkably aplomb and studios fashion.

    See it here: http://vimeo.com/41340665

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      1. Yes I know.

        I said the material I sent you.

        The equivalency stuff is, well, like I said ” Answers are in short supply.”

        But were just getting started right?
        😉

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