We’ve hit a point, BC, where each of us needs to decide what kind of province we are going to be.

Posted on by Laila

It was a magical moment, one of many this summer of discovery.

Every night I’ve been here, I’ve made note of what time the sun sets and no matter what… step out onto the deck to enjoy the slow slip of the sun below the horizon. Now in deep August, I notice every single day how the earths position is changing and the angle of the sun shifting lower in the sky signals the inevitable end of summer…

Tonight though, it was magic when I stepped out as sunbeams danced through windblown branches to tease my cheeks and camera all the same…yet when I checked my camera afterwards, the sun beams captured so exquisitely that I caught my breath and enjoyed the moment all over again.

sunflowerundermoonlightI had the same reaction when checking into Facebook and seeing this incredible photo taken by  of Arlene Boon’s sunflower field under moonlight.

Even in night, this sunflower seems to be striving, reaching towards the little light the moon offers, a beacon in the dark until dawn breaks and brings the light of a new day…and new growth… with it.

But with every sunset I see at night,  I remember how slowing losing more minutes every day as we move towards autumn…for Ken and Arlene Boon, means losing precious time to be on the land that has been in their family for generations.

And the joy I feel in the surroundings around me is diminished because despite the joy of this summer I cannot forget that none of it is being taken from me. It will all still be here after Christmas. I can come here next year and see the same trees, the same lakes, the same berries.

I can’t say the same for Ken and Arlene. Or Yvonne Tupper, or Helen Knott, or any of the residents and First Nations who will lose not only land, but spiritual, medicinal and hunting grounds to expedited Site C construction if someone in our governments doesn’t see sense to stand up and stop this travesty.

I’m not in the sacrifice zone, aptly described by Caleb Behn. And a sacrifice it is to lose areas inherent to your culture, your family and your history… to have it all taken from you again: Site C is even designated a heritage river by the BC government, yet the rich cultural heritage of the area seems to mean little now to current premier Clark who’s vowed to get it past the point of no return.Not because it’s the right project. Because she wants to say she was the premier who built the the largest infrastructure project in BC history.

Heritage Canada even listed the Peace River as one of the 2015 Top 10 endangered places in Canada thanks to Site C.

Is this the kind of province we are now BC? One who claims to be so proud of who we are and what makes us different,yet we stand by and allow this to happen? No…it’s not the BC I think we are. Nor the BC I think we should be.

SalishSea

As I explore these long days of summer in my new home, a valley also rich with culture, fully immersed in the history and present use of this land, exploring the past and future with residents old and new, I know with all certainty that we have reached a crux point in BC.

We can’t go back. And yet… we can’t move forward on the path we are headed without acknowledging the loss of many critical aspects of who and what we are as a province.

My children may not be able to afford to live where there is work. Your children may not be able to work where they can afford to live. The changes are happening all around us with many only realizing when its too late… or only when it impacts them personally. Then the lights go on, they wake up and say..” How could this happen? How did it become this way?”

Sadly at that point it’s too late to do anything at all. But there’s hope, and it all rests on your shoulders. Yes, you bear the responsibility for where and how we got here every single time you’ve voted, every time you’ve ignored an issue and every time you stood up for something that was right. It all starts and ends with you.

And it’s time to take a few moments and think about what kind of legacy you want to leave, not what legacy our premier wants to leave.

Because we’ve hit a point B.C.,where each of us needs to decide what kind of province we are going to be,and how we are going to get there.

That’s  part of what this amazing, rejuvenating and spiritually grounding summer has been all about for me…I know where I stand and what kind of future I want to see for BC…do you?

areleneboonesunflowers

 

 

 

 

30 thoughts on “We’ve hit a point, BC, where each of us needs to decide what kind of province we are going to be.”

  1. I am afraid that decision has already been made and the residents of BC have not been consulted with.

    We have two choices, both very unpleasant.

    1) Overthrow the present regime and wait for the consequences, or
    2) Do nothing and await the consequences.

    The political process is broken as the BC Liberals are today’s mafia and the NDP are a bumbling bunch of nobodies who try desperately to be somebodies. The Greens have self destructed over mild antisemitism and out electorate are too dogmatic to vote for a slate of independents.

    BC is marching to the same tune as the German electorate did in 1933, only our brand a Fascism is kinder, more subtle.

    I am in my 60’s and the Canada I grew up in has disappeared, never to return. We have been Americanized, our education system trashed, and our youth now lest with a dismal prospect of never living in a home in the province of their birth.

    We have two choices………….

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  3. we will be, as we are now, just a list of assets for foreign owners and a province that let govts destroy our environment…. we are for sale… well at least whatever has not been sold off by now

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  5. It does not seem to be much of a choice. Either we embrace the worst possible choice (the BC Liberals) or vote for somebody else(anybody BUT them, please). No not much of a choice. Even given “evil eye’s piece, I am firmly in the “Anyone But Clark” camp. Maybe what we get as a result of voting another party in won’t transform BC into a land of sunshine and happiness for all, but given the current course, we have no choice. The Libs have bankrupted this province with their deferred debt and contractual obligations. We need to get someone else in power- Blake Newton

    Liked by 2 people

  6. Wonderfully written!

    Unfortunately B.C. has been sold to the friends and financial supporters of Christy Clark and her B.C. Lieberals.
    What type of province do I want. One that does not include her, her cabal, her financial supporters. Can another party do worse? Llikely not. Christy Clark and el gordo before her were all about selling off B.C. and its assets, running up debate for B.C. Ferries, B.C. Hydro, etc.

    If things continue as is, the children of today will not be able to work where they live or live where they work. The real estate industry will have taken care of that.

    There has been no long term planning in this province to provide for adequate transportation, health care, medical care. While el gordo and Christy keep building bridges which are loosing money, we have almost 500K people without family doctors and are short 2K speciality nurses. If the money spent on bridges had been used for educating doctors and nurses in B.C. along with medical researchers we would have had one of the best medical systems in the world.

    The lack of health care will continue to create problems. When 500K don’t have family doctors and the walk in clinic close early because they have maxed out on the number of patients they can see, how will people get health care? They will wind up in the E.R. costing even more money.

    I don’t want a future for the children of today which includes having the highest rate of child poverty in Canada for 14 of 15 years or the lowest min. wage in Canada. Low wages simply breeds poverty. Add in extremely high costs of housing and you have a disaster in the making. They won’t be able to house them.

    Vancouver Island is a beautiful place, where we have locally produced food, streams, forests, clean air, reasonably prices housing. That can all be lost and Vancouver Island could be a repeat of the GVRD in just 10 years if Christy and her cabal decide we are next in their pursuit of profit.

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  7. All true and we must find a n ore responsible bunch of people that will look after this province for the people by the people and with the people NOT FOR PROFIT… greedy… in the pockets of huge corporations and never care for the rest of us!!!
    Is it time to start demonstrations ??? we are being ignored and not governed properly … feed us B.S. and LIES!!!

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  8. I am 64, and believe it is pretty well done in BC. Unions have been busted over and over, much of our resources leave the province in the raw state i.e. logs, and foreigners pretty well own the place. I can remember when a unionized tradesperson could afford to live decently in Vancouver. The time for a revolution has passed long ago. And the current generation just wants to text. If the Clark gov`t is re-elected- we are absolutely screwed.

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  9. privatize BCHydro thru ipp contracts
    privatize childrens public schools by giving excessive tax breaks with public money to private schools
    sell off assets bc gas/ bc rail
    cut red tape at the expense of health and safety and even deaths as outcome(hospital cleaning contract changes?etc)
    allow think tanks to be registered as a charity .yet get funding to potentially shape gov policy?
    pay to play (Corruption?)items such as 11 billion dollar site C thats proven to be unneeded in some opinions and massey tunnel bridge 3.5 billion when tunnel twinning would be 3/4 less at about 875 million depending on specs allegedly.
    3/4 billion dollar lawsuit loss by bc to california
    1 billion dollar smart meter redo that has not dropped power use.still flat for 10 years
    bringing in students and 800k dollar plus crowd from around the world to bc,displacing families out of lower mainland .Working poor also
    export jobs with raw logs
    4 more years and will we be paying for all our water use and air use?
    in 2001 debt at bc liberals start was 32 billion now over 66 billion dollars in only 15 years

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  11. Site C, which is just the completion of the third dam and generating station from the sixties Portage Mountain development, is by far the best source of more renewable electricity for BC. It’s like finishing the basement of a house you already own and maintain. In the next ten to twenty years, electric transportation will hit critical mass and _take off_. We are going to need that electricity, and completing Site C is just a smart move that will put BC in great shape to massively reduce fossil fuel consumption.

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    1. What are your thoughts on the Columbia River Treaty not being renewed by 2024? Site C will be wrapping up? Trade-off? Will BC be facing shortfalls without the cheap electricity from the environmentally friendly Columbia River Treaty? Will the IPPs step in with more outlandish long term contracts costing British Columbians even more Billions of $$$$$$$? Buy high; Sell low.

      Not the WAC Bennett way. Outgoing Bill Bennett YES way

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    3. Sorry Karl but your arguement falls flat.
      Building a dam in the middle of nowhere that will only provide enough extra power for 250,000- 500,000 houses is a blip on the international power grid. This grotesquely subsidized, taxpayer funded power is for industry…..nothing more.
      Finishing the “basement” on a “house” that was a monument to a bygone politicians’ (WAC Bennett) “progress at any price” ….isnt a gift or a wise policy decision.
      Dams built in the 1950’s were seen as a cheap , necessary alternative to (God help us) coal fired power plants, or nuclear power .
      We have a lot more environmentally responsible options these days than building multi billion dollar legacy projects that will essentially bankrupt BC Hydro, flood an agriculturally productive valley in a time of climate change and overpopulation, ruin a salmon spawning river when wild salmon need all the help they can get, drown a historically important aboriginal site proving once again the govt runs roughshod over the rights of everyone…….. treaty or no treaty.

      No. It isnt 1950 and we arent gullible voters willing to swallow CBC propaganda from National Film Board Televisits………

      http://www.google.ca/url?url=http://www.desmog.ca/2016/06/10/bc-hydro-apologizes-bennett-dam-s-profound-and-painful-impact-first-nations-gallery-opening&rct=j&frm=1&q=&esrc=s&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwiD8uDLv83OAhUIxGMKHQS3CMgQFggjMAM&usg=AFQjCNFJWY-4GihTLM6R7Ap8cAf82fo6Vw

      Solar power, wind power, tidal power, or upgrages to existing equipment in existing dams, Powersmart programs( which has saved BILLIONS in reduced energy consumption over the past 25 years)
      Unfortunately Christy Clark will ram this through and it will be her “Glen Clark Fast Ferry Fiasco”……..but , just like Glen Clark. She wont go to jail and Jimmy Pattison will probably hire her for a multi million dollar salary. Riding off into the sunset with a million dollar smirk….
      I dont care who the people vote for in next Springs’ election.
      Just so long as it isnt her…….

      Liked by 2 people

      1. @ nonfidencevote Ironic eh, Glen Clark is now, has been for quite some time, Jimmy Pattison’s right hand man who does the hiring.
        Jimmy Pattison: “Send him to me. He’ll be a millionaire in no time.”

        There is no such statement from Pattison, or Clark, on Christy.

        Christy Clark on Clark and Pattison:
        “Former Liberal deputy premier Christy Clark laughingly said at the time: “I hope he (Glen Clark) is not in charge of any of the accounting functions for the company, or Pattison might regret his decision.””

        http://vancouversun.com/news/staff-blogs/funny-things-happen-when-glen-clark-meets-jimmy-pattison

        Liked by 2 people

        2. Don’t think Jimmy Paterson can spare Glen Clark. He not only hired Glen Clark demonstrating his faith in him and his honesty, he made him the president of the PATISON GROUP.

          It is doubtful Christy will work for the Pattison Group. Its the honesty factor which would nix the job.

          The fast ferry fiasco was simply a lot of bad publicity and the ferries did cause wakes when it was running at its proper speed. On the bright side it kept all the jobs in B.C. The ferries built by B.C. Ferries while the B.C. Lieberals were in office were built in Germany, so all the jobs and money went there. those Germany ferries are nice but the press and the B.C. Lieberals don’t like to talk too much about what gas guzzlers they are. that’s why in the winter the smaller older ferries are in service. They don’t use gas/oil at the rate the German ferries did.

          The sale of the fast ferries was a political pay back. el gordo sold them for as little as possible for political purposes. Once his “associates” bought them, they were re sold at a very tidy profit and continue to run in other parts of the world.

          Lets face it Glen Clark might have had his fast ferries mistake, but el gordo got arrested for drunk driving while premier; “gave” away our provincial rail way to his bag man; signed deals for electricity which the province looses 7 cents a K. on; built a couple of bridges no one uses and loose money hand over fist; lied to us about the HST, gee I could go on for hours and all I can come up with about Glen Clark is the fast ferries were a tad to fast for these waters, but the did provide jobs in B.C. which is more than we can say about the B.C. Lieberals.

          Jimmy Pattison hired two of three NDP premiers when they left politics. Not one Socred or B.C. Lieberal former premier. Guess that says a lot.

          Liked by 2 people

  12. I think it’s time to organize a delegation of ‘Friends of British Columbia’ and arrange to meet at the Site C construction site. There comes a time when the only course left to take is the path of civil disobedience.

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  13. Seems to me that a kidult reduction program is what’s most required.

    A MAJOR Canadian education system upgrade to bring it into the 21st century.

    The amount of adultoddlers out there is at level ridiculous.

    Things I saw during my travel throughout metro Vancouver recently:

    – Storefront signs I couldn’t read either because of not knowing the language, or because of not being able to see beyond
    – Ridiculously pathetic driving, including much by drivers in company vehicles
    – A ridiculous amount of very immature behaviour in public by people well over the age of 18 (cluelessness regarding the rights of others etc.)

    I could go on and on, but…yawn.

    Need far more people capable of working ‘on’ a community, instead of just ‘in’ a community.

    That or a ban on all vehicles except for tricycles.

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  14. And then we have articles like THIS from the Tyee reporting on Fracking/ earthquake concerns around the Peace river Dams that have been queitly “footballed” back and forth for over 20 years between BC Hydro and the Oil and Gas industry.

    http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2016/08/16/Fracking-Threat-Peace-River-Dams/

    Well govt Liberal Govt.
    Welllllllllll done….. Apparently “green” in the Liberal mandate means only one thing…..the color of money…..

    Liked by 1 person

  17. You only have till Sept. 2 to comment to the BC Utilities Commission on proposed tier 2 electrical rate increases, which in effect shift the burden from industry to residences to pay for needless site c expansion and independent power producers. There have only been about 200 comments submitted so far from the thousands of customers affected. 30,000 customers per year are disconnected compared to 6,000 a few years ago. There has been a virtual news blackout on this opportunity to comment on the financial burden this places on middle and low income families. The only allowable comment form which you are instructed to fill out and submit does not download for the majority of computer users and even after being told about this, still the Commission has not corrected it.

    Click to access DOC_46920_A-14_Public-Consultation-Process.pdf

    We really should take the time to submit our comments or the Commission will report to their masters that there is really no opposition to the increasing subsidy provided by us, the residential taxpayers, to the Murray Edwards of Mt. Polley Mine Disaster and his ilk, since they can now defer their utility bills, pay very minimal corporate tax and pathetic royalties.

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    1. Thanks for this Dave, sorry I’ve been distracted on vacation, but included this important info in my latest post with credit to you for bringing this to my attention! It is, very important!

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  18. For anyone wishing to comment to BCUC, this comment letter pretty much knocks it out of the ballpark.

    Click to access DOC_47249_E-207_Midgley_Letter-of-comment_Redacted.pdf

    I also am not that optimistic that BCUC is now any more legitimate than the “rigged show” that is the National Energy Board”, but if the comments received stay around 250 I can here those overpaid buffoons crowing about how their is no real problem with the proletariat paying for everything. At least if they had a few thousand critical comments and then ignored them, we would know for sure it’s another rigged game and could be the wedge issue to throw the whole pack of quislings out.

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  19. ” Pogo, the confidence of ignorance has not yet died out” – Porkypine .”We have met the enemy and he is us” – Pogo Possum.
    Laila, that was your soul speaking. Until we all start listening to our souls and let it speak – and stop voting for those who live in our glorious province who look around them and only see ways to convert what they see into cash will steadily ruin us and our heritage. They make it appear thst upon every desicration proposed by Daddy Warbucks depends our food, shelter and livelihood. Until we understand that Industry controls our government and what little media is left, and that the oil industry controls industry, we will more and more be left to dream of what used to be. We elect these cretins and then when we try to offset their evil by voting NDP or Green we find that they have no stomach for the fight assuming, it would seem, and perhaps correctly, that we prefer progress as defined by the oil industry because otherwise there may be sacrifices to make.
    It’s one thing to be a peaceful people quite another to be supine.

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    1. Just found this comment in the spam Rafe… and immediately freed it along with a few others.

      Unfortunately far too many still feel uncomfortable speaking out about these wrongs, let alone ( God Forbid!) protest them. I had to listen to one woman go on about the inland highway on Van Isle and who built it and damn that highway was over budget because of the bloody unions!!

      Shaking my head. I am so thankful you still keep on Rafe. Because you are of the few who still give me hope. 🙂

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  20. […] It’s thrilling to see the #notrealworld hashtag continue to generate such great discussion and thought. So many new faces tweeting. So much agreement across partisan lines. And that’s the heart of it. Doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do.. not because it is politically expedient. We can’t sit and watch this continue.  Do not let that feeling go. You see what we can do working together? You did that. With your collective voices.  It’s time to decide what kind of a province you want this to be.  […]

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