From The Tyee - April 1, 2011

by Andrew McLeod

Even before British Columbia NDP leadership candidates headed into an April 2 debate in Vancouver centred on environmental sustainability, observers were noting the role green issues have had in the campaign.

That role provides a contrast both to the recent BC Liberal leadership race and the NDP's own record in the 2009 election.

"They're talking about issues unprompted by us," said Kevin Washbrook, a Conservation Voters of B.C. board member. "Generally I'd say it has a place of prominence in the race. More so than it did in the Liberal race."

CVBC is evaluating Mike Farnworth, Adrian Dix, John Horgan, Nicholas Simons and Dana Larsen's positions and may or may not endorse anyone, but won't have that ready for at least another week, he said.

The group Organizing for Change put a list of questions to all of the leadership candidates in both the Liberal and the NDP races.

"In the Liberal race it was like pulling teeth to get answers to those questions," said provincial OFC lead Lisa Matthaus. Of the Liberals, just Mike de Jong answered, and he did so at the very end of the campaign, she said.

"With the NDP they've all responded, except for Dana Larsen," Matthaus said. And since responding, they've continued to release environmental positions. "It's interesting to see how much more the NDP is making the environment part of the debate among themselves."

'Huge departure' for NDP: Vicky Husband

All the front runners have picked up the environmental banner, said long time environmentalist Vicky Husband, who added she believes John Horgan is the most committed among them.

"We never saw Carole James take a strong stand on an environmental issue," said Husband. Comparing the race to where the NDP was in the last election, she said, "I think it's a huge departure. I think they were on the wrong side, certainly on the carbon tax issue."

While the NDP championed other important environmental issues in the campaign, including re-evaluating run-of-the-river hydro projects, the carbon tax position put them offside with a large part of the environmental community, said Husband, a past conservation chair of the Sierra Club B.C. and a veteran of campaigns to preserve Clayoquot Sound rainforest, the Great Bear rainforest and wild salmon fisheries.

The Pembina Institute's Matt Horne, who was among prominent environmentalists who denounced the NDP's axe-the-tax position in 2009, said the NDP candidates all support keeping the carbon tax, though they would tweak it in various ways to make it work better. "[It] is a significant change from where they were in the last election," he said.

While there's further to go if B.C. is to meet its goals for carbon emission reductions, it's a positive step, he said.

Platform details

John Horgan was the first to release an environmental platform. The Juan de Fuca MLA's long list said he'd expand the carbon tax, invest in transit, pass an Endangered Species Act and protect more old growth forests.

Port Coquitlam MLA Mike Farnworth's environmental platform includes keeping a steady amount of land in the Agricultural Land Reserve, moving salmon farms to closed containment, giving local governments more say on significant projects, restricting raw log exports and planting more trees. He'd keep the carbon tax and extend it to industrial emitters, using it to pay for transit and other green initiatives.

Adrian Dix, who represents Vancouver-Kingsway, would use carbon tax revenues for transit and green infrastructure, invest in the park system and protect endangered species and ecosystems. He'd also recreate Environmental Youth Teams to create jobs for young people doing green work.

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