7 comments

• Thursday, 11 November 2010 22:37 posted by priscilla judd

  Too bad I can't see your video on slow seed dial up but Internet regulation has been left up to corporations.
  
  50% of rural Canadians don't have high speed Internet access even though high speed Internet is becoming more and more important. As long as rural Canada is not hooked into the Internet - rural populations will not increase.
  
  As long as rural Canada remains low in population, corporate access to rural resources becomes easier and easier. This needs to change if we want rural resources to remain for future generations.
  
  It is the rural people and First Nations people who see the power grabs and resource extraction unfold. They report it and protest it and to be successful, rural Canada needs to be part of the high speed Internet society.

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• Monday, 19 April 2010 13:43 posted by Mark

  For an account of the water war in Cochabamba, Bolivia as told by one of its leaders visit Democracy Now (April 19, 2010): http://bit.ly/a5ZdT1

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• Friday, 16 April 2010 14:34 posted by Robert

  Mr. Weyler references the experience of the 'water wars' in Bolivia to good effect, but probably misinterprets those events in a couple of key ways.
  
  First, Bechtel did not make a grab for the water of the entire country - just for the water of the city of Cochabamba.
  
  But more importantly he suggests that our solution here in BC is to 'rise up' like the people of Bolivia. I spent more than a year in Bolivia and am quite familiar with its history, culture and politics. Unlike us (I mean those of settler and immigrant background, not our indigenous brothers and sisters) Bolivians have a deep culture of resistance to foreign domination that goes back centuries. That being said, one key reason they rose up and kicked Bechtel out of the country is that their backs were literally against the wall - there you had a gigantic multinational corporation bilking some of the poorest people in the continent out of the little water they had.
  
  We here in the BC, on the other hand, live for the most part in a highly comfortable illusion of prosperity. Our backs are far from the wall. In fact most of us, in spite of our opposition to governments, are doing quite well, economically speaking.
  
  So no, we here in BC will not rise up, no matter how hard populists out there try to rile us. Like the people of Bolivia and everywhere, we won't do anything other that 'legally protest' (ie, beg our leaders to change) until our own backs are against the wall, and by then it will be too late.
  
  By the way, I say 'legally protest' to highlight the contrasts with Bolivia. Down there the people did not 'legally protest'. In order to reverse the privatization of their water they engaged in violent confrontations with the army and police sent by their corrupt government to put down the revolt - and people died and were injured. Can we envision large scale, politically-driven, violent confrontations between ordinary British Columbians and the police and armed forces? Can you picture Raife Mair lobbing molotov cocktails at the cops? Of course not, the mere thought is ludicrous right!!
  
  But yes, that is what an uprising looks like, and it just might be what it would take to reverse the privatization of BC's rivers.

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• Wednesday, 14 April 2010 02:16 posted by Paul Repstock

  Fear of an uncertain future has destroyed our morality. More likely, ‘civilization was always a thin veneer’.
  Mr. Wyler, and others are correct in the assessment of the resource grab. This is mirrored in every area of human endeavor. The ‘ownership’ of every asset from: agricultural land to water, and even intellectual property, is being concentrated in ever fewer hands.
  The fear is promoting a lifeboat mentality. Politicians and civil servants, while not having productive skills to sell to the Accumulators, are able to parley and market their regulatory powers and connections to the governing network. Sadly, our system has been stripped of any meaningful accountability.
  
  The greatest problem however is that we have all so easily accepted the ‘Endgame Scenario’. Personal survival is the highest end of an organism. But, when we allow personal survival to supersede the survival of the species we have an untenable situation. Each individual’s allotted time is brief. Indeed our species’ history is short in the scale of time. However, that is the scale we must deal with. The point is that we must strive to defeat the conservative, ‘Dog in the manger’, viewpoints of the very small group which is trying to enshrine their positions and power which will at best survive their own lifetimes. We must strive to become the best we can as a species. It is said that a chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link. The Accumulators appear to be trying to circumvent this by shortening the chain. Since 95% of the world’s population is underprivileged and undereducated and therefore have no chance of being part of the chain, this appears very wasteful. It also certainly dooms the human race to extinction. Throughout history the number of people who have made important discoveries and contributions has been very small. By disenfranchising and even discarding the bulk of the population we reduce the possibilities of growth even further. No race or region has an advantage in intelligence. The only differences come from opportunity.
  
  The resource policies we allow our corporate citizens to pursue at home and abroad are stupid. By making a grab for physical short term riches these entities are sowing the seeds of destruction. Whether it be oil from Nigeria or water from Canada, the wealth generated is a bandaid solution.
  The resources are plundered without heed to the real costs to the planet and the people. The species plateau Mr. Wyler spoke of does not exist outside of theoretical models. The reason I suggest we must help all people to improve is that humans do not live in a model or a vacuum. Our recorded history is a cosmic eye blink. Even minor cosmic events have the ability to seriously threaten our species. The future I envision is very distant. When the stars are no longer denied by distance, when we can build a structure that is expected to last a thousand years, then perhaps we can consider mankind to be a viable species.
  
  By allowing resource extraction protected by armies financed by payola we are ensuring that the bulk of our greatest resource, human ingenuity, is discarded on the slagheap.
  
  We would not allow our bankers to steal our money when entrusted with protecting it. Why then are we allowing our government representatives to sell our country and steal our future?

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• Tuesday, 13 April 2010 15:29 posted by Barry Saxifrage

  Rex makes lots of good points.
  
  However the final thumping statement that BC is self-sufficient in energy is just plain wrong.
  
  The primary energy used in BC is oil. BC uses 100,000GWh per year of oil. BC oil production peaked years ago and now we produce less than 20% of what we use. So BC must import 75,000GWh of oil energy each year.
  
  Compare to the 55,000GWh of energy BC Hydro produces and I think it is obvious that BC is no where near energy self-sufficiency.
  
  In addition climate change is already clearcutting BC forests and acidifying our oceans and killing our species. If we want to cut our climate pollution, as required by law, we will need to cut our 160,000GWh per year in fossil fuel use by 140,000GWh. That is a lot of energy to stop using at a time BC population is expected to grow over 30%.
  
  The dilemma in BC energy is how to get off fossil fuels fast enough to save our ecosystems, food and water sources.
  
  Oh, by the way, that 75% of BC energy use that is fossil fuels...it all comes from private energy corporations.
  
  Rex is right we need to cut energy use. The question is how can we grow our population 30% and yet get by with just a fraction of the energy we use now as a society?
  
  Do we need more clean energy to fuel switch some of those fossil fuel from? If so where does it come from that can happen soon enough and with the least impacts?

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• Sunday, 11 April 2010 21:17 posted by Hendrik Jan Saaltink P.Eng.

  I worked closely with Dr Keenleyside during the days that BC Hydro was taking over from BC Electric. I had a responsible part in the planning and design of the Mica Creek Project. Canada's interest and BC's interest were our highest priorities in those days. I am appalled by the current policies of the Provincial Government.I support the views expressed by Rex Weyler , but I am afraid it will require more to change things. Massive grass roots protests is the only thing that might work !!!!!

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• Sunday, 11 April 2010 10:56 posted by Geoff Barnard

  This came to me from BCWF, and seems pertinent.
  Geoff Barnard, Victoria.
  
  Insiders move to IPP industry
  
  http://www.publicpowerbc.ca/insiders-move-ipp-industry
  
  
  Submitted by murmar on Wed, 2009-01-14 12:09.
  
  After Sean Holman reported another prominent member of the BC Liberals was taking a job in the highly lucrative IPP industry, I decided to make a list of who else has moved from the BC Government, BC Liberal Party, and BC Hydro to take highly paid jobs in the extremely lucrative IPP industry. While there is no direct evidence of conflict of interest, there seems to be a troublesome pattern of BC Government and Liberal party insiders being employed by these power corporations. Many have inside knowledge of government policy and processes that probably could lead to the enrichment of the companies that many have moved to. Here is what a cursory search found. Feel free to add to the list anyone I have missed.
  
  Mark Grant, BC Liberal executive director, resigns December 12, 2008 to join Rupert Peace Power.
  
  David Cyr, former Assistant to BC Liberal Minister Mike de Jong, is now a director at Plutonic Power.
  
  Robert Poore, recently worked under the Provincial Revenue Minister of the Province of BC, now is a senior director at Plutonic Power.
  
  Tom Syer, who has held a variety of senior positions in the BC Government including Gordon Campbell’s Deputy Chief of Staff, is now a director at Plutonic Power.
  
  Bill Irwin, after holding key positions in the BC Ministries of Land and Water, and Crown Lands, now is a director at Plutonic Power.[4]
  
  Bruce Ripley spent the last 2 of his 16 years at BC Hydro as VP Engineering, now is President and CEO of Plutonic Power.
  
  Elisha McCallum (Moreno), after 7 years with BC Hydro as a media relations manager, moved to a directorship with Plutonic Power.
  
  Bruce Young, has held several high profile positions with the BC Liberal party and lobbied his own party on behalf of Katabatic Power is listed as a director of Atla Energy.
  
  Stephen Kukucha, former senior policy advisor for the BC Ministry of Environment, is now president and CEO of Atla Energy.
  
  Bob Herath, former Assistant Regional Water Manager for the BC Ministry of Environment is now with Syntaris Power.[7]
  
  Paul Taylor, after his work as President and CEO of crown corporation ICBC as well as high level positions in the BC Government, is now President and CEO of Naikun Wind Energy Group.
  
  Michael J. O’Conner, former President and CEO of Crown Corporation BC Transit, now holds senior positions at Naikun.
  
  Jackie Hamilton, formerly held various BC Government environmental assessment and regulatory management positions, is now a VP at Cloudworks Energy.
  
  Michael Margolick, held positions in resource and strategic planning at BC Hydro, now is the Vice President of Power and Transmission planning at Naikun Wind.
  
  Robert Price, after a 30-year career at BC Hydro and Power Authority which culminated as the utility’s Vancouver Island transmission line construction, supervision and operations manager, now a member of the Hawkeye ‘team’ (website is not clear on Price’s position at Hawkeye).
  
  Mr. Paul Adams, after a 33-year career with BC Hydro in which he held senior management positions, now is another ‘team’ member at Hawkeye.[13]
  
  Doug Bishop, formerly 32 years with BC Hydro and Powerex, was contracted in 2004 by Plutonic Power.
  
  Ron Monk former BC Hydro Engineer, now employed by Kerr Wood Leidal engineering firm used by IPPs.
  
  Wayne Chambers, a former BC Hydro power plant and substation operator, now a manager at Cloudworks.
  
  Alexander Kiess, after long career with BC Hydro in management, now works as a consultant to Syntaris Power.
  
  Geoff Plant, former BC Liberal Attorney General, now chair of Renaissance Power.
  
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