Today the Federal government announced its path forward on the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project. In response, my office issued the media release reproduced below.

Media Release

Weaver: Terms of new environmental review of Trans Mountain a concern
For immediate release
September 21, 2018

VICTORIA, B.C. – Andrew Weaver, leader of the B.C. Green party, is raising concerns about the federal government’s approach to reviewing the Trans Mountain pipeline project. Earlier this month, the Federal Court of Appeal quashed the federal government’s approval due to the flawed NEB process.

“This process must be clear from political control and therefore needs to be free from a politically-imposed timeline,” said Weaver.

“Any process that is about getting to ‘yes’ will inevitably fail to protect the public interest. Environmental assessments must be objective and evidence-based. And meaningful consultation with Indigenous people must ensure they are approached as partners, not as barriers to be overcome on the way to a predetermined approval.

“The federal approval of this project was always political. The Prime Minister campaigned to subject all new projects to a revised NEB process, yet pushed Trans Mountain through the old broken one. Meanwhile, additional conditions were imposed on Energy East to ensure the project was assessed through the critical lense of climate change. Why would those same considerations not matter in the case of a pipeline through B.C.? There is no reason for B.C. to shoulder such significant risk simply to fulfill political agendas.

“Both colleague Adam Olsen and I were interveners in the original NEB hearings, focusing on the consequences of a marine spill and on Indigenous rights. We are exploring whether we have rights to intervene in the new hearings.

“We are also sitting down with the provincial government to ensure that they are using all legally available means, including terminating the equivalency agreement signed by the previous administration, to protect our coast from a catastrophic diluted bitumen spill.”

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Media contact
Jillian Oliver, Press Secretary
+1 778-650-0597 | jillian.oliver@leg.bc.ca

Many constituents and other residents of British Columbia have contacted me about the September 7 announcement that this year, BC would allow a maximum rent increase starting January 1, 2019 of 4.5%. This is the largest allowable increase since 2004 and follows on the heels of a 4% increase in 2018. In fact, during the four years under the BC Liberals, the compounded maximum allowable rental increase was 11.8%. In just two years, the BC NDP have allowed an 8.7% compounded increase.

As renters struggle amidst the affordability crisis, this has raised renewed calls regarding why our caucus does not support giving all renters, regardless of their income, a $400 annual rebate. In this piece I provide more insight.

1. Where we are today

British Columbia already has two very successful rental subsidy programs targeting low-income residents:

1. Shelter aid for elderly renters (SAFER) which “helps make rents affordable for BC seniors with low to moderate incomes. “
2. Rental assistance program which “provides eligible low-income, working families with cash assistance to help with their monthly rent payments.”

The BC Greens argued that these critical programs needed to be better funded and were pleased that we were listened to when Budget 2018 was announced and increased funding was delivered. Nevertheless, these programs still require additional support.

The NDP’s campaign promise of a $400 renter’s rebate would cost $200 million and would flow through renters into the pockets of landlords. It is our position that there are cheaper, more effective ways to support renters while also enabling government to put that $200 million into other affordable housing initiatives that won’t simply be absorbed by the market.

Affordability was the number one issue we heard from voters and alleviating some of the pressure British Columbians are feeling is a key shared commitment of our Confidence and Supply Agreement with the BC NDP. We have already implemented a number of policies that we both agree on, and in this case we simply have a disagreement about the effectiveness of giving a blanket rebate to all renters. Our Caucuses continue to work closely every day to develop policies to address the affordability crisis that we can both support.

In our view, the most obvious is the formula that is used to calculate the maximum allowable rental increase: 2% plus the rate of inflation.

So while BC will allow a 4.5% rent increase in 2019, Ontario (which has faced its own housing crisis in Toronto) has only allowed 1.8%. This is the same as what is allowed in Quebéc for 2019. Manitoba permitted a 1.3% increase in 2018, compared to BC’s 4.0% (the 2019 rate for Manitoba was not available at the time of writing, but based on the way it is calculated, it’s pretty obvious it will be well below BC’s).

My colleague Adam Olsen is working hard on the Rental Housing Task Force with NDP MLAs Spencer Chandra-Herbert and Ronna-Rae Leonard. They have completed their province-wide consultations and are preparing their recommendations. Their report will include a review of the allowable rental increase. I have expressed to government that the report should be released as soon as possible so we can implement a comprehensive suite of measures to support renters, ideally before the 90 days’ notice required for a January 1 rent increase kicks in.

This Task Force is an example of the unique benefits of a minority government: MLAs from different parties and perspectives are listening to British Columbians and bring forth collaborative, evidence-based recommendations. I believe this will lead to better policies that get the most out of our provincial budget and I am looking very forward to their report.

2. Delving into the numbers

Let me give a specific example as to why we have been pushing government to take a good hard look at this formula.

Let’s suppose that in December 2017 you were paying 1,500$ a month rent and that you had been given notice that your rent was going up the maximum allowable amount in January 2018. The same thing happens in December 2018.

Well we know that the maximum allowable amount is 2% plus the rate of inflation: in 2018 that was 4% and in 2019 it is (as of today) 4.5%.

So in 2018 your rent would be $1,560 per month. In 2019 your rent would be $1,630 per month.

In 2018 you would pay in total $720 more than you did in 2017. In 2019 you would pay in total $840 more than you did 2018. In just two years, you are now paying $1,560 more a year for rent.

Let’s be quite clear: 100% of the rent increase goes to the landlord (a portion of which flows through to their increasing expenses).

Let’s suppose the government gave every renter $400 a year whether they need it or not. In the example above, you would now only be paying $320 more in 2018 than you did in 2017 and $440 more in 2019 than in 2018. Your net increase would only be $760 over two years. Obviously at first glance, this might look good.

The BC NDP promise to give renters $400 a year would cost the taxpayer $200 million per year and that money would essentially flow through renters to landlords. In essence, it is a landlord subsidy.

What the BC Greens have been pushing for is taking a hard look at the allowable rental increase formula. What if, for example, rate increases were only allowed to be 2% in each year (still above the Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba rates).

We can redo everything above.

Your rent would be $1,530 a month in 2018 and $1,561 a month in 2019. You would pay $360 more a year in 2018 compared to 2017 and $372 more in 2019 compared to 2018. That makes a $732 increase over the two years (compared to $760 under the NDP handout plan).

What’s more, this change costs the taxpayer nothing.

3. The way forward

The example above shows that compounding interest adds up quickly and that a renter is better off when government address annual allowable rent increases instead of handing out $400 cheques to every renter.

What’s more, $200 million has been saved. And that money could, and should, go into building affordable housing.

Finally, as I outlined above, there are other tools available to government. One I believe we need to give serious attention to is the fact that in BC, stratas are allowed to prohibit all or some fraction of their units from being rented out. This is not the case in Ontario, for example. There would certainly be substantive downward pressure on rental markets (and increased value in some cases for strata units) were this restriction to be lifted. But in doing so, one would have to be careful to ensure that Strata is given a copy of the lease and granted the power of eviction, that short term (vacation rental) restrictions would still be allowed,  and the unit owner retained liability for the tenant. Adam tells me there are additional measures that the task force is working on, and I am looking forward to seeing those recommendations. I’d be interested in reading any feedback readers wish to provide me on this topic.

Today I was afforded the opportunity to present to delegates at the 115^th Union of BC Municipalities Convention in Whistler. I focused my speech on the challenges and opportunities of global warming.

Below I reproduce the text and video of the speech. The sound quality in the video is not ideal.

Text of Speech

In the span of just a few centuries, Earth has made a transition from a past, when climate affected the evolution of human societies, to the present, in which humans are affecting the evolution of the climate system.

Today we are at a pivotal moment in human history; our generation will be responsible for deciding what path the future climate will take.

You and I, as elected officials, will either be complicit in allowing climate change to despoil our world – or we can lead the way and choose a new future.

Prior to becoming the MLA for Oak Bay – Gordon Head and the leader of the BC Green Party, I was an atmosphere/ocean/climate scientist, with a background in physics and applied mathematics at the University of Victoria. I was a Lead Author of four United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports.

When asked what I believe will be the most serious consequences of global warming I always reply with the same two answers. The first concerns the effect of global warming on the world’s natural ecosystems; the second involves global security and geopolitical instability.

I would like to speak to you about both topics, the first I will tackle as a scientist and the second as a politician.

I also want to acknowledge the challenging summer that many of you have had. I can only imagine how terrible it has been to have your communities threatened by fire. How exhausting, stressful, and traumatic it must be to be on front lines of a provincial state of emergency. I’m glad to see you all here today and grateful for the opportunity to speak to you.

In light of your experiences, I wont dwell on the topic of forest fires. You know better than anyone how serious, how costly and how uncontrollable they have become.

I will however, speak about climate change as clearly as I can. I do not aim to alarm, but need to emphasize the severity of the threat that lies ahead. We must speak about this issue in accurate terms that are often missing in government meetings, public discourse, and media coverage.

The fires of the past two summers were no surprise to the climate science community. Back in 2004, my colleagues and I published a paper in Geophysical Research Letters pointing out that we could already back then detect and attribute the increasing area burnt in Canadian forests to human-caused global warming.

We know that global warming will lead to increasing likelihood of summer drought. This in turn will lead to more and more extensive wildfires.

We know that precipitation extremes will increase and that flooding events will be on the rise.

The current state of BC’s climate is not “the new normal” as many have been saying this summer. Normal implies a plateau and consistency. We are not on a plateau; we’re on a steep trend towards increasingly extreme events. I’m sad to say, this is just the beginning and what is occurring worldwide pales in comparison as to what we have in store.

Over hundreds of millions of years, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, together with global temperatures, dropped slowly as carbon was slowly stored in the sediments of the deep ocean and the great oil, gas and coal reserves of today. Yet in the matter of just a few decades, the carbon, drawn down over many tens of millions of years is being released back to the atmosphere. In but a single generation, humans are taking atmospheric conditions back to the age of dinosaurs.

Metaphorically, we are piling more blankets on an overheating planet. The hotter it gets, the more symptoms, if you will, humans will experience.

If global emissions do not start to dramatically decline in the next few years many millions of people, including British Columbians, will be at risk from heat waves, drought, floods, storms, and wildfires. Our coasts and cities will be threatened by rising sea levels.

Sadly, tomorrow, category 4 hurricane Florence will make landfall on the coast of the Carolinas. Yes the science community has warned that global warming will lead to an increase in intense hurricanes. Yes the scientific community has warmed that sea level rise coupled with storm surges will have devastating effects on coastal communities. But are our elected leaders in North America listening?

Many ecosystems, plants, and animals will face widespread extinction.

This isn’t new information. Scientists have been speaking out for decades. And therein lies the difference between global warming and many other environmental concerns. It is the scientific community — not so-called foreign funded environmentalists ‑ who have been ringing the alarm bells.

I recognize that some chose to listen to the charlatans who tell them what they want to here, but I can assure you that the concern within the global scientific community is very real and very profound.

We are on target to take ocean acidity levels into a realm for which there is no known analogue. Most of the world’s heritage coral reef systems, including the Great Barrier reef, will become extinct this century.

In Canada, overall precipitation will increase, but it will come in fewer, more extreme events, interspersed between longer periods of drought. There will be an increased risk of flooding. And wildfire.

At the rate we are going, we are looking at between 20 and 50% of the world’s species, almost certainly including the iconic Fraser River Sockeye, becoming committed to extinction this century.

For BC the threat goes beyond wildfires and drought. Global warming is a threat to our economic well being.

Yes, climate change has some potentially horrible consequences. But there is an opportunity here too, and I think British Columbia is brave enough to seize it.

I have a vision for how BC can position itself as a leader in the 21st century economy, something that may look different for every community.

To start, BC has three strategic advantages over virtually every other region in the world.

1. The quality of life and natural environment allows us to attract and retain some of the best and brightest minds from around the globe — we are a destination of choice.
2. We have a highly skilled and educated workforce. Our high school students are consistently top ranked internationally. They are smart, well trained and they are ready to go to work.
3. We have access to renewable resources — energy, water, and wood — like no other jurisdiction. We have incredible potential to create a clean, renewable energy sector to sustain our growing economy.

To capitalize on these advantages, we need to start planning beyond the next election cycle. We need to focus on building a new economy that works for all of us — not just the privileged few. Policies must be based on principles and evidence, not political calculation and opportunism.

And governments must put people’s interests first – ahead of entrenched industry – because building healthy, safe, secure communities needs to be prioritized in a changing world.

Since the election my BC Green Caucus colleagues and I have been working closely with the NDP government to develop a clean growth strategy for BC —one that embraces climate policy as an economic strategy. Papers outlining the direction were released this summer and the first phase will start this fall.

The BC Green caucus and BC NDP both agree the development of a clean growth strategy must empower communities to identify and seize opportunities that are unique to their regions. You know your communities best.

It must be built in partnership with Indigenous peoples and bring the principles of UNDRIP into action. We will work with Indigenous communities to ensure that rights, title, lands, territories, culture, traditional knowledge and identities are protected by and included in BC’s clean growth.

I’m afraid there are no easy fixes. Dealing with global warming requires us to challenge ourselves to be bold and fundamentally reconstruct core structures of our economy and energy system.

There was a time and place where fossil fuels contributed much to human advancement. They effectively allowed us to transition our industrial practices, spur economic growth and lift people out of poverty in the western world. We can recognize the incredible value that those technologies and innovations had in that place in time, but acknowledge that we are now in a different time, with a transformed economy, and we have different sources of energy, and we need to keep progressing forward.

As such, BC Hydro needs to get out of the business of building mega power projects and focus on a new core mandate of matching consumer with producer of distributed renewable energy, while using its existing dams to stabilize load.

We need to eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels.

If international leaders believe what they signed in the Paris Agreement they will know that the agreement translates into the following statement:

There can be no new investment in fossil fuel infrastructure that will last decades into the future.

That’s because you don’t build an LNG facility today to tear it down tomorrow.

We know the world has already warmed by about 1.1°C and we have another 0.6°C warming in store as we equilibrate to existing levels of greenhouse gases. The permafrost carbon feedback adds another 0.2° or so meaning we are basically hitting 1.9°C at a minimum.

There are no other options.

I know this can be a scary and overwhelming proposition. It’s a normal human reaction to resist change and instead try to preserve the status quo. But we know where that leads. We need to start – now, not next decade – to build a new way of life. It can be a shift that provides economic opportunities like the world has never seen.

Opec’s electric vehicle forecast grew by almost 500% last year: $11.5 trillion being invested globally in new power generation capacity between 2018 and 2050, with $8.4 trillion of that going to wind and solar and a further $1.5 trillion to other zero-carbon technologies such as hydro and nuclear.

By tackling climate change seriously, with carefully designed policies, BC’s economy can grow in new ways.

We will introduce policies that help our industries become the cleanest in the world, while supporting the development of innovative climate solutions and sustainable prosperity. It is only by harnessing our strategic advantages and advancing a clear vision of a thriving economy and climate leadership that go hand in hand that we can accomplish the challenges in front of us.

We must inspire British Columbians to get involved in building this future for our province – one that sees us once again become leaders on climate policy.

We can prosper in a time of crisis. But it requires us to be honest with ourselves.

In your work and mine, it is important we keep the spotlight on the stark and alarming reality of climate change, and not to get lost in the everyday bustle or the fog of November’s rain.

The time for “yes, but” arguments – yes, but other people emit more, or yes, but other industries are worse or yes, but BC is small and this is a global problem – has passed.

We now need “yes, and” arguments. Yes, other people emit more, yes, other industries will always be worse, and yes, BC is small when compared to the world. And, yet, we still need to do our part.

And collectively we must change the way we think. Rather than doubling down on the economy of the last century and giving away the farm in a desperate attempt to land an LNG investment in Kitmat, why aren’t we doing everything we can to get Tesla to invest in a Giga factory there?

Rather than bemoaning the loss of several hundred hypothetical jobs in building a pipeline, why aren’t we doing everything we can to build our manufacturing sector in light of our boundless access to renewable energy, particularly in places like Terrace — on the rail line between Prince Rupert and Chicago — the gateway to Asia and the Eastern US.

As much as we may wish, we don’t have jurisdiction over the world. But we have influence here in B.C., where we live. And that is important.

We need to work together on this. We need to involve every community, every leader, every party, every sector, every industry, every institution, and every good idea. We need everyone to look at the area they have influence in and think about how they can make positive changes in the context of a warming world.

As I heard Chief Maureen Thomas, of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, say a few weeks ago, “we need to come together and find a way to ensure our future generations can enjoy this world to the extent we do… [we must ask ourselves] Have I done enough to ensure the fondness of my grandchild?”.

I believe that our children and grand children will ask us one of two questions when they look back at the beginning of this century.

It will either be: “How could you let this happen?”

Or, if we choose a different path, they will ask: “How did you solve this problem when so many said you couldn’t?”

To be a climate scientist one must be an optimist. Frankly, I’ve found it helps you survive politics too. I am convinced my children will one day ask me the second question. And I will answer:

“We prevailed because we worked together. We saw the threat and we knew we had to deal with it.”

It will take great political courage and leadership to change the direction of the world — Society will have to change, technology will have to change. But embracing change is an exciting opportunity for innovation.

I believe we can do it. And I hope you do too because as I said in my opening:

You and I, as elected officials, will either be complicit in taking a wrong turn, or we can lead the way and choose a new path for our communities, for our province, for Canada and for the world. It has to start somewhere, why not here?

Thank you again for your time and all that you do for B.C.

Video of Speech

The BC Government today released it’s first quarterly report. The report outlines a fiscally healthy economy that is becoming more diversified. Key aspects of the BC Green Party economic vision for the province were embedded in the Confidence and Supply Agreement we signed with the BC NDP. We are very pleased to see the focus on innovation in creating a diversified 21st century economy is beginning to pay off.

Going forward, government needs to continue to nurture the diversification of our economy, in order to create prosperity for British Columbians as the climate changes and the global economy shifts.

Below is the press release that we issued in response to the first quarterly report.

Media Release

Weaver welcomes results of first quarterly report
For Immediate Release
September 7, 2018

VICTORIA, B.C. – Andrew Weaver welcomed the results of the first quarterly report, released today.

“The first quarterly report shows that B.C. continues to be on strong economic footing”, said Andrew Weaver, leader of the B.C. Green Party.

“So far in its term, this government has shown a willingness to tackle the financial problems it inherited, such as at ICBC and BC Hydro, while beginning to act on joint commitments outlined in our Confidence and Supply Agreement (CASA).

“Key parts of this government’s economic agenda came from CASA, including the focus on innovation in creating a diversified 21st century economy. Key B.C. Green initiatives embedded in CASA included establishing the Emerging Economy Task Force, which will advise government on how to respond to the changing nature of business over the next 10-25 years, and the Innovation Commissioner, who is advocating for our emerging tech sector.

“Going forward, government needs to continue to nurture the diversification of our economy, in order to create prosperity for British Columbians as the climate changes and the global economy shifts. The forthcoming clean growth strategy is a key means to accomplish this outcome.”

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Media contact
Sarah Miller, Acting Press Secretary
+1 250-858-9891 | sarah.miller@leg.bc.ca

Last week, the Federal Appeal Court ruling revealed that politics was put ahead of evidence and reconciliation in the federal cabinet approval of the Transmountain pipeline project. My colleague Adam Olsen, MLA for Saanich North and the Islands and I both feel vindicated after many years serving as intervenors in the NEB process. The reasons cited in the Federal Court of Appeal ruling validated the key aspects of our arguments during the intervention process.

This presents an opportunity for the BC Government to step in and stand up for the protection of our coast.

On January 11, 2017, then Premier Christy Clark announced that her government’s five conditions had been been met. The Transmountain Pipeline project was given the green light.

Reacting to the announcement, John Horgan said he planned to “use every tool in our tool box” to stop the project. Indeed, these same words are embedded in our confidence and supply agreement:

“Immediately employ every tool available to the new government to stop the expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline“

Well the BC Government has now been granted the ultimate tool. Given that the provincial cabinet’s approval of the project relied on the same NEB report, and in light of the Federal Court of Appeal’s ruling that the report was “impermissibly flawed”, the BC Government has the opportunity to pull out of the Equivalency Agreement and conduct its own, independent environmental assessment.

This is particularly important in light of the “it will be built” rhetoric emanating from the Trudeau government. How can British Columbians trust an environmental assessment process when the final answer has already been prescribed? The answer is simple, it can’t.

Below is the media statement that we released yesterday on this topic. There is an excellent contextual analysis of the issue in Ainslie Cruickshank‘s article that was published yesterday in the Star Vancouver.

Rest assured, the BC Green Caucus will closely monitor government’s response to our call. We don’t see any compelling reason not to pull out of the equivalency agreement in light of the fact that it is such an important tool now available in the so-called BC NDP toolbox.

Media Release

Andrew Weaver statement on the need for a made-in-B.C. environmental assessment of the Trans Mountain expansion project
For immediate release
6 September 2018

VICTORIA, B.C. – Today Andrew Weaver urged the Province to undertake its own made-in-B.C. environmental assessment of the Trans Mountain pipeline.

“It is clear that B.C. cannot rely on the Federal government to protect our environment from the risks of this project”, said Andrew Weaver, Leader of the B.C. Green Party.

“The Federal Court of Appeal has ruled that there were ‘successive, unacceptable deficiencies’ in the NEB report. As a result, they found that the NEB’s report and recommendations could not be relied upon to make a decision in the public interest.

“Yet the Federal government insists that they will get this pipeline built. This rhetoric shows that they have already determined the outcome, and that they are in a rush to build this pipeline. As a result, it is clear that we cannot trust the Federal government to proceed in an objective and unbiased manner.”

The previous provincial government signed an equivalency agreement with the NEB in 2010, which meant that B.C. relied upon the NEB report in issuing its environmental certificate for the Trans Mountain expansion.

“B.C. needs to be in control of our own environmental review process, to make sure it is objective and evidence-based”, said Weaver. “The provincial government should terminate the equivalency agreement signed by the previous administration. Now is the time to use the tools at our disposal to ensure our environment is protected from the risks of an oil spill.”

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Media contact
Sarah Miller, Acting Press Secretary
+1 250-858-9891 | sarah.miller@leg.bc.ca