Media Release

Media Statement October 22, 2015
Culture of Cover-up Must End Now: Andrew Weaver MLA
For Immediate Release

Victoria, B.C. – Andrew Weaver, Deputy Leader of the B.C. Green Party and MLA for Oak Bay Gordon Head welcomes the report today from Elizabeth Denham, Office of Information and Privacy Commission, and is calling on the government to immediately implement the report’s recommendations on documentation and retention of records.

“The government has repeatedly been criticized for either providing incomplete records, or claiming that no records exist, in response to Freedom of Information requests. They’ve further been criticized for ignoring previous recommendations concerning the creation and retention of records, use of personal email for government business, and oral communications where notes and documents should be required,” said Andrew Weaver, “There is a pervasive culture of cover-up that has become the status quo under this government. This has to end now.”

Further, Andrew Weaver is calling on the Premier to immediately implement the following recommendations from the OIPC:

1. Technological changes to stop employees from permanently deleting emails;
2. Mandatory training in records management, including training on what is a transitory record and what is not;
3. Best practices to ensure that employees follow correct processes when responding to access to information requests and meet the duty to assist;
4. Legislative changes including a duty to document key decisions of government, and oversight of information management and destruction of records with sanctions for non-compliance.

“The commissioner was clear when she stated that: ‘these practices threaten the integrity of access to information in British Columbia’ and I completely agree.” said Andrew Weaver, “The Premier ran on a promise of openness and transparency in government; evidently her definition of those terms is at odds with Elizabeth Denham’s as well as British Columbians’.”

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Media Contact
Mat Wright
Press Secretary – Andrew Weaver MLA
Cell: 250 216 3382
Mat.wright@leg.bc.ca
Twitter: @MatVic

Parliament Buildings
Room 027C
Victoria BC V8V 1X4

Media Release: September 30, 2015
Andrew Weaver Calls Site C Dam Fiscally Foolish
For Immediate Release

Victoria B.C. – In a debate on the Site C dam in the B.C. Legislature today Andrew Weaver, MLA for Oak Bay – Gordon Head and Deputy Leader of the B.C. Green Party will reject the need for the Site C dam, calling the project ‘fiscally foolish, socially irresponsible and environmentally unsound’.

The debate has been called on a motion brought forward by the Minister of Energy and Mines, The Honourable Bill Bennett, for the House to support the construction of the Site C Clean Energy Project.

In his response to the motion, Andrew Weaver will make seven points arguing alternatives to Site C which will demonstrate clear fiscal, environmental and social benefits for the province.

1: Site C will require the flooding of 16,000 acres of viable agricultural land where alternative energy projects can provide the same power without the footprint;
2: First Nations traditional land use and provincial historical sites would be preserved;
3: Job creation associated with Site C is constrained to one region while alternative energy projects would benefit communities throughout the province, with better long term job prospects;
4: Cost overruns associated to Site C will be borne by provincial taxpayers. Solar, wind and geothermal project risks are covered by industry;
5: Renewable energy projects can be done in partnership with First Nations who would directly benefit through employment and revenue from installed facilities;
6: Site C will take far longer to complete, and is not scalable compared to wind and solar.
7: Renewable energy projects would be located closer to where the energy is required, benefiting regions throughout the province, and reducing energy loss through transmission.

While the Joint Review Panel did not specifically recommend or reject the Site C project, the report highlighted the lack of analysis on renewable alternatives, significant adverse effects on fish, wildlife and wetlands, and unmitigable adverse effects on First Nations traditional land use. In addition, the Canadian Geothermal Energy Association issued a comprehensive report demonstrating the viability of equivalent firm power at a cheaper megawatt rate, and with construction costs of $3.3 billion vs the estimated Site C costs now approaching $9 billion.

“I have been pointing out for several years now that Site C is the wrong project at the wrong time” said Andrew Weaver, “There are clear, viable and cheaper alternatives which the government is deliberately ignoring in order to justify a truly damaging decision. Imagine if we invested $9 billion into the clean technology sector, what a boost that would mean to the economy and employment around the province.”

The full transcript of Andrew Weaver’s speech is attached and will be available at www.andrewjweaver.ca, along with previous statements and analysis on the Site C project.

Media Inquiries

Mat Wright
Press Secretary – Andrew Weaver MLA
Cell: 250 216 3382
Mat.wright@leg.bc.ca
Twitter: @MatVic

Parliament Buildings
Room 027C
Victoria BC V8V 1X4

Media Release- September 3^rd 2015
Serious questions must be asked about Trans Mountain Hearing Process
For Immediate Release
 
Victoria B.C. – After more than a year and a half, the National Energy Board (NEB) hearings for the Trans Mountain Expansion Project remain on hold as the previous deadline for final arguments passes. Andrew Weaver, MLA for Oak Bay Gordon Head and Deputy Leader of the BC Green Party is reiterating his call for the BC Government to establish it’s own review process.

September 3rd had been the deadline for intervenors to submit their final arguments for the NEB’s consideration under the old timeline. No new timeline has been established for when intervenors will submit their final arguments, or when the process will be resumed.

“My office prepared almost sixty pages of final arguments calling into question the evidence Kinder Morgan provided, especially around spill response.” said Andrew Weaver. “It is outrageous that once again the very impartiality of the process needs to be seriously debated. We’ve spent hundreds of hours operating under ridiculous time constraints reading thousands of pages of evidence to prepare our submissions and final arguments. The fact that in the eleventh hour the NEB is forced to put the hearing on hold points to the complete dysfunction of the current review process.”

The hearings were suspended by the NEB after Steven Kelly was appointed by Stephen Harper to the NEB in late July. Mr. Kelly is an energy consultant who was involved with preparing evidence that Kinder Morgan is in part relying on to justify the economics of their project,. This has set off a review by the NEB to identify the evidence that is connected to Mr. Kelly, striking any from the record that isn’t replaced by Kinder Morgan.

“The BC government is quick to suggest it’s five conditions are sufficient in ensuring that a project is in the best interests of British Columbians. ” said Andrew Weaver. “The fact is the five conditions can not, and do not act as a replacement for a rigorous process that allows for a diversity of intervenors to cross examine and test the evidence provided. I have lost confidence in the process. It is time for the BC Government to pull out of the equivalency agreement for this project and begin laying plans to initiate its own, rigorous review process.”

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Media Contact

Mat Wright
Press Secretary – Andrew Weaver, MLA
Cell: 250 216 3382
Email: Mat.Wright@leg.bc.ca

Media Release – August 12th 2015
Key Issues Remain Unaddressed in Draft Conditions on Trans Mountain Pipeline
For Immediate Release

Victoria B.C. – Today the National Energy Board today released 145 draft conditions for the Trans Mountain Pipeline. While highlighting a number of existing deficiencies in the application, the conditions fail to address several key concerns with the project.

“There appears to be no reference to the unique properties of diluted bitumen and its fate and behaviour in the marine environment,” said Andrew Weaver, MLA for Oak Bay Gordon head and Deputy Leader of the BC Greens. “We still have very limited scientific understanding as to what would happen if a diluted bitumen spill were to occur in our coastal waters. But published evidence suggests that a spill clean up would be much more difficult than in the case for traditional crude, if it is possible at all.”

Back in 2013, the NEB’s draft conditions for Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline included a requirement to fund a research program to study the behaviour of heavy oil (diluted bitumen) spills in freshwater and marine environments. Yet today there was no mention of any requirement for such a study.

One of the conditions released today touches on the need to expand the existing oil spill response capacity. However it fails to acknowledge the fact that there is evidence to suggest that Trans Mountain has in some cases overstated the existing response abilities.

“I am pleased that the NEB is requiring Trans Mountain to have a plan to respond to bigger spills faster. But the fact remains that under numerous weather conditions, a spill response would be impossible or severely constrained. Furthermore, there is a substantial difference between actual recovery rates and spill response capacity.” said Weaver

“It’s hard not to draw comparisons back to the Enbridge review panel, where 199 conditions were released and cross examination ensured that the risks of the project were far more rigourously examined and questioned,” noted Andrew Weaver. “The review process for the Trans Mountain project was degraded to a paperwork exchange, and many critical issues with the project remain unaddressed to this day.”

Dr. Weaver’s final argument will be available in early September when it is submitted to the National Energy Board.

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Media Contact

Mat Wright
Press Secretary – Andrew Weaver, MLA
Cell: (1) 250 216 3382 Email:
Mat.Wright@leg.bc.ca

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Media Statement July 21st 2015
As LNG bill passes, British Columbia is at odds with the global community on climate change
For Immediate Release

Victoria B.C. – British Columbia is at odds with the global community, who are calling for governments to take immediate action on addressing and mitigating climate change according to Andrew Weaver, MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head and Deputy Leader of the B.C. Green Party. This statement comes a week after calling for an emergency debate on whether B.C. legislators are acting with sufficient urgency or demonstrating the leadership needed to mitigate and prepare for climate change.

Yesterday, twenty four of the UK’s foremost academic and professional institutions – including the British Academy, the Royal Society, and the Learned Society of Wales – released a statement that said “responding to the challenge [of climate change] will require deploying the full breadth of human talent and invention. Creative policy interventions and novel technological solutions need to be fostered and applied… Capturing this potential quickly and effectively will drive economic progress.”
“Today the B.C. Liberals are forcing through legislation that they desperately hope will land a single LNG investment,” said Weaver. “At a time when it is imperative that we are making meaningful investments in low-carbon technologies, the B.C. Liberals are pulling out the stops to build fossil fuel infrastructure that will commit the province to an energy-intensive non-renewable industry for the foreseeable future.”
In reference to the regional droughts, forest fires, lack of snowpack, and fishery closures currently affecting B.C.,  Andrew Weaver last week urged the House suspend discussion of LNG legislation to discuss the government’s inaction on climate change. Responding to MLA Weaver’s statement, Finance Minister Michael de Jong said, “…we have certainly experienced some extreme conditions in the province these past number of weeks that have contributed to some challenging circumstances. We heard about that earlier from the minister. Nor do I doubt the member’s interest and commitment to addressing some of the underlying issues that may or may not be contributing to that. Having said that, we are also bound and obliged to conduct proceedings in this chamber pursuant to the standing orders.”
Both the BC NDP and the BC Liberals argued against having an emergency one hour debate on climate change.

“The juxtaposition of the B.C. government being called into a summer session to push LNG legislation through, unwilling to spend an hour discussing our response to climate change while salmon are dying in warm rivers before they can spawn, Gulf Islands are starting to truck in fresh water, and the Premier’s own riding is on fire is incredibly striking, and only further highlights the inaction we are seeing” said Weaver.

“British Columbia has all the tools it needs to tackle climate change head on; we have the renewable resources required, and the innovative, creative, and inspired population,” said Andrew Weaver. “The missing element is a government willing to demonstrate the leadership required to focus the efforts. Right now they seem content to continue rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.”

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Media contact

Mat Wright
Press Secretary – Andrew Weaver MLA
Cell: 250 216 3382
Mat.wright@leg.bc.ca
Twitter: @MatVic

Parliament Buildings
Room 027C
Victoria BC V8V 1X4