They pulled out some heavy hitters last week to put across the call against the privatization of the provinces rivers.
The Save Our Rivers Society and their Rivers at Risk tour pulled into the city on Friday, providing a two hour presentation at the downtown Nisga’a Hall, allowing their panel to outline their hopes of achieving the cancellation of the BC Energy plan, which is the main conduit that many of the activists fear could lead to the control over the future use of our rivers.
Among the panel members making the tour of the Northwest were North Coast MLA Gary Coons, documentary film maker Damien Gillis and former Social Credit cabinet minister and long time talk show host Rafe Mair.
Mair was once banned in Terrace (line forms on the right folks) for his outspoken commentaries against the plans of the then Alcan Corporation to build the Kemano completion project. A ban we gather which has been lifted, as his thoughts of the day have been given more credibility over the years.
He has been a long time critic of the Campbell government’s power initiatives and has expressed great concerns over the privatization of the rivers and how it is removing provincial control over the valuable natural resource, as well as the ongoing marginalization of BC Hydro to the province.
The Daily News provided a review of their Prince Rupert stop with a front page story in Tuesday’s paper.
ACTIVISTS LOOK TO TURN TIDE ON ‘PRIVATIZATION’ OF RIVERS
Broadcaster Rafe Mair among those in town to push for protection of B. C.’s waterways
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
October 21, 2008
Pages one and three
The official spokesperson from the Save Our Rivers Society was in Prince Rupert on Friday to speak to residents about the possible sale of British Columbia’s rivers to multinational corporations.
Rafe Mair, a hall of fame broadcaster and former Social Credit Minister of Environment, recently visited Terrace, Kitimat and Prince Rupert on a local leg of the “Rivers at Risk” tour, which is aimed at raising public awareness about what could potentially be the future use of hundreds of B. C.’s watersheds for private power projects.
During the two-hour presentations, Mair shared the stage with documentary film maker Damien Gillis, Joe Foy of the Wilderness Committee, Andy Ross of the COPE 378 “Take Back the Power” campaign and North Coast MLA Gary Coons to discuss the economic, environmental, and social consequences of such a scenario, which the society has called the “largest resource heist in Canadian history.”
“Since 2003, the BC Energy Plan has forbidden our profitable public utility BC Hydro from doing it’s job growing our green power assets, and instead forced our utility to write extraordinarily overpriced purchase orders to buy power from private hands, making power with our money and our rivers,” explains the Save Our Rivers Society website.
“Together, we will bring about the cancellation of the BC Energy Plan and its restrictions on public power development, the cancellation of private power water licences, and the cancellation of the BC Hydro-Accenture contract which saw 1,500 public employees outsourced to a private multi-national consulting firm along with a little housecleaning at BC Hydro.”
Approximately 80 people attended the Prince Rupert presentation on Friday evening at the Nisga’a Hall, which drew a cross-section of the community from young to old.
Each speaker on the panel presented their role in the ‘Rivers at Risk’ tour, their views and concerns around the issue and outlined the actions they have taken to get the message into the public domain.
The NDP has said that if they get into power next year they will not eliminate all the independent power projects because there are some that are beneficial and see resources going to First Nations communities. However, NDP leader Carole James said the party would go back to using BC Hydro and put a moratorium on projects where an independent company is making a profit for their shareholders and taking resources out of British Columbia.
The Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs also passed a resolution last summer that calls for a moratorium on all private power facility development on B. C. ‘s rivers and streams until meaningful and transparent consultations have been undertaken with the nations on whose territory the projects would exist.
The Save Our Rivers Society and their Rivers at Risk tour pulled into the city on Friday, providing a two hour presentation at the downtown Nisga’a Hall, allowing their panel to outline their hopes of achieving the cancellation of the BC Energy plan, which is the main conduit that many of the activists fear could lead to the control over the future use of our rivers.
Among the panel members making the tour of the Northwest were North Coast MLA Gary Coons, documentary film maker Damien Gillis and former Social Credit cabinet minister and long time talk show host Rafe Mair.
Mair was once banned in Terrace (line forms on the right folks) for his outspoken commentaries against the plans of the then Alcan Corporation to build the Kemano completion project. A ban we gather which has been lifted, as his thoughts of the day have been given more credibility over the years.
He has been a long time critic of the Campbell government’s power initiatives and has expressed great concerns over the privatization of the rivers and how it is removing provincial control over the valuable natural resource, as well as the ongoing marginalization of BC Hydro to the province.
The Daily News provided a review of their Prince Rupert stop with a front page story in Tuesday’s paper.
ACTIVISTS LOOK TO TURN TIDE ON ‘PRIVATIZATION’ OF RIVERS
Broadcaster Rafe Mair among those in town to push for protection of B. C.’s waterways
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
October 21, 2008
Pages one and three
The official spokesperson from the Save Our Rivers Society was in Prince Rupert on Friday to speak to residents about the possible sale of British Columbia’s rivers to multinational corporations.
Rafe Mair, a hall of fame broadcaster and former Social Credit Minister of Environment, recently visited Terrace, Kitimat and Prince Rupert on a local leg of the “Rivers at Risk” tour, which is aimed at raising public awareness about what could potentially be the future use of hundreds of B. C.’s watersheds for private power projects.
During the two-hour presentations, Mair shared the stage with documentary film maker Damien Gillis, Joe Foy of the Wilderness Committee, Andy Ross of the COPE 378 “Take Back the Power” campaign and North Coast MLA Gary Coons to discuss the economic, environmental, and social consequences of such a scenario, which the society has called the “largest resource heist in Canadian history.”
“Since 2003, the BC Energy Plan has forbidden our profitable public utility BC Hydro from doing it’s job growing our green power assets, and instead forced our utility to write extraordinarily overpriced purchase orders to buy power from private hands, making power with our money and our rivers,” explains the Save Our Rivers Society website.
“Together, we will bring about the cancellation of the BC Energy Plan and its restrictions on public power development, the cancellation of private power water licences, and the cancellation of the BC Hydro-Accenture contract which saw 1,500 public employees outsourced to a private multi-national consulting firm along with a little housecleaning at BC Hydro.”
Approximately 80 people attended the Prince Rupert presentation on Friday evening at the Nisga’a Hall, which drew a cross-section of the community from young to old.
Each speaker on the panel presented their role in the ‘Rivers at Risk’ tour, their views and concerns around the issue and outlined the actions they have taken to get the message into the public domain.
The NDP has said that if they get into power next year they will not eliminate all the independent power projects because there are some that are beneficial and see resources going to First Nations communities. However, NDP leader Carole James said the party would go back to using BC Hydro and put a moratorium on projects where an independent company is making a profit for their shareholders and taking resources out of British Columbia.
The Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs also passed a resolution last summer that calls for a moratorium on all private power facility development on B. C. ‘s rivers and streams until meaningful and transparent consultations have been undertaken with the nations on whose territory the projects would exist.
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