While U.S. President Barack Obama used the state of the union address to renew the fight against climate change, one independent MLA in BC says the province is moving in the opposite direction.
Cariboo North MLA Bob Simpson says instead of fighting climate change the B.C. Government is putting all of its eggs into the liquid natural gas basket.
“If we go down that path BC will increase exponetially the greenhouse gases that we will put into the atmosphere and we will not be able to meet our currently legislated targets of 80-percent reduction by 2050. We seem to have lost sight of climate change here in BC.”
Simpson says the Liberals aren’t the only guilty party as the NDP are also banking heavily on future LNG revenues.
“In both cases the Liberals and the NDP have not explained to British Columbians what they are going to do with those legally required targets I think what they are going to likely have to do is quietly repeal them as we fail to meet them and then hope that somehow British Columbians are asleep at the switch.”
Simpson says while the province hands out discounted rents and royalties to the mining, and forestry sector it has essentially left the cupboard bare to deal with other important issues.
“So there is no revenue stream to address things like climate change, the health care situation, or eucation. You have a Premier in power and an NDP government in waiting that refuses to address the revenue issue by revisiting taxation.”
He says if we go down the LNG road it also opens the door to fracking which would, among other things, permanently pollute trillions of litres of B.C. water.
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