The Progressive Case for Site C

By Aaron Ekman

Aired March 15th, 2021: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if0-gd9LlqY

It's difficult to talk about British Columbia without touching on hydro electric power generation and the uniquely western Social Credit government that significantly (and controversially) changed the course of history for our province. An entire show could be produced focussing on the history of the electrification of the Columbia River, the resulting treaty between the US and Canada in 1961, and the multiple communities, both settler and indigenous that were relocated, or literally deep-sixed in sacrifice to this new future.

Prior to construction, BC Electric, the privately owned predecessor to BC Hydro servicing the south-western lower-mainland almost exclusively, largely ignoring the interests of the interior, had no intention whatsoever of constructing dams in the hinterland. The socialistic predecessor party of the NDP, the CCF recognized the disparity and argued for the provincial nationalization of the corporation. To everyone's surprise, including his own cabinet - the Social Credit Premier from Kelowna, W.A.C. Bennett agreed, and acted abruptly to expropriate the company, turning it over to taxpayers in the form of BC Hydro. By 1961, and against the general wishes of the federal Conservative government of Canada, Bennett hosted the three-party signing of the Columbia River Power Treaty between Canada, the US, and British Columbia, which provided the resources and security to begin dam construction along the Columbia.

Far to the north of this construction, in Peace River Country, Site C was identified early on as another location for a future generator, but was not initiated until many decades later under the conservative-aligned BC Liberal Goverment of Christy Clark.

Now there has always been opposition to the construction of hydro-electric dams, and this opposition has criss-crossed political divides. Conservatives were initially opposed. As was the Communist party in BC at the time... far more influential then than now. Woody Gutherie, however, the much diefied socialist folk singer of the era, who travelled the pacific northwest extensively, dedicated no fewer than 26 songs to the promotion of the project. The CD can still be purchased online for a humble fee.

But inarguably, W.A.C. Bennett arranged the public ownership of BC Hydro in such a way as to ensure economic security and clean-energy independance for generations of British Columbians, but subsequent governments, (some even led by W.A.C.'s son Bill,) were never content to allow the crown corporation to continue generating non-tax based revenue with which to fund healthcare, education, and other public services, without finding some way to weasel back in the greedy hands of private sector profit seeking. The BC Liberals in particular, opened the flood gates to private interests by rapidly expanding construction of so-called "independent" or "run-of-the-river" power projects, introducing accompanying legilsation forcing BC Hydro to buy power from these private producers at rates higher than it could sell on open market, effectively legislating the eventual bankruptcy of the crown corporation. This slow-motion, attempted infanticide of W.A.C.'s legacy was always a part of the BC Liberal gameplan, and mirrored their efforts to slowly drive public auto-insurance back into the hands of private corporations where they believed ideologically, it had always belonged. The great irony of the 2013 election wherein Christy Clark campaigned so hard on "getting-to-yes" on Site C, opting even to carry W.A.C.'s grandson Brad with her on her campaign bus, was that her government's efforts over the previous decade had been to dismantle everything the old man had accomplished.

Today, the forces of power-privatization have a new ally in the small but vocal minority of British Columbians who describe themselves as progressive environmentalists. For them, the Site C project has come to represent the pinnacle example of "white settler colonialism" running rough-shod over the rights and territory of indigenous peoples. Indeed, nations within the 120-year old Treaty 8 territory spanning BC and Alberta, most notably the West Moberly nations remain opposed to the project though all legal efforts to stall the construction have been rejected in court.

Despite the BCNDP having expended great effort in the lead-up to the 2017 election to take no position on the continuation of the project, opting instead to refer the thing to the utilities commission, this group of anti-Site C crusaders somehow convinced themselves that the BCNDP shared their desire to shut it down, and were hopeful that the resulting "GreeNDP" coalition parties would eliminate 5000 jobs, remediate the land, eat the loss, and forget about the whole damned thing forever. But following Horgan's 2017 announcement to continue the project, like any child who throws a tantrum whenever their unrealistic expectations are left unmet, the church of No-Site C took to twitter and swore swift and lasting retribution against the BCNDP for having let them down. Well, Their opportunity for revenge came earlier than expected in 2020 when Premier Horgan called a mid-pandemic election. To the great dismay of the anti-Site C forces, however, the BCNDP, having demonstrated their support for public power development in action at least, if not in rhetoric, were returned to power by British Columbians with their largest ever mandate in history, even reducing the number of Green-Party seats.

Rather than seizing on the momentum, the BCNDP predictably, having never got over their flawed 2001 analysis that the Green Party posed their greatest threat - opted for the worst of all possible worlds approach - apologising for the Site C project rather than evangelising its multi-generational benefits... and even worse, taking no action to date, to undo the restrictive BC Liberal-era legislation which diverts huge sums of revenue away from BC Hydro, towards private power producers. All of this is to say... not a single New Democrat in British Columbia, at any point along the way has ever advanced a single progressive argument supporting Site C, leading opponents to understandably question on what foundation then, exactly, the BCNDP government has based its decision. If one were to rely on the explanation of Horgan back in 2017, the decision was a confusing one, and that confusion was understandably compounded last week when the Premier announced for a second time, his decision to continue the project despite the addition of another $6 billion dollars to the price tag.

Undoubtedly, New Democrat strategists have concluded that in order to stem the tide of votes to Greens, they must appear as if their hands are tied... that despite their opposition, they must continue... but although voters may be, at least in my opinion, pathological liars, we aren't stupid. We were generally taught by our parents not to listen to what politicians say, but rather watch what they do, and to judge the trustworthiness of politicians based on the degree to which their promises are followed up by their accomplishments. And despite having every opportunity to follow through on what many believe the BCNDP "promised to do" they have on more than one occasion, despite mounting odds, resolved to continue the project. And so, every time the premier or one of his cabinet ministers apologises for having been forced to carry out a project they never would have started in the first place, British Columbians regard them as disingenuous.

It's entirely legitimate for project opponents to ask, if this project is as terrible and ill-conceived as the BCNDP regard it to be... then why continue it, especially at such monumental cost?

The reality, of course, is that the BCNDP, and the Premier in particular are entirely responsible for the corner they've backed themselves into. There is a progressive case for Site C, despite their inability to articulate it... indeed no such public mega-project, the likes of the Site C Dam can possibly emerge without enormous cost to the generation that builds it. It was an enormous sacrifice for our grandparents' generation to have constructed dams along the Columbia river, far greater than anything posed by Site C, and one that reverberates through our culture even today. But no one can deny that the generational sacrifice of our grandparents and great-grandparents created for future generations of British Columbians, the framework for non-fossil-fuel based energy independence.

The creation of BC Hydro and resulting construction of Hydro-Electric Dams in British Columbia constituted the singular most socialistic action of any premier in the history of our province, before or since - so unpopular even internally within conservative Socred circles at the time, that WAC Bennett was forced to hide the announcement from his own cabinet prior to making it. Historically, right wing-forces in BC following W.A.C. have never stopped trying to undo his socialistic legacy. The opponents of the initial Hydro projects were many and monied, and they comprised most of the private business interests of the day who were terrified by the prospect of a provincial government creating such a resilient taxpayer asset, blocking their own private efforts to capture energy revenue for their own offshore bank accounts.

I'm not claiming the 2020 election, or any election prior was fought solely over the issue of Site C, but what's clear is that despite obnoxious claims by so-called progressives last week that the project continuation will be an "albatross" around the neck of future BCNDP electability, British Columbians have demonstrated repeatedly that we are overwhelmingly in favour of the project. This is the real hard truth for anti-site C advocates. Just like how when British Columbians have been taught our whole lives to conserve energy, to "turn off light-bulbs when not in use, and to be "power Smart" you can't turn around and tell us we "don't need the power" and expect anyone to believe you. Or just like the argument we hear that following the 2023 flooding of the Peace River Valley, we'll "no longer be able to produce a quarter of the province's food supply," British Columbians who've for years seen Washington State stickers even on their apples understand inherently that the Peace region never produced that level food, and was never going to.

Thus, aside from the treaty-based arguments which will work their way through the courts for decades, the only arguments left to project opponents are those fiscally conservative, austerity-based ones from the right, and by employing them, we see this situation in BC where self-identified progressives in BC are attempting to peddle traditionally right-wing nonsense that each dollar spent on the project somehow vanishes into the ether, wasted... never to be seen again. They ignore of course, the 5000+ strong family supporting jobs, priority of which are awarded to local workers, with special priority paid to women and indigenous workers. They ignore how those dollars stay in BC, circulating through local businesses, representing exactly the kind of progressive economic foundation we allowed the BC Liberal government to export out of province.

They ignore the reality that in addition to projects like Site C providing perhaps the only hope following mounting challenges and business closures related to this bloody pandemic... that if our economy does recover, it will only do so in large part, owing to massive socialistic public mega-projects like the Site C dam.

But perhaps more importantly... in a future world where our grandchildren are increasingly dependent on electric heat, electric cars and trains, and increasingly exposed to radical commodity price shifts in fossil fuels... our generation, despite our own legitimate debate concerning the enormous sacrifice we're asked to make, though not having left quite as much as our ancestors left us... I hope, that we will have left at least one enduring example that we cared enough about the fortunes of our children and theirs, Nathan... to have made this sacrifice during our time.