Who is MLA Jordan Sturdy kidding with his opinion piece (“Is B.C. a climate leader or climate laggard?” March 23)?
The policies of the B.C. Liberals are exacerbating climate change. Instead of protecting our carbon sinks (a.k.a. our forests), the Liberals have aided and abetted massive clearcuts which can be seen from space. B.C.’s hydroelectric power is hardly green. The construction of the Site C dam is incredibly energy intensive, while the river diversion projects in the Sea to Sky have been built in fish-bearing streams and in the habitat of threatened and endangered species, including grizzly bears. These projects have been rammed through to enrich independent power producers off the backs of taxpayers.
Under Sturdy’s chairmanship, B.C. has drafted a “climate plan” that includes LNG as a cornerstone. A recent Harvard study highlights that methane released by fracking is even worse than coal in terms of trapping heat. B.C. must be the laughing stock of climate scientists around the world, but Premier Christy Clark never lets facts or science get in between her and her corporate buddies.
Clark’s latest joke on us is the appointment of Fazil Mihlar as deputy minister of environment responsible for the implementation of B.C.’s “climate plan.” Mr. Mihlar formerly worked for the Fraser Institute, The Vancouver Sun and the B.C. Oil and Strategic Initiatives Division. The Fraser Institute is “a right-wing think tank whose experts question the science of climate change,” according to The Common Sense Canadian. The Postmedia-owned Vancouver Sun showed its colours when it published an editorial in defence of the oil industry, and the B.C. Oil and Strategic Initiatives Division is unlikely to ponder climate change too deeply.
B.C. is worse than a laggard. Our elected officials have turned the province into a climate change criminal.
Louise Taylor
Pemberton
