While I respect Steve Smyth’s legitimate concern about the Terrace economy, “We can’t let ourselves be defined by outsiders,” (column, The Terrace Standard, Dec. 21, 2016), he is guilty of the very thing he is accusing a mythical coalition of latte drinking urbanites of perpetrating.
In Smyth’s alternative universe he would have us believe these hipster hordes are forcing their personal agendas on the north, confirming indeed that “a lie, repeated often enough, becomes the truth”.
What’s most troubling is that his false narrative polarizes and misinforms our community at a time when we need to come together and solve some of these chronic irritants to the ongoing debate about the development and economy we want.
Poverty indeed sucks, and we all need to make a living. Sustainably.
Dozens of polls have been conducted on these issues. Some were useless, either infected with loaded questions from pro-development or anti-development factions, but many were highly professional, and all showed a majority, and sometimes a very large majority, of British Columbians opposed to tankers on the north coast.
The facts demonstrate it is Mr. Smyth who is in the minority.
The opposition to the Enbridge pipeline was not led by the urban environmental movement, Tides or Greenpeace, it was led by local residents – teachers, loggers, tradesmen, retirees, nurses, and more than a few small business owners.
Moreover, it was overwhelmingly led by BC First Nations, who have both the legal and moral right to protect and defend their interest in free running clean rivers and wild salmon.
It is awkward that the folks who most consistently tout these conspiracy theories are in fact Terrace’s equivalent of the one per cent.
It is a historical fact that the local chamber of commerce chooses to promote often bizarre projects that only alienate our community, creating expectations that are unrealistic and false.
Mr. Smyth does not like the fact that portions of the north and central coast are now protected. This is old news, but his claim that the entire coast is now a federal park is bizarre – the protected areas only cover a portion of the coast, not all of it, and do not stop all development, including forestry and mining.
As well, what is protected is under provincial jurisdiction, not federal. If Mr. Smyth is going to pronounce on this subject he should at the very least do his homework and get the facts right.
Few Canadians will share Mr. Smyth’s “blood running cold” at the thought of beautiful and unique landscapes being set aside for future generations.
And as much as he resents the Tides Foundation, it was a major player in putting together a $100 million fund to kick start economic activity in economically deprived First Nation communities on the coast. Tides’ significant contributions to the north deserve our respect.
Mr. Smyth also ignores the existing Skeena salmon economy that exceeds $110 million a year (a figure generated by IBM corporation, not Tides).
It is counterfactual that the killing of the Northern Gateway project severely compromises the northern economy. While the project would have generated significant wages for a few years during construction, the fact is that almost all of the jobs would have been temporary, and would not have gone to Terrace residents.
There are many segments of the northern economy that are far larger, and more permanent, than this project would have been. These include construction and renovation, mining, tourism, and hopefully a renewal of a more sustainable forestry industry.
Terrace is also a growing regional hub for education and health care, and there are more people employed in grocery stores and drug stores in the region than would have been employed at the Enbridge terminal.
If Mr. Smyth wanted to be honest in regard to Terrace’s economy he could have mentioned the government’s killing of many of the rules for forestry, a move that destroyed hundreds of high paying manufacturing jobs in Terrace and the region. Mr. Smyth might ask himself who led that effort and why.
There are recent examples of resource extraction development that are positive, and not only were they unopposed by conservation interests, but they were actually supported.
The new Brucejack mine is a perfect example: a sensible project by a progressive company that did it right, no doubt informed by witnessing Enbridge’s mess.
It is curious that Mr. Smyth is entirely okay with $500 million in “adult money” being spent by mostly foreign oil interests, including the state owned oil companies of Communist China, a country with one of the worst records of oppression in history. But then he is offended by an award winning Canadian non-profit working on issues of climate change.
Even more adult was the remarkable coalition of local residents, with hardly a latte-sucking hipster among them, who simply said no despite the $500 million spent by Enbridge and their foreign oil company partners.
As our MP Nathan Cullen said, “I am not against development, I am against stupid”.
Bruce Hill has been working on salmon conservation and development issues on the Skeena watershed for 25 years.