Hundreds of protesters tried but failed to derail the B.C. NDP government’s throne speech Tuesday as they demonstrated in support of hereditary Wet’suwet’en chiefs who oppose a gas pipeline through their traditional territory in northeastern B.C.
The protesters called for government to halt construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline near Houston, which is opposed by a group of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs.
Their position is in contrast to at least 20 elected First Nations councils along the pipeline route that have signed agreements with the company. The hereditary chiefs, however, say the band council established by the Indian Act only has authority over reserve lands, not 22,000-square-kilometre traditional territory.
The NDP government supports the project, has issued all the permits and firmly backs the $40-billion LNG Canada terminal in Kitimat which the pipeline is to supply natural gas.
The First Nations LNG Alliance represents the First Nations councils in favour of the pipeline. Alliance chair Crystal Smith — chief councillor of the Haisla Nation, where LNG Canada is being built — acknowledged there was conflict between some Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and the elected council of the Wet’suwet’en.
However, she said the project had widespread First Nations support and urged “outside interests” to let the Wet’suwet’en deal with the issue.
“We said yes to LNG Canada and Coastal GasLink because the proponents and the provincial government have respected our expertise when it comes to our territory and our culture,” Smith wrote in an oped published Feb. 3, adding the Haisla opposed the failed Northern Gateway bitumen pipeline proposal.
Tuesday’s protests led to the cancellation of the ceremonial military honour guard, the firing of cannons and the traditional meet-and-greet between Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin and Premier John Horgan on the front steps of the legislature. It also delayed the start of morning session. However, Austin was ultimately able to read Horgan’s throne speech in the afternoon.
The speech proved to be a 21-page rehash of the NDP’s feats during its first 2 1/2 years as a minority government.
At one point, the speech even repeated an 2017 NDP election slogan of “putting people first.” It made no mention of the protests raging outside.
“At home, in our communities, and throughout our province, people are starting to make progress,” read the speech. “They are more able to face the challenges ahead, because they know they aren’t alone. They have a government that is a partner in their future. … It’s been two and a half years, but the hard work has only begun.”
Horgan abruptly cancelled a news conference to talk about his agenda, instead issuing a statement saying his government’s passage of laws supporting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in December was a first step on a long journey to reconciliation,
“These events show us why meaningful reconciliation with Indigenous peoples is our shared responsibility and is critical to our province and our country,” the statement read. “This was a commitment my government made in good faith two and a half years ago, and as premier, I am determined to see it through.”
Opposition Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson accused Horgan of failing at a crucial leadership moment.
The legislature protest came after several days in which protesters blocked highways, bridges and ports on Vancouver Island and in Metro Vancouver. Tuesday, protesters blocked the key Cambie and West Broadway intersection in Vancouver for several hours while CN Rail warned of national rail chaos if protesters continued to block the main line to the port of Prince Rupert and lines near Belleville, Ont.
Wilkinson called the disruptions totally inappropriate. “The premier of the province has to get out and say publicly what’s acceptable.”
The throne speech contained few promises for 2020, though it did mention additional measures to fight renovictions against renters, unspecified new investments for post-secondary training, more MRI machines for health diagnostics, and a plan to reduce plastic pollution that is expected to include a ban on single-use plastic shopping bags.
The government also pledged to provide five paid work days to people fleeing domestic violence (on top of 10 unpaid days legislated last year), expand funding for children with mental-health problems, raise the earned income threshold for people on disability and social assistance, and pay a previously announced Child Opportunity Benefit in October.
The speech contained no update on how the NDP plans to achieve $10-a-day child care, which government has said will take a decade. Nor did it offer extra money to settle the contract dispute with the B.C. Teachers’ Federation that could lead to classroom disruptions this year.
Metro Vancouver mayors may get more certainty on transportation infrastructure spending, if government follows through on a throne-speech promise to extend capital planning from three years to five.
The speech also mentioned upcoming legislation to ban firearms in schools — though it failed to say how that would be accomplished beyond existing federal firearms laws.
For the second consecutive year, the throne speech pledged government action to reduce cellphone bills. But provincial officials have admitted it is the federal government and not the province that controls telecommunications companies.
Wilkinson said the lack of new ideas in the throne speech showed government was out of gas.
B.C. Green MLA Sonia Furstenau, who is running for the party's leadership, said many of the NDP accomplishments were Green ideas and only possible with Green support.
“Overall, the speech felt pretty flat and it was ultimately a pretty backward-looking speech,” she said.
The speech lacked recognition that society and economy are in transition due to climate change, said Furstenau.
The protests that gripped the building were a result of the NDP government’s support for LNG at the expense of reducing pollution and fighting climate change, she said.
Note to readers: This story has been corrected. A previous version misstated Sonia Furstenau's position in the B.C. Green Party.
