All the parties are making promises to do things that we have wanted to hear in the past. Reduce taxes improve infrastructure. They want to build bridges so we can get to work faster and easier. They want to make life faster and easier for us. Promises are like sugar pills to get our attention long enough to grab votes so they can move on and back to the business supplying the need of lobbyist and special interest groups who are paying for their campaigns. We are in the middle of a pandemic that is probably not going to end until 2023. 2023 is not a magic number that the virus is just simply going to fade out and die it is a hard number based on the number of people in our in the world and the number of vaccine doses needed to effectively bend the infection rate to a level that can be handled by the Global Healthcare Systems. More than this the pandemic we have climate change and our disposable attitude with single-use plastic need to be curb so our species will survive for the next 50 years. We also need changes in how energy is seen it can not just be about digging up fuel sources anymore. If the human race is to move forward, then we need a real thought change and our government needs change too.
When we look at the past we see promises to increase power to our cities and to give faster connection to the internet, along with those promise someone came up with the idea of “Net-Zero Emissions” along with goal and targets to sell us on the idea it is going to be “OK” to continue to dig, drill and pump carbon for out the ground so we can burn it for fuel. They have been cramming things like LNG and Transmountain Pipeline down our throats telling us we need these things to sell on the global market and to fuel our lives. In 2017 John Horgan and the BC NDP party criticize the BC Liberal Party for things like Site C and Kitimat. Kitimat is the site of a large scale Liquid Natural Gas extraction project. The extract is being done by a process called Fracking.
Fracking is the process of drilling down into the earth before a high-pressure water mixture is directed at the rock to release the gas inside. Water, sand and chemicals are injected into the rock at high pressure which allows the gas to flow out to the head of the well.
John Horgan said in 2017 the LNG project was useless and not profitable to British Columbia. Let’s look at Kitimat today and the LNG project that Mr. Horgan promised to close is still very active. The problem with Fracking is that studies show that is cause seismic activity. Fracking breaks down deep underground rock formations which leads to earthquakes. British Columbia is already a hotbed for earthquakes because of how the North American Plate is being pushed under the Asian Plate in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. If we already have trouble from earthquakes, why would we want to have a project that could cause earthquakes? The BC Liberals in 2017 and the current 2020 NDP party have yet to answer such questions. The NDP and John Horgan promise in 2017 to end the expensive Site C dam project which promising to increase our Hydro-Electric rate because of the multi-billion dollar bill it is causing but the biggest problem is not just the bill the residents of BC will have to pay for the project it is that the project will bring little to no benefit to us.
For residents of Surrey BC, there is a new police project and while the BC Liberal are promising to bring forward a referendum so that clarity and transparency can be found in our government this is one party that has a history of muddy waters and hidden agenda that only benefits big business with little benefit the average person. They are promising to cut taxes that will help big business but at the same time will take billions of dollars away from provincial programs the average needs to help the average middle-class families afloat. They want to end the new Speculation Tax on real estate. This tax is helping keep the rental cost to families with young children if we look around for affordable housing. In the Lower Mainland rents are still extremely high when compare to what families earn from their jobs. The situation is very grim.
The one-party we have not talked about is the Green Party who promising better healthcare and improved mental health programs. Which is something that will affect our elderly and our chronic homeless problem. Again are they promising transparency with it comes o special interest. Is this going to be another party to sell out the people of BC?
What is needed now is for our leadership to towards the future we can just simply think about fixing a today’s commute with a bridge, but we need to think about the bridge is going to affect the environment 100 years from now. When we think about the energy that we have to think about how it is going to help our future generations and will it be sustainable for future human society. We can no longer afford to be short-sighted and think only about today. We need our government to do more than just simply pay for scientific study but we need that scientific to follow the direction of human race survival and helping us to thrive
Listen to “Policy and Right Surrey Board of Trade All Candidate Debate October 8 2020” on Spreaker.
