IMAGE CREDIT: BC Green Party I have been thinking about the BC Greens ending the cooperation agreement with the NDP and there are some sound short-term tactical reasons for it. First, after years of overspending, the NDP now has no choice but to restrain spending. This will cause some within the NDP coalition to look for options. Second, the NDP knows that they have to address issues around reconciliation, private property and the D eclaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA). After all, it was Eby who played the lead role in creating the current mess. While amending DRIPA is all but inevitable given public sentiment it will cause serious division within the left and could lead to caucus splits and potentially even a defection or two (Joan Phillip?). Again,the Greens become the direct beneficiary of any Holes in the NDP matrix. It is hard to tell whether the Greens or the Conservatives become the greatest beneficiary of any NDP decline but...
Conservative MLA and Critic for Indigenous Relations Scott McInnis says new public information confirms the BC NDP has fundamentally altered how major resource projects are approved in British Columbia without public debate, transparency, or a clear mandate from voters. Public materials released by the Tahltan Central Government related to the Eskay Creek and Red Chris mines confirm that projects cannot proceed without the consent of the Tahltan Central Government Board. If consent is not granted, even after a provincial reconsideration process, the project does not go ahead. “ This makes it clear that under Section 7 agreements, consent is no longer consultation, it is permission ,” said McInnis. “ If consent is withheld, the project stops. That represents a major shift in how Crown land decisions are made in this province .” McInnis stressed that his comments are not a criticism of the Tahltan Nation, but of the provincial government’s approach. ...