NDP insists it won't neglect peak oil

North Vancouver filmmaker Jon Cooksey has worked diligently to educate the public about declining oil supplies. He recently finished a rough cut of a documentary called How to Boil a Frog, which highlights the significance of a peak in global oil production.

Cooksey is on the Vancouver Peak Oil Executive, a citizens' group preparing the public for sharply higher energy prices. In a phone interview with the Georgia Straight, he named several municipal politicians—including local mayors Derek Corrigan, Darrell Mussatto, Richard Walton, and Gregor Robertson—who are trying to prepare their municipalities for peak oil.

“But their hands are tied,” he said. “They can't do anything about TransLink.”

However, Cooksey claimed that most provincial politicians have missed the mark. “My understanding is that [Premier] Gordon Campbell is basically unaware of the issue,” he said. Later, he added, “I haven't heard boo from the NDP.”¦The NDP is completely failing us on this issue.”

NDP energy critic John Horgan has mentioned the phrase “peak oil” on three dates in the legislature. On April 17, 2008, he cited it in connection with an earlier comment by Robertson, then an NDP MLA. Horgan also uttered “peak oil” once on April 24, 2007, and three times on April 25, 2007.

On June 27, Horgan told the Straight at the Empire Landmark Hotel that it “troubles” him that people think the NDP has let the public down on this issue. “Peak oil is going to have a profound impact on how our social and economic policies evolve in British Columbia,” Horgan stated. “I have said that repeatedly, but it may not have made its way to the streets of Vancouver.”

Horgan added that the NDP's concern is reflected in the party's push for more transit in urban centres, which would reduce fossil-fuel consumption. He also said the NDP's support for the Agricultural Land Reserve is “rock solid”, with the exception of its support for a treaty with the Tsawwassen First Nation, which allowed the removal of some farmland for other purposes.

The Straight told Horgan that his party supports a new Port Mann Bridge—part of the Gateway Program, which Green party leader Jane Sterk has said will result in the loss of farmland. “I live on Vancouver Island, so you can talk to someone in Surrey or Vancouver about the Port Mann Bridge,” Horgan replied.

In a speech to the NDP provincial council on June 27 at the hotel, NDP leader Carole James called for “new ideas” from party members. James didn't suggest revisiting her party's support for a new Port Mann Bridge.

Afterward, the Straight asked what James would tell voters who think the NDP is “asleep” on peak oil.

“I think the Lower Mainland voters are looking, as all British Columbians are, for alternatives,” James said. “What we saw with this government is that they didn't provide affordable transit. They didn't provide more opportunities for people to be able to shift their behaviour.”