Cinnamon buns, a lost plot and echoes of Willem Dafoe
Pouce Coupians rock the forum
Hello esteemed readers!
Welcome to Day 51 of 2023!
[a.k.a. Family Day]
Since every day now seems to recognize the distinctiveness of one group or another – some days are double, triple, even quadruple booked – I’ve decided to craft my own duo-purpose designation for today. In a nod to Area 51, ground zero for conspiracy theories, and given the current rampant proliferation and voracious appetite for conspiracies in general (and in my family specifically), and since conspiracies are best shared with those you love and there is nothing like dining on home-cooked conspiracies, I hereby inaugurate Family Conspiracy Day! Yum.
Now for some truth telling about what shook down lately at the Legislature and elsewhere in the province.
First, into the forest we go…
Moving the needle on biodiversity
Credit where credit is due: Last week, Premier David Eby & Co announced significant measures to protect old growth and speed the transformation of forestry management from a timber-first philosophy, to prioritizing ecosystem health and biodiversity across the sectors, as recommended by the old growth review. One significant action was an Order in Council that removed the “without unduly impacting timber” clause, which materially and symbolically made timber the primary value of forests to the near exclusion of all other aspects, such as wildlife, ecosystem resilience or watershed health. Removing the clause won’t clear the decks for the paradigm shift recommended by old growth review authors Garry Merkel and Al Gorley, and no stakeholders are completely happy with the changes so far, but Merkel says he trusts government’s intentions are genuine and B.C. is headed in the right direction. This is a long time coming for Merkel, who has been working with government on forestry reform for more than two decades.
Over-achieving on old growth deferrals
The New Democrat government also announced 2.1 million hectares of old growth has been deferred so far. However, about 1 million hectares of those deferrals fall outside the 2.6 million hectare area identified by the government’s technical advisory panel. Most sources surmise there is probably nothing nefarious afoot. More likely, it’s mainly a case of outdated data and an absence of government oversight and evaluation on the ground. In some cases, field surveys revealed discrepancies between government data the technical panel was forced to use, and what was actually found in the forests (or absence of forests). Surveys sometimes discovered old growth where it hadn’t been mapped or new growth that had been inventoried as old. In the government’s defence, the data was collected to track trees for logging, not to chart old growth or measure ecosystem health, says Merkel. All of which resulted in some First Nations dismissing some recommended deferral areas as inappropriate and identifying other old forests for inclusion. The Discovery Islands Forest Conservation Project learned this when mapping forests on Quadra Island, for example. On this whole subject, Merkel said “those numbers are going to keep coming back to bite us,” adding the exact amount of old growth deferred isn’t as important as honouring the spirit of the recommendation – to save ecosystems at highest risk of irreversible biodiversity loss. In the end, Merkel predicts First Nations will end up identifying more than 2.6 million hectares of old growth for deferral.
Shut outs, not in a good way
Still on the deferral process, some community and stakeholder groups are frustrated and nervous about being shut out of the decision-making process, which was initially dropped on the laps of First Nations and industry to sort out. A few communities wonder what will happen if some nations unilaterally decide not to defer logging in circumstances where the larger community and a majority of stakeholders are in favour. Merkel said forestry landscape planning tables will be set up where those kinds of issues need to be resolved. Each table will operate under a Province/First Nation government-to-government umbrella and will include industry, community representatives and other stakeholders who will come up with a local plan, he said.
If a nation refuses to engage in the old growth deferral process or chooses to log everything, Merkel said he envisions the B.C. government could get more assertive. “If it got to that, my gut tells me in those one-off cases, the province might actually step in and say, ‘You know, what, enough is enough.’ You don't want to lose a whole war by trying to win every battle, but at some point, if it's down to one or two that are doing this, the other 190 [or so nations] will say, ‘You've got to come in the tent.’”
‘Government’s lost the plot’
About mid-week, government MLAs pointed out inconsistencies between what the BC Liberal Party platform says in English versus what BC Liberal MLA Teresa Wat said to the Chinese media in Cantonese. Wat said the party was against safe injection sites, which her leader Kevin Falcon later clarified. Wat meant to say the party was against public health providing ‘safer supply’ drugs like fentanyl, methamphetamines and cocaine. “All publicly supplied, addictive drugs are dangerous,” Falcon said. When the New Democrats reminded Falcon he supported Insite and safe injections sites when he was Health Minister 13-plus years ago, Falcon agreed, explaining he supported the sites to prevent people from overdosing and because there was a nurse there to connect people with addiction services to help them transition into treatment and recovery. “Over the years, I think government's lost the plot. In most cases, you don't see healthcare workers in any of those facilities anymore and there's very little emphasis on actually getting off of the addiction and into treatment and recovery.”
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
On Feb. 2, BC Liberal Leader Falcon unveiled the party’s ambitious and surprisingly comprehensive vision to build a $1.5 billion mental health and addiction treatment and recovery system. The plan includes modern, compassionate mental health and addictions residential facilities in several regions; mandatory care for people at risk to themselves and others; no user fees, no wait times, reimbursement for private care if public beds are unavailable, and more. Then, two weeks later, the New Democrats scrambled together a $1 billion Treasury Board funding proposal for what sounds remarkably similar to the BC Liberal treatment plan. Read Rob Shaw’s take on the situation here.
In other words, the right-leaning BC Liberals came up with such a good healthcare plan for addictions treatment, that the left-leaning NDP are essentially adopting it as their own. [I’ll give you a moment to think about that]. No doubt the New Democrats were already acutely aware an entire system of treatment and recovery is missing and a massive investment is required to build one, but for reasons that were likely political and perhaps courage-related, they had yet to fully admit it publicly or put forward a plan to do so. And now, it appears the Opposition’s grand vision gave them the urgency (and permission?) to commit to a massive infrastructure investment for British Columbians struggling with severe mental illness and addictions. Falcon said regardless of who came up with the plan, if government is prepared to move away from their "almost compulsive fixation" on decriminalization and supply of addictive drugs, to focus primarily on treatment and recovery "we will absolutely be there applauding and working with them to make that happen."
Overdose fatalities by region
More than 13,000 people in BC have died of toxic drug overdose since a public emergency was declared in April 2016, according to the latest from the office of BC Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe. While the highest number of deaths occurred in Fraser and Vancouver, the province’s most populous regions, the highest rate continues to be among the 300,000 people living in Northern Health. By municipality, Vancouver had the highest rate, followed by Terrace, Merritt, Hope and Prince George.
Announcement-itis
Since becoming premier, David Eby has made a LOT of announcements. He made his first one the day he was sworn in. Two days later, he announced his government’s public safety platform. Investments in police personnel, housing and cost-of-living benefits followed. There’s been some kind of announcement pretty much every week since.
“[Eby’s] got some energy. You’ve seen it a million times. That first 100 days, where you’ve got tons of announcements and you’re driving the agenda…,” Mike McDonald, former chief-of staff to Christy Clark, told host David Herle and fellow guest Geoff Meggs on the Jan. 22 Herle Burly podcast.
Which leads us to…
Mike McDonald’s four stages of (any) new government:
I: Tons of announcements.
II: Announcements dwindle.
III: Regular governing takes place.
IV: “Things start to suck.”
“When [Eby] gets to normal, we’ll see how they operate as a government,” McDonald says.
Election rumours won’t go away
Despite his repeated assertions otherwise, speculation abounds these aren’t just a flurry of announcements from a new premier putting his stamp on public policy as he speed-spends through a massive $5.7 billion surplus, but are also the actions of a party preparing a return to the polls this fall.
Since he was sworn in last November, Eby has repeatedly fielded questions about an early election. So far, he’s said no, no and no. Once again this week, Eby reiterated his government’s intention to serve its full mandate. “We have a fixed election date, where [voters] will have the opportunity to weigh in on how we've done.” October 2024 it is, then.
Speaking of voters and the rest of the world outside of Victoria, here’s a few stories of possible interest from beyond the capital region:
Let’s all get wasted (for science)
Big news for the people of Nanaimo, Comox Valley, Penticton, Kelowna, Kamloops and Victoria.
You now join ranks with those in Lions Gate and northwest Langley, along with inhabitants of Annacis, Lulu and Iona islands – your “waste fluids” [and solids] are being analyzed!
How cool is that?!! [It has all the makings of a robust Facebook group.]
It is actually quite amazing what wastewater has revealed about the fluctuating levels of COVID in different communities across the country. Who knows what other useful trends will be tracked in the future. For now, check out the Government of Canada’s wastewater data dashboard.
Last one leaving the ER, pls turn out the lights
Yet another rural community hospital is down to bare bones. Staffing shortages in Port Hardy forced one beleaguered physician to beg for help in the emergency room. Then Dr. Alex Nataros complained about Island Health leadership trying to muzzle him, only to find his own ER privileges suspended. When he complained about that, he got a rare public rebuke from the Island Health medical health officer and won 15 minutes as a poster doc for muzzled health care workers. Then last weekend, the president of the Doctors of BC, no less, swooped into town to pull hospital shifts. Kudos to Dr. Joshua Greggain, but what in tarnation is going on up there?!
High drama aside, Port Hardy is not alone. Over the past year, hospitals across the province have had to turn out the lights way too often due to under-staffing – Clearwater, Chetwynd, Port McNeill, Fort St. John, Creston, Merritt, 100 Mile House, Masset, to name too many.
Some doctors have suggested the Ministry of Health begin licensing physician assistants. Another free idea, this one courtesy of Sayward mayor Mark Baker, is to allow nurse practitioners to do more patient work. Baker said residents of his small community often have to travel to Campbell River for low-level health concerns that might easily be managed by the nurse practitioner in town. Allowing her to write a prescription refill would be a good start, Baker said.
‘Why’d you spill yer beans’
Are you a do-it-yourself-er who likes painting, collecting rainwater and dipping into diesel fuel tanks from above? Do you enjoy talking about the weather [what Canadian doesn’t]? Are you comfortable with yourself and being alone [like, really alone]?
Then, boy, do we have the job for you – you could be an assistant lighthouse keeper!
The pay isn’t great, especially during those 24/7 weeks, but you get to work with power tools, you won’t be woken up by police sirens or fire trucks or condo building construction or neighborhood fights after the bars close. The only acoustics will be the squawks of circling seagulls and the relentless lapping/crashing of waves.
Word of caution, head back into the city – quickly – if you starting talking to yourself (or seagulls) in 19th century English.
I’ll take a cinnamon bun with that
Big shout out today to Pouce Coupian ambassadors Kurtis Rabel and James Rouser… er… Ward, the top comedy act at the Natural Resources Forum last month. Rebel and Ward are also elected councillors of the eclectic village of Pouce Coupe, made (in)famous the past couple years by former mayor, Lorraine Michetti.
During her tenure, Michetti was twice relieved from her mayoral duties by her own council and twice took her case to court and won, getting reinstated on the loose premise that absence criminality, the fate of elected officials lies in the hands of electorate. Last October, Pouce Coupians had their say when residents turned out in droves (relatively speaking) racking up one of the highest percentage voter turnouts of any mayoral race across BC in the 2022 election. Forty-five per cent of eligible voters cast votes, ultimately ousting Michetti by a nail-biting five votes (Michetti got 79 votes; her winning opponent, Danielle Veach won 84)
In response to her loss, in rather Trump-like fashion, Michetti sued again, this time to have the municipal election results overturned and Veach’s win declared invalid. Among other transgressions, Michetti alleged Veach engaged in vote-buying when she provided tea and cinnamon buns at a voter meet-and-greet during the election. However, last month Michetti lost her court campaign to unseat her rival when the BC Supreme Court rejected her argument. It might surprise Michetti, but the rest of us saw it coming. Free cinnamon buns may buy votes in the big cold, lonely city, but northerners just call that hospitality.
That’s it for today. Thanks for hanging in to the end.
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Since we’re Canadian, I’ll leave the last word to the weather: it’s currently 9°C in beautiful Osoyoos, Canada’s best little tumbleweed desert town.
Fran
Questions, comments and suggestions contact Fran@northernbeat.ca
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