In this fight I developed a deep level of loathing for the two regulatory bodies – the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board (CNSOPB) and the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (CNLOPB).  Created by federal-provincial accords and legislation, these bodies have a mandate to expand offshore oil and gas. They also decide who gets the permits. But ever since Stephen Harper (C-38 in 2012), with mild tweaks, Catherine McKenna (C-69 in 2019), they also assess the environmental impacts of the projects they have a mandate to promote.  The empirical problem of conflict of interest aside, my loathing comes from dealing with the CNSOPB and finding them actually dishonest.

My daughter’s summer job in 2013 was as an intern with Sierra Club in Halifax.  She asked her god-father, Farley Mowat, to become a spokesperson for the effort to stop the drilling of a deep-water oil well in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (yup, as deep and for the same stuff as the BP Deep Water Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico). The site for the proposed drilling was dubbed “Old Harry.”

Farley told the media, “The oil companies mistakenly – and I think this is wickedly sardonic – have called it Old Harry because they liked the sound of Old Harry. It has such a familiar, pleasant, uncle-y name.” Farley knew the term was used by sailors as the devil himself. He said. “They don’t realize that, what they are doing, is they are calling their company after the devil’s own domain.”

The off-shore boards have approved seismic testing in the most sensitive time of whale migration.  Whenever a fossil fuel company wanted some accommodation, they obliged. This week a coalition of groups, including my old organization, won an unprecedented victory against the CNLOPB.  The Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador agreed that the CNLOPB did not have the right to extend the length of the permit for exploratory drilling for many years more at the request of the company.  The victory should also help similar efforts to extend license terms in the Arctic as well.  Score one for Farley – always on the side of the angels!

Sierra Club Article and Times-Colonist Article

As previewed in last week’s message, Bill Morneau provided his economic “snapshot” this week.  No surprises. Huge deficit. Huge debt.

So far, Greens are the only ones in Parliament suggesting really large scale changes so that we are not mired in debt forever.  As I call for us to really embrace Modern Monetary Theory, I have had a lot of questions about what that means.

What the proponents of Modern Monetary Theory argue is the same debate that has raged in Canada for years. That there is an alternative to borrowing from commercial banks and paying that billions in interest to banks. Many Canadians want to revisit the role of the Bank of Canada. Monetary policy could shift to reduce the high levels of interest-bearing debt. The counter- argument has always been that a country printing its own money is inflationary, and potentially dangerously so.  But in our current situation, we are at close to zero risk of inflation. We face a much larger risk of deflation.

The call for countries to be able to transfer assets within a domestic economy, much as a family can borrow and re-pay loans over time, is gathering strength.  The notion fits neatly among much of our ecological economics. For years we have talked about the “circular economy.” (As described here by the European Union)

We can also look to making human well-being and ecological sustainability the highest goals of a society – measuring genuine progress instead of GDP.  We can imagine an economy aiming for a steady-state condition of prosperity. We can look to the “doughnut economy” described by Kate Raworth.

The current leading voice for MMT is Professor Stephanie Kelton. She argues that as long as the practice does not become inflationary, a country can print more money.  What Morneau has been doing to create needed liquidity is borrowing to buy bonds.  Kelton would say, no need. Just print more money.

(Read more here)

It is certainly provocative, but is it wrong?  I cannot see how it is wrong as long as the central bank is carefully monitoring to ensure that if inflation becomes a risk, the brakes are applied. As I said this week in the House, humanity cannot re-write the genetic code of the COVID19 virus. Nor can we re-write the laws of physics and atmospheric chemistry that tell us we are perilously near the tipping point to unstoppable, self-accelerating global warming. We have to live within those laws.  But we can re-write the rules that govern the economy. Greens are calling for a new global evaluation along the lines of the post WWII Breton Woods Conference,

It’s about time.

Have a great Sunday wherever you are. Stay safe. Stay Well. Be kind.

Elizabeth

PS This week in the House, I had a lot of speaking time and held two press conferences.  Find them at these links.

This weekly newsletter is published by Elizabeth’s EDA in Saanich-Gulf Islands. You can sign up for it here.

• Elizabeth May: Full response to the federal Economic Snapshot 

• Elizabeth May: We need a federal inquiry into the “wellness checks” that are killing BIPOC Canadians
• Elizabeth May: Will the Prime Minister waive Cabinet privilege in the SNC Lavalin inquiry?
• Elizabeth May: When will the government allow electronic voting?
• Elizabeth May: Will CBSA prevent Americans from crossing the border for non-essential travel?

• Canadians need answers: Parliamentarians launch inquiry into Wellness Checks
• Greens demand a full inquiry into the RCMP

• Greens and Senator Kim Pate announce Senate inquiry into wellness checks
• Green Party reaction to federal economic snapshot

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On Wednesday, the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB), an offshore-extraction regulatory agency, issued a “Call for Nomination” for Newfoundland ‘s section of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, giving oil companies until October 15 to express their interest in exploring and exploiting parcels of the Gulf.

Incredibly, this is being done before the C-NLOPB has conducted its promised Western Newfoundland Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to determine if it is appropriate to proceed with oil and gas development in Newfoundland ’s Gulf waters.

Meanwhile, today is the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) deadline for arguments against the elimination of oil and gas exploration activities as “designated projects” prescribed by the CEAA’s Regulations Designating Physical Activities.

“As Harper promotes extraction industries across Canada ’s north, concerted efforts are being made to push the same thing in the Gulf of St. Lawrence while Canadians aren’t looking,” Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, MP Saanich-Gulf Islands.  “At the same time, there’s today’s little-known deadline for saving assessments for destructive exploration processes.  From coast to coast to coast, this is a recipe for environmental disaster.”

The Save Our Seas and Shores Coalition has written to Max Ruelokke, Chairman of the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board, to express its shock and concern that the C-NLOPB would issue its Call for Nominations, especially before the Western Newfoundland SEA has even begun.

“The Board seems to be in complete denial regarding the damage seismic surveys, exploratory drilling, and offshore oil and gas development cause, especially to marine ecosystems,” said Mary Gorman, Save Our Seas and Shores Coalition.  “If the C-NLOPB isn’t prepared to assume a legitimate, precautionary and ecosystem approach as the alleged ‘regulator’ for safety and environment in our Gulf’s waters, then we should look into changing its mandate so that a genuine regulator can emerge.”

The International Ocean Noise Coalition (IONC) has written to John McCauley, Director, Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, on behalf of more than 150 international non-governmental organizations concerned about the impacts of ocean-noise pollution (ONP) on marine ecosystems and their living resources.

“We urge you to include oil and gas exploration activities, including seismic surveys and exploratory drilling, as ‘designated projects’ prescribed by the Regulations Designating Physical Activities (CEAA 2012). To exclude these potentially damaging practices from environmental assessment would conflict with growing scientific evidence, as well as what is becoming standard practice by an increasing number of nations and inter-governmental organizations.

“Most scientists today recommend ecosystem-based management (EBM). The Canadian government has repeatedly expressed its support for an adoption of EBM, but it appears not to consider it when it comes to environmental assessments, particularly for seismic surveys.”

“Increasingly, with Canada’s offshore and other extraction processes, everything is open to development until citizens rise up to protect areas they hold dear,” concluded May.

The post Reckless Promotion of Maritime Offshore Drilling Opposed appeared first on Elizabeth May.

“Old Harry should have a wide ranging environmental impact assessment including economic, social and environmental impacts and allowing for intervenors including non-profits, fishers, the tourism industry and First Nations.  We are extremely disappointed that Minister Kent will do nothing beyond a minimal screening of the project; it is completely inadequate.  Our government is failing the people of Canada by not conducting a thorough review of this proposed project,” said May.

Kent indicated in his letter that the broader issue of oil and gas development in the Gulf of St. Lawrence will be examined through an update of the strategic environmental assessment of the Western Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore area.  The Green Party is calling for this strategic review to be amended into an immediate convening of a Joint Federal-Provincial Review with a role for each of the five provinces involved and full public engagement with funding for First Nations, fishers, tourism organizations and environmental groups, with access to funding for independent science for intervenor groups.

“Kent did not indicate any details of how this process will unfold,” said May. “We must not risk a major oil spill in the Gulf of St. Lawrence; it would be catastrophic.  All development including Old Harry should be put on hold until the broader environmental assessment has been conducted.”

As MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands, May asked a question on June 16th in the House of Commons about oil and gas development in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, pointing out to Environment Minister Peter Kent that this is “a most biologically productive region with over 2,000 marine species including endangered blue whales. It is now threatened by a deep water oil well. This is a region that touches five provinces.”  She asked if Kent would agree to a Joint Panel, the highest level of assessment under CEAA.  He confirmed that he had received a request from the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board to refer the project to a review and promised to consider the facts in his decision.

“The fact is that the Old Harry project is not a good thing for Atlantic Canada,” said Green Fisheries Critic Janice Harvey. “It is putting in jeopardy an incredibly productive and sensitive marine region with important spawning, nursery and migratory areas for lobster, herring, snow crab, mackerel, tuna, ground fish, whales and dolphins. Fragile Atlantic salmon, cod and wolfish, fin whale and humpback whale are listed of special concern. Right whale, piping plover, leatherback turtle and harlequin duck are endangered. In light of the Gulf of Mexico disaster, how can the Canadian government allow this project to be fast-tracked without proper consideration?”

“The development of oil and gas in the Gulf of St. Lawrence is opposed by First Nations in the region as a short-sighted, potentially disastrous project that ignores all that we know about the sensitivity of the region,” said Lorraine Rekmans, Green Aboriginal Affairs Critic.

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