VICTORIA — National NDP Leader Avi Lewis is campaigning this summer against fossil-fuel development, a timely theme during a wildfire season but a potentially awkward one for the party’s LNG-promoting provincial government here in B.C.
“At a time when we’re living through smoky skies, raging wildfires, and a government dead-set on making more money for big oil and gas, it’s easy to despair,” says the email the sent this week to party members.
“But instead, New Democrats from coast to coast to coast showed up to get organized and fight back.”
The reference is to a recent Lewis-led online webinar on the “green new deal,” the federal NDP’s call for an end to fossil fuel expansion in exchange for investment in renewables.
Included in the package for members was a link to the webinar, tool kits for organizers, a fact sheet, and the template for a petition that put it all into perspective: “We, the undersigned, call upon the government of Canada to end all subsidies and public financing of the fossil fuel industry, reject the proposal for an oil pipeline to the West Coast, implement an excess profits tax on oil and gas giants, and massively invest in renewables to build the economy of tomorrow.”
The whole package was targeted at the federal Liberal government of Prime Minister Mark Carney.
“The federal government’s fast-tracking of fossil-intensive megaprojects is not only accelerating climate change, but also undermining Indigenous constitutional rights,” as the accompanying fact sheet puts it.
“Under the Liberal government, Canada has the worst track record for emissions reduction in the G7. Even America has done a better job.”
There could also be a spillover effect on the David Eby NDP government, as noted by the B.C. New Democrat who forwarded his copy of federal party material to me: “Given that a lot of the national NDP’s membership resides in B.C., I can’t see things like this from the national party as helpful to David as he’s trying to balance his positions.”
The federal party avoided saying anything directly embarrassing to Eby.
The only reference to an actual project was the Alberta-Ottawa proposal for a new oil pipeline to Vancouver, which Eby grudgingly accepted because the province has no legal basis to stop it.
Plus there was this caveat: “The NDP has never said that we need to ‘shut it all down’ when it comes to fossil fuels. Our green new deal simply starts the necessary energy transition to address the climate emergency with the urgency it deserves.”
Nor was there any specific reference to liquefied natural gas.
However, Lewis has targeted the B.C. NDP government’s LNG enthusiasm in the past.
“My position is clear,” he declared during his successful bid for the leadership of the federal party. “I am unequivocally opposed to any new fossil fuel development including LNG.
“Industry and government have spent years selling the lie that natural gas is a bridge to the future,” Lewis continued.
“The bridge is burning. We must have the courage to say this to every government of any stripe: if you are building new pipelines or fossil fuel infrastructure, this shall not pass.”
He also took direct aim at the Eby-backed Ksi Lisims LNG project.
“We are frankly enraged at the fact that our NDP government is going full bore on this fossil-fuel project. It should not proceed. Absolutely not.”
Eby saw Lewis coming on this issue, witness the premier’s hedged response to the outcome of the federal leadership.
“Congratulations to Avi Lewis on being elected as the federal leader by NDP members,” said Eby. “We will work with any federal leader who shares our priorities and stands firm against those who put that progress at risk.”
Hint, hint.
As for Lewis’ dismissal of LNG as a bridging fuel, Eby repeated a variation on it just last week.
“Our LNG is the lowest carbon in the world because it is electrified as much as possible throughout the chain, because we have high standards around methane leakage and emissions,” he told reporters.
“We can offer LNG to allies like Germany that take climate change very seriously. They buy from us as a matter of preference. Same with Japan, because we can help them with their overall greenhouse gas profiles as they drive down their numbers as well.
“We are in a transition. These fuels are unfortunately still necessary.”
Eby was responding to criticism from the Greens. I expect he’d say much the same if Lewis were to revert to his earlier criticisms of LNG development here in B.C.
Still, with Eby’s approval rating down while Lewis is on the rise, B.C. New Democrats may find themselves torn between their federal leader’s unabashed war against fossil fuels and their provincial leader’s nuanced defence of the fossil fuel known as LNG.