Ellis Ross Response to Throne Speech addresses themes of Aboriginal Rights and Title, Resource Development and challenges for British Columbians

The BC Legislature has seen a parade of MLA's providing their views of Monday's BC NDP Throne Speech, with Skeena MLA Ellis Ross taking his turn in the Chamber at 4 PM on Tuesday.

The MLA addresses a number of areas where he offered up a challenge to the Government's view of how the path ahead will travel.

Mr. Ross spoke to Aboriginal Rights and Title, the many social and economic challenges found in communities like Kitamaat in the Haisla Nation and many others and how he views the theme of the Speech towards rewarding those who follow the rules.

"Those who follow the rules," was said by the Premier on the throne speech, but nothing was said about a political government who makes the rules and knows full well that these rules are unfair or even discriminatory. 

The definition of "discrimination" is the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of ethnicity, age, sex or disability. In terms of economic reconciliation, the NDP are exercising a very unfair balance of power by legislating unfair rules.

The Indian Act was unfair, but at the time it was okay because that's the rule. It was legislation. Everybody nowadays knows that the Indian Act was an unfair piece of legislation that still exists today. In fact, the only reason that my band got away from the Indian Act is because we ignored the Indian Act. It was irrelevant. 

And now we've come full circle. We have a government that is making an unlevel playing field, not just for Aboriginals, but for non-Aboriginals as well. This is not what a government is supposed to do. A government is supposed to look out for all the people in British Columbia, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal alike. It's not supposed to create unfair legislation, especially if it borders on discrimination."

He also spoke of an increase in taxes and how that will impact on British Columbians, as well as to how the resources sector in the province has been the key element to many communities  and First Nations to not depend on Government Revenues.

He took on the hot topic of union/non union work in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island, which has seen controversy arise over a hospital construction project, 

The Skeena MLA also highlighted the frustrations for First Nations in the northwest, citing a few of the projects that they hope to see move forward.

Let's take another First Nation — Gitga'at, Hartley Bay. If you don't know where Gitga'at is, they're an isolated community down a channel. There are no roads in. You can't get a ferry. You've got to get in by boat or by plane. 

They've got a clean energy project that's been stuck in regulatory limbo. The United Nations declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples means nothing to them. It means nothing. What's worse, from the B.C. government, the goalposts keep changing. Every time they accomplish what the B.C. government tells them to do, they're told to do something else. 

And all they want is a clean energy project. That's all they want. In fact, they're actually depending on the B.C. government's decision so they can access federal government funding. The federal government wants to fund their project, but they can't because B.C. can't get its act together. 

I think just looking at a vague, broad, general statement on UNDRIP should clear it up, especially when you're thinking about all the bullets that the Gitga'at has tried to propose to the B.C. government on why their project should go ahead. 

I quote from the Gitga'at: "Our project meets all the same high-level goals we all share: safety; security — food, water and energy; energy sovereignty and planetary stewardship; vigilant focus and care of our watershed, and us not burning 500,000 diesel litres annually; reducing GHGs; increasing health; economic opportunities for many; and above all, coho production — salmon." 

The Haisla, The Haisla Nation are waiting for an answer from the B.C. government on whether or not their project, Cedar LNG, can go ahead. Now, Cedar LNG is an offshoot of the LNG Canada pipeline, and guess what. 

I was chief councillor when we put that together. I know where the regulatory hurdles are. I know where it is. They should have had an answer on Haisla Cedar LNG last year. They're still waiting for it. What's the holdup? 

If you're going to approve 28 billion cubic tonnes of LNG for LNG Canada, what's the problem with Haisla Cedar's $3 billion project, where you're only talking about ten kilometres of pipeline and no permanent terminal facilities? There's very little impact. What's the holdup?"

The current crisis in the forestry sector also made for a large segement of his response to the Speech from the Throne, with Mr. Ross noting of the volume of mill closures, lost jobs and the pain that has brought for British Columbia families in rural BC in recent months and years.

"As the resource sector gets shut down and there are vague statements made about LNG, there is no talk about where all these displaced workers are going to go or where these displaced families are going to go. 

Now, it's probably easy for a worker who loses a job in Chilliwack and just goes next door to, say, Abbotsford and gets a job that has a similar pay rate. 

It's not so easy for rural communities — communities on Vancouver Island, communities in northern B.C., communities back out in the east of B.C. It's not that easy, especially when you're talking about communities that only thrive on one or two economies. Most of these communities are thriving on forestry. Mills — lumber mills, pulp mills, reman mills — are shutting down all across B.C. 

And when a family packs up to leave and they can't go and get an LNG job or forestry job elsewhere, where are they going to go? I can tell you they're not going to go to work in a coffee stand. They're going to go to Alberta. They're going to go to the United States. 

This is not right. We shouldn't be actually making conditions so hard that families have to leave B.C. That's not right. 

In the throne speech, there was one line that talked about forestry. This is the line, and I'll quote the Premier. "It is working with the forest sector to ensure a sustainable industry going forward to retool mills and manufacture value-added products, including those that replace plastics made from fossil fuels." 

No mention of the 29 mills that have been shut down in B.C. since 2019. 

 That represents thousands of workers, and if you multiply that by three or four, because that's how big families are in B.C., you get tens of thousands. If you multiply that by the businesses that actually live off these foundational mills, the number becomes staggering. 

You won't say anything about Cedar LNG. You won't say anything about phase 2 of LNG Canada. You said nothing when Chevron left, with their $30 billion investment, and you won't say anything about the mills shutting down in Alberni, Houston, Castlegar, Fort St. John, Chetwynd, Prince George, Radium, Ladysmith, Duke Point, Chemainus, Cowichan. Some of these are on here twice. 

And Skeena is on this list. The mill in Terrace, Skeena Sawmills, is now on this list. 

Why? Because there's no supply. 

The NDP have taken away the lumber supply, and they also contribute to the cost of logging. No mention of this in the throne speech."

The full text of the MLA's speech can be reviewed here, the half hour response starts at 4PM.

The video presentation to the Legislature can be viewed below:

More notes from the BC Legislature can be explored from our archive pages.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.