The Council of Canadians will hold its next annual general meeting in Nanaimo, British Columbia on October 26-28, 2012. Located on Vancouver Island, the city of about 80,000 people is situated 110 km northwest of Victoria, and 55 km west of Vancouver, separated by the Strait of Georgia.
Our AGM there will come at a critical time.
1. It may take place just months before a provincial election. Vancouver-based Globe and Mail columnist Gary Mason has written, “(BC premier Christy Clark) cancelled plans for a fall election because of (political tribulations and dropping popularity). But there’s nothing on the horizon except more trouble. …By the time Ms. Clark has to call an election in the spring of 2013, the Liberals will have been in office for 12 years. …Two Liberal MLAs recently called it quits to pursue other opportunities. Rumours abound that more will soon jump ship. Meantime, popular former suburban mayor Joe Trasolini, widely expected to run for the Liberals in the next election, just announced he’ll run for the New Democrats instead. In government and on radio, Ms. Clark forged a reputation as a scrapper. Well, she’s in the fight of her political life now.”
2. The controversial Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency second-review of the Prosperity Mine near Fish Lake is to conclude with its recommendation no later than November 2012, http://canadians.org/blog/?p=11939, and so quite possibly near the time that we are there.
3. The next phase of public comments on the unpopular Raven coal mine on Vancouver Island is expected to start in April 2012 or June 2012, with a final decision expected sometime after that (possibly the fall of 2012).
4. The opposition to fracking in the Horn River basin will be intensifying in the coming months, http://canadians.org/blog/?p=12029.
5. National Energy Board hearings on the Northern Gateway pipeline (that would take tar sands bitumen to a port in Kitimat to be put in super-tankers and shipped along the BC coast) have been scheduled for January and June 2012. The federal review of the project, delayed by a year, is now expected to conclude in the fall of 2013.
And there are numerous other issues of keen concern including: run of the river projects, http://canadians.org/blog/?p=6402; the Site C dam, http://canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=7986; the proposed foreign trade zones, http://canadians.org/blog/?p=13381, and more.
In the House of Commons, Nanaimo is represented by NDP MP Jean Crowder (Nanaimo-Cowichan) and Conservative MP James Lunney (Nanaimo-Alberni). Lunney is currently a member of the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development.
