M E D I A R E L E A S E
September 2, 2009
Media Contacts
Media Chair Simon Lindley at 250.732.6260 or mediachair@greenparty.bc.ca
Party Leader Jane Sterk at 250.507.1715 or leader@greenparty.bc.ca
BC’s best economic stimulus opportunity missed entirely
Vancouver, BC –– With most governments around the globe embracing stimulus initiatives that promote efficiency incentives, the BC government has done the opposite by relegating the province to archaic fiscal management in regards to converting the BC economy. “There are few regions of the world that have the vast potential to convert their economy to a green one,“ states Jane Sterk, leader of the Green Party of BC. “British Columbia has that advantage, and yet instead we witness a slashing of $46 million from the Ministry of Environment, the cancelling of efficiency incentives, an astounding $3 billion in oil and gas tax subsidies from 2008 to 2010, and tax breaks for old energy consumption. This approach lacks ingenuity and traps us on a business as usual path.” Sterk explains the skewed math, “How can we justify reductions in a necessary investment, a pittance of a cut in relation to the monstrous tax subsidies to a profit-based industry. These large companies are resilient, and will be fine. I doubt any would pack up and leave town with the rich resources available to them in BC. The public doesn’t need to fund this. End these subsidies, and we could fund every program the government cut.”
Rather than emerging from this economic crisis a leader in efficiency and green technology, the Green Party of BC predicts that if such unproductive budgets continue, BC will be left far behind in economic leadership and forced in the future to become nothing more than a net buyer rather than supplier of new technologies, the growth going to emerging green powerhouses like the US and Europe. “Business gets it. People get it. But both the premier and the opposition fail to understand what dozens of governments are scrambling to embrace. Waste is unproductive. Using public funds to finance corporate fossil fuel is folly, and cancelling initiatives and incentives for green technology investment, failing to break our oil dependence and refusing to reduce our carbon output is destructive and detrimental to the overall economy.” Direct investment into Germany’s budding solar thermal technology is expected to exceed 12 billion Euros by 2012. Wind power is leading the world as the fastest growing energy production industry. Micro grids, geothermal and self-sufficient energy production are some of the most promising industrial sectors in the next decade, and green technology is estimated to be the fastest growing industry in the US over the next 5 years. Under the current budget, BC attracts none of that production.
“We are now laggards. Instead of infrastructure that will be applicable in fifty years, not antiquated in five; instead of regional conversion programs to create interdependent local power grids, instead of giving British Columbians an opportunity to save money in the long run by participating in the recovery through energy conversion, this government slammed the door shut on opportunity. Key green tech manufacturing firms are seeking favourable environments that support new technology, regions that offer their residents and businesses powerful incentives to convert to efficiency. We will not see any of this direct capital investment after sending a clear message to the green sector that BC is closed for business outside of traditional fossil fuels,“ says Sterk.
Media Contact
Simon Lindley, Media Chair
mediachair@greenparty.bc.ca
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