"A world at the end of its tether drives us toward tasks of hope..."
-Unknown economist
With the harbour looking serene on a weekday afternoon, Lonsdale Quay is a fine place to do a little work toward rethinking our local economy and saving our precious planet.
I'm meeting economic development consultant Liz McDowell here. She spoke recently at the Cool North Shore forum I mentioned last column. The event was surprisingly successful, unlike many civic meetings where the bores take over, tempers flare, or the agenda is stacked to produce the bland result that government organizers planned all along. This was different.
The speakers worked to impart their message about sustainable economic development, no one dominated the floor, and a range of viewpoints emerged from all corners of the political spectrum - without rancour. Residents from Lion's Bay to Deep Cove talked oil pipeline issues and how the Kinder Morgan proposal could affect us on the North Shore.
People had pitched in with possible options to the deal now before the National Energy Board. I'd left shaking hands with a community representative with whom I've jousted often in the past. Next day, a colleague asked how things had gone.
"Excellent," I reported. "No politicians in the room, so no one primped for attention. You heard intelligent people address concerns that aren't getting much play in the media."
My attention was notably sparked when McDowell spoke. She's young, bright, committed to sharing information. I'd checked her bio: finance graduate from McGill, sustainability and climate change research in Geneva with the U.N. Institute for Training and Research, former chair of the Green Jobs Alliance focusing on youth unemployment
in East London. Raised in the Lower Mainland, after six years working abroad she's returned to B.C. and works with Conversations for Responsible Economic Development (CRED), a non-partisan collection of business owners, academics, landowners and everyday residents of British Columbia who support responsible economic development.
McDowell had responded to a question regarding energy issues, noting that Metro Vancouver now has more people working in information technology than in all B.C.'s natural resources extraction fields combined. "What's happened to all the forestry, mining, fisheries and natural gas sector jobs?" I thought.
We've met for coffee.
"B.C. has a huge technology push on," she says. "We still have the legacy of being a resource-based province, but it's not the same base for our economy that it once was. All through the Lower Mainland hightech is moving ahead." One example is HootSuite Enterprise, the world's leading social media management system - they work with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Still new and they've already got about 300-400 hires and are looking at exponential growth, said McDowell. Amazon has got offices in the big new Telus Garden project that's going in downtown; there's up to 1,000 high-tech jobs coming there. Sony's Visual Effects department is looking at setting up Sony Picture Image Works there too. "And next month TED Talks is coming to town."
She knows her field. So what is CredBC? "We're a loose group of business associates from a diverse range of sectors. We're active because B.C. is a livable place to be, and we're concerned, or frustrated with the way economic development is being discussed right now. All you hear about is energy but the real estate sector and its related fields like construction, for example, is the single biggest contributor to provincial GDP with more than 220,000 people working across the province. And small business is still the largest single employer of all, but what do we hear of that unless there's an election looming?" I observe that the debate over environmental and pipeline issues is getting increasingly pugilistic on both sides.
"There are very complex views," McDowell says. "The real question is how we move toward a calmer, more considered situation."
She says she's noticed a shift in the quality of civic dialogue in B.C.'s civic life. "There's less spirited discussion than before. If we're serious about genuinely responsible economic development, let's take the emotion out of it. Let's look at the pros and cons. Let's look at all our economic sectors and at what's contributing to quality of life in B.C. Which components will foster our spirit of economic innovation, as well as jobs and wealth?" Meantime, here on the North Shore, concerned North Shore residents like the new NOPE coalition - No Oil Pipeline Expansion - on the North Shore are alarmed about how Kinder Morgan's proposed pipeline expansion routing Alberta bitumen through the inner harbour might affect daily life. Are there strategies for better development? "First, provincially we're not talking about an economic strategy: pipeline expansion is an export strategy, it's not for our own domestic energy consumption. Shouldn't we be focusing on the whole strategy, asking what our real wealth is? What's the opportunity cost of exporting Alberta dilbit when we're giving up opportunities to refine here?
What are our trade deals, our services really worth? B.C.'s energy strategy should be one piece of the pie: for CredBC this is the particular issue we're looking at now because it has a 40-year impact. I don't pretend to have all the answers, but aren't we impacting Metro Vancouver's brand as the world's greenest city? "When former prime minister Joe Clark spoke at Capilano University recently, he observed that some of the energy debate failures are those of the big energy companies, how they sell themselves as part of their social licence.
"Well, Kinder Morgan says its pipeline expansion will be a tax bonanza, but let's unpack that a little. Burnaby-North's MP Kennedy Stewart has done extensive polling and found constituents there are overwhelmingly opposed. They live near the terminal and don't mind present production levels because it supplies about 90 per cent of our local domestic gasoline needs. Beyond that, they ask 'What's in it for us?' "CredBC wants to better understand the risks of an oil spill as part of dialogue about the economic future
of the region. Properties located near oil spills can see their values decrease eight per cent after a spill or an accident. From a North Shore perspective, the risks aren't just about possible contamination; it's perception and reputation. There's a reason why homes in West Vancouver are worth $4 million dollars and it's not just the view. That's why it's important we know what the risks and potential value loss are.
"Our country has lost its way a little bit," McDowell adds, readying for her next appointment. "People are starting to feel that the risks and benefits of economic development aren't falling equally to the same groups. With oil pipelines, Alberta gets the advantage and B.C. takes the risks. B.C. is not getting its share of the benefits."
North Shore NOPE reminds me of the early days, when residents demanded that East Seymour's mountain forests be preserved from aggressive housing development. The first principle of sustainability is the right to say "no" when projects don't make good sense. Expect to hear more.
