BC Throne Speech, 2007

From Common Energy UVic

This page is a summary of the important ideas and concepts the BC Throne Speech delivered by Iona Campagnolo on February 13, 2007, which informs the Knowledge Base. This is to help give context to the state responses to the climate crisis as it outlines BC premier Gordon Campbell's environmental vision for the province.

these are still raw notes and will be synthesized in the near future

Overall, the Speech commits the government to act:

• To lead Canada in partnership with First Nations.
• To tackle the challenges of global warming and unplanned urban sprawl.
• To increase affordable housing, reduce homelessness, and help those who cannot help themselves.
• To improve quality, choice, and accountability in our two most important public services — education and health care.
• To open up Canada's Pacific Gateway and strengthen our economic competitiveness."

Contents 1 Key Points 2 Framing 3 Impacts 4 Summary 5 Expected Benefits

[edit] Key Points

• BC government plan "will aim to reduce B.C.'s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 33 per cent below current levels by 2020. This will place British Columbia's greenhouse gas emissions at 10 per cent under 1990 levels by 2020"

[edit] Framing

• Motivation to act is garnered through an illustration of what world will look like for our children if "we fail to act aggressively and shoulder our responsibility"
• "Climate action must be seen and pursued as an economic opportunity as well as an environmental imperative."

[edit] Impacts

Speech mentions impacts such as:

• shrinking glaciers and snow packs
• drying lakes and streams
• changes in the ocean's chemistry.
• wildlife, plant life, and ocean life hurt "in ways we cannot know and dare not imagine"

[edit] Summary

"Global warming and climate change" is identified as the most critical environmental priority for the government

Addressed as a "real" problem whose science is "clear" that "is literally threatening life on Earth as we know it," the Speech acknowledges that voluntary regimes have not worked. Thus, "in 2007, British Columbia will take concerted provincial action to halt and reverse the growth in greenhouse gases."

Overall This action will include:

• forging new partnerships across both provincial and national boundaries.
• acting now and acting "deliberatively"
• stemming the growth and minimizing the impacts already "unleashed"
• firmly establishing British Columbia standards for action on climate change
• aiming "to reduce B.C.'s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 33 per cent below current levels by 2020" - placing BCs ghg emissions at 10 per cent under 1990 levels by 2020
  • interim targets will be set for 2012 and 2016.
• "A Climate Action Team will be established. Working with First Nations, other governments, industries, environmental organizations, and the scientific community it will determine the most credible, aggressive, and economically viable sector targets possible for 2012 and 2016"
  • Climate Action Team "will also be asked to identify practicable options and actions for making the government of British Columbia carbon neutral by 2010"
• a longer-term emissions reduction target for 2050 for BC

Concrete Actions ("Defining Principles)

Energy Plan

• "new energy plan will require British Columbia to be electricity self-sufficient by 2016"
• "new personal conservation ethic will form the core of citizen actions in the years ahead"
• "All new and existing electricity produced in B.C. will be required to have net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2016"
• "Under the new energy plan, British Columbia will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas industry to 2000 levels by 2016" - including a "requirement for zero flaring at producing wells and production facilities"
• "energy plan will require that at least 90 per cent of our electricity comes from clean, renewable sources"
• effective immediately, BC will "require 100 per cent carbon sequestration for any coal-fired project" = therefore, "no greenhouse gas emissions will be permitted for coal-fired electricity projects anywhere"

Specific Sectors

• "Trees infested by the mountain pine beetle will be used to create new clean energy. Wood chips and other wood waste will be better utilized to produce clean power"
• "Beehive burners will be eliminated in BC"
• "Legislation will be developed over the next year to phase in new requirements for methane capture in our landfills"

Technology

• "government will look to all forms of clean, alternative energy in meeting British Columbians' needs in our provincial economy"
  • list of fuels mentioned as clean: bioenergy, geothermal energy, tidal, run-of-the-river, solar, and wind power are all potential energy sources in a clean, renewable, low-carbon future
• new $25-million Innovative Clean Energy Fund will be established to encourage the commercialization of alternative energy solutions and new solutions for clean remote energy"
• "new technologies will be encouraged to "green the grid" and reduce energy losses in transmission"

Collaboration and Markets

• government "will work with California to assess and address the impacts of climate change on our ocean resources and establish common environmental standards for all our Pacific ports"
• "government will seek federal co-operation to electrify our ports and reduce container ships' carbon emissions in all of Canada's ports"
• "government will work with the federal government and its Pacific partners to develop a sensible, efficient system for registering, trading, and purchasing carbon offsets and carbon credits"
• "A co-ordinated, integrated, market-based approach will be critical to meeting targets"

Transportation

• government will "work with its neighbours to create electrified truck stops and support other anti-idling measures for heavy vehicles"
• "federal-provincial partnership will be investing $89 million for fuelling stations and the world's first fleet of 20 fuel cell buses"
• "government will work with California and other Pacific states to push for a hydrogen highway that runs from Whistler to San Diego by 2010"
• "new $40-million LocalMotion Fund will also help local governments build walkways, cycling paths, disability access, and other improvements aimed at getting people out of their cars and back on their feet"
• "new measures will be implemented to encourage and dramatically increase local transit alternatives"
• "Over the next year, new regional transit options will be established for our major urban areas in the Lower Mainland, the Fraser Valley, the Capital Regional District and the Okanagan"
• "new tailpipe emission standards for all new vehicles sold in B.C. will be phased in over the period 2009 to 2016"

Public Sector

• "new strategies will be launched to promote Pacific Green universities, colleges, hospitals, schools, prisons, ferries, and airports"
• "As the Legislative Buildings are upgraded to meet modern seismic standards, new standards of energy efficiency will be set and met"

Buildings

• "new unified B.C. Green Building Code will be developed over the next year with industry, professional, and community representatives"
• "incentives will be implemented to retrofit existing homes and buildings to make them more energy efficient"
• "new measures will be taken to help homeowners undertake "energy audits" that show them where and how savings can be achieved"
• new real-time, in-home smart metering will be launched to help homeowners measure and reduce their energy consumption"

Taxes

• over the next year, the Province will consider the range of possibilities aimed at encouraging personal choices that are environmentally responsible"

Education

• "government will ensure that our children have the benefit of that knowledge in their school curricula"
• " government will work to build literacy on early actions that can be taken at home and at work to make a positive difference to reduce our individual impact on the environment"

Forests

• "government will also invest in our forests, nature's carbon sink"
• "government will substantially increase its tree-planting efforts, which will increase the amount of carbon that is offset each year through reforestation and afforestation"
• "new Green Cities Project will foster innovations that reduce our imprint on the planet through sustainable community planning"
• "new measures will be developed to promote "urban forestry" and new community gardens"

[edit] Expected Benefits

• "being bold and far sighted will foster innovation, new technologies, and plant the seeds of success. Just as the government's energy vision of 40 years ago led to massive benefits today, so will our decisions today provide far reaching benefits in 2040 and 2050."
• "our actions will mean more jobs, new investments, and ultimately greater prosperity for British Columbia"