Apart from Alberta’s no vote on separation, this month’s elections and referendums have given progressive Canadians who care about climate little to cheer about. The country’s biggest oil and gas booster, Premier Danielle Smith is still ruling Alberta and her recent anti-immigrant referendum win, as narrow as it was, hasn’t totally dampened her intent to make new arrivals pay for health and education services other Albertans get for free. 

In BC, voters just elected a provincial government that could end up making Smith’s crew look like moderates if incoming Conservative Premier Lorne Doerkson fails to rein in the bigots, antivaxers and residential school deniers in his ranks. Doerkson is promising to go all-in on oil and gas and wants to resurrect BC’s flagging forestry industry by allowing more trees to be chopped down which may include BC’s diminishing stands of old growth. 

And while Doerkson is presenting as a moderate, he did vote yes to advancing a private members bill proposing to repeal the BC Human Rights Code and the Freedom Convoy Recognition Day Act. His immediate plans are to repeal the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA),........

© National Observer