Vaughn Palmer: Horgan calls on Cullen to resolve bitter pipeline standoff
Credit to Author: Gord Kurenoff| Date: Thu, 30 Jan 2020 02:18:53 +0000
VICTORIA — Premier John Horgan exuded confidence this week that his liaison Nathan Cullen can “find a way forward” through the bitter standoff over the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline.
The NDP premier appointed the former federal NDP MP in hopes of “de-escalating the conflict” between the pipeline builder and some hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en First Nations.
Horgan chose Cullen because he had represented the region in parliament for 14 years, before his retirement at last year’s federal election.
Cullen, now a political consultant with Toronto-based Strategy Corp., assumes a grab bag of responsibilities according to Horgan’s press release.
He’ll be fact-finding, facilitating, analyzing and acting as an intermediary with the company, the hereditary chiefs, the RCMP, and provincial public servants, “to support a peaceful resolution” of a dispute where the hereditary chiefs are blocking construction of the line through their traditional territories.
“Nathan is well respected in the region by Indigenous and non-Indigenous people alike,” Horgan told reporters during a Wednesday media scrum in Prince George.
“He brings all of those skills that allowed him to be elected and re-elected time and time again to the dialogue we’re having with the Wet’suwet’en when it comes to their hereditary leadership.”
Horgan says he personally has a good grasp of the views of the Wet’suwet’en because he spent a day last year at a smokehouse feast at the invitation of the hereditary leadership.
“I know that the hereditary leadership of some of the clans with Wet’suwet’en territory are opposed to the pipeline,” conceded the premier.
He then drew an analogy between their opposition to the natural gas pipeline and his own opposition to expansion of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline.
“Personally, I’m not enamoured with the prospect of a seven-fold increase in tanker traffic in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Salish Sea, but the courts have determined the project is legitimate and should proceed,” said Horgan.
“I acknowledge that and I respect that, and I think that over time a dialogue will allow us to get to a place where the Wet’suwet’en will see the courts have determined that the permits are in order, this is a legitimate project that has massive benefits to B.C., particularly to Indigenous communities, and through dialogue we’ll find a way forward.”
The problem with that analogy is that while Horgan respects the authority of the courts, the hereditary chiefs believe their traditional laws should take precedence.
“I don’t expect the leadership to say tomorrow that they love the pipeline,” conceded Horgan. “That’s not my expectation. But there needs to be a legitimate understanding that the majority of the people in the region are going to benefit from this and that’s what dialogue will produce.”
Na’moks, who is one of the hereditary chiefs, did endorse the Cullen appointment this week, albeit with a backhanded swipe at Horgan.
“There is a level of trust (with Cullen) that currently we don t share with many current elected officials or former,” he told Amy Smart of The Canadian Press. “It gives me more confidence than the premier of the province.”
But Na’moks, who also goes by the name John Ridsdale, said that the chiefs have already made it clear to Cullen that “we will remain adamantly opposed to this project.”
Coastal GasLink president David Pfeiffer endorsed the Cullen appointment this week and expressed hope that the former MP can facilitate a meeting between the chiefs and the company.
He told a media briefing that the standoff has so far not affected the construction schedule and the pipeline remains on track for completion in 2023.
However he cautioned: “We know that time is getting short according to our schedule and we will start seeing impacts at some point.”
He declined to give away how soon that could happen. But he also dismissed speculation that at this late date the pipeline could be relocated away from the traditional territories of Na’moks and the other chiefs.
The chosen route was the most viable way through some difficult terrain, said Pfeiffer. Any shift would entail major delays in terms of redesign and environmental approvals.
For all Horgan’s confidence in the Cullen appointment, it should be recalled that the premier tried something similar a year ago.
After police arrested 14 protesters for obstructing the pipeline in January 2019, Horgan appointed Murray Rankin to help guide a reconciliation process between the province and the Wet’suwet’en.
Rankin was also a federal NDP MP, and like Cullen, he did not run for re-election last fall. He’s still on the job and the New Democrats maintain there’s no overlap between his mandate and that of Cullen.
“Murray Rankin has been facilitating a separate government-to-government process,” said the statement this week from the premier’s office.
“Those discussions are focused both on short-term, practical steps to build a strong government-to-government relationship, and longer-term pieces necessary for a strong governance system and implementation of Wet’suwet’en rights and title.
“The parties have met at least monthly since April of last year and these talks continue — with some important progress made so far.”
But not sufficient progress to resolve the standoff over the pipeline, witness the decision to recruit Cullen.
Will two former NDP MPs make the difference where one did not?
Horgan better hope so because time is running out on the construction schedule along with any opportunity to peacefully resolve the standoff.
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