An ex-premier provides a reminder of where our wealth comes from

By Vaughn Palmer
Vancouver Sun
20-Jan-2006

VICTORIA - Former premier Dan Miller was in Prince George recently, delivering a message that was as important to the rest of province as it was to the hinterlands.

The advertised title for Miller's speech to an annual forum on the resource industries was "Building the North."

But as he noted in the course of his remarks, it could have been "How Building the North is Important to Building the Province."

He targeted the in-vogue notion that Vancouver and other big urban centres are the economic engines of the Canadian economy.

"The facts are -- they are not," said Miller, who sent along a text of his speech to me. "The dominant engines of B.C.'s economy are its natural resources and the resource regions off the province."

Yes, the cities contribute much. Yes, the country, in terms of population, is increasingly urban. But the provincial treasury and our export-driven gross domestic product still depend on B.C.'s resource wealth.

"Two-thirds of provincial export income is earned by the forestry, mining, fishing and agricultural sectors," Miller said, quoting recent findings by the Vancouver-based Urban Futures Institute.

"Resources play the predominant role in earning the money that ultimately pays for health care, education and social services."

Politicians and governments of various stripes have been saying that for years. From time to time, our urban-dominated society needs to be reminded.

Miller drew on his own insights as a 15-year member of the legislature for North Coast riding, as a cabinet minister and (briefly) premier in the last New Democratic Party administration.

"Simply put, too many people who live in the large urban centres do not understand that our economic success depends on the resource sector," the former mill worker said.

"The 65 per cent of the population that live in the large urban centres either don't believe or are not interested in this basic economic premise."

He underscored the point by savouring another quote from the Institute: "It is only when Lower Mainland and Victoria residents understand that 60 per cent of the money that pays for their large double-double or soy decaf frappuccino comes from the export of natural resources, that there can be a meaningful discussion of economic policy for B.C."

I'm a triple soy latte man myself, but point taken.

All this was prelude to Miller's main pitch, for development to sustain the long-term health of the resource-based economy.

He urged the provincial government to get on with approving the development of the Site C hydroelectric dam on the Peace River.

"This is about the greenest energy you can produce," Miller declared.

"Although land will be flooded, it is a relatively small area of land, and the trade-off, a continuous supply of over 900 megawatts of firm, low-cost power, is worth the cost."

Second, he said, the B.C. Liberals should look to the next phase of development in the oil and gas sector, which he had a hand in nurturing as energy minister in the 1990s.

The province should plow a share of the current resource revenue windfall into exploring petroleum resources in the Nechako and Bowser basins, to the northwest and southwest of Prince George.

"Is it unreasonable to suggest that the province take $100 million of that extra $1 billion they are going to make this year and spend it to see if we can't prove those basins out?" Miller asked. "I don't think so."

Third, he called for major investment in transportation, port development and pipelines, to make the north a conduit for trade with China.

"I like the idea of having an alternative market for Canadian natural resources," Miller said. "It sounds to me like the Chinese president is asking us to dance, and that is an Olympic-sized invitation."

All this from a guy who says his 2001 retirement from politics was "for keeps."

If the resolve ever weakens, "I simply call the number of an organization I found on the Internet -- Politics Anonymous.

"Whenever you get the urge to run, you just call them up and they'll talk you out of it."

Most ex-B.C. premiers would be charter members, I'm thinking.

Still, there's a political aspect to Miller's stance on these issues. The former NDP premier spoke in Prince George at the invitation of Pat Bell, a local B.C. Liberal MLA and provincial cabinet minister.

Lately, he's been co-chair of the B.C. Competition Council, appointed to the post by Premier Gordon Campbell.

Miller maintains his sympathy for the labour movement along with his membership in the NDP.

But his strongly pro-resource development stance is not the kind of thing you hear every day from the party he served so long and so well.

vpalmer@direct. ca