Preston Manning's market based approach to the environment inspires coalition

COMMENT: It's the market that demands the goods, and the market is part of the solution. "Manning argues for something called full-cost accounting, or integrating the environmental costs of producing a good into its market price." And for appropriate regulatory and fiscal regimes to make it happen. Hot damn, this APPEARS exciting.

What's the appropriate degree of skepticsm? After all, Stephen Harper and Gordon Campbell have come around on climate change, haven't they? Well, haven't they?

Oilweek Magazine
31-May-2007

Preston Manning's market based approach to the environment inspires coalition
The suburbs of Calgary sprawl beyond the reach of the city‘s public transportation system, swallowing up what were once tiny communities like Okotoks and Airdrie and putting pressure on water resources.

To the north, the factories in Edmonton‘s so-called refinery row belch pollutants day and night, their lights casting an eerie glow that can be seen from kilometres away.

Further north still is the moonscape of the oil sands.

That image of Alberta hardly casts the province at the centre of a burgeoning environmental movement, but Preston Manning wants to challenge that perception.

Last winter, just a short distance from Calgary in the town of High River, the former Reform Party leader gave a speech that observers say pushed an already rich environmental movement in the province to new heights _ a push that‘s coming from the right.

Manning calls his vision of a greener, yet even more economically prosperous Alberta, “balancing the ecological budget,‘‘ and says the most important thing the environmental movement can do is bring big business on board.

“It‘s the market that produces the vast majority of goods and services which produce environmental stress and pollutants as a byproduct,‘‘ Manning said in a telephone interview.

“I don‘t think you‘re going to alleviate that stress, or treat the pollutants in a way that returns them harmlessly to nature, unless the market‘s part of the solution.‘‘

Manning argues for something called full-cost accounting, or integrating the environmental costs of producing a good into its market price.

A shift to a mindset in which people commit to buying only environmentally friendly products, and are willing to pay a premium for them, is key, said Manning.

“That force would have greater impact on the market than all the speechifying or policy declarations by governments put together,‘‘ he said.

Still, that won‘t happen unless the government is willing to step in and provide incentives to encourage consumers to make environmentally conscious choices, Manning added.

“If Alberta started pricing water, even if it just establishes some nominal price to get people used to the idea that it isn‘t free, anybody that‘s using water would have to take that into account,‘‘ he said.

Manning acknowledges that this approach would have its problems, but “at least we‘d be starting down the right road.‘‘

During his speech in High River last winter, Manning called for a grassroots conversation, or a “stewardship coalition,‘‘ between the public, business and government to identify common objectives and concerns.

Manning‘s concept of an environmental stewardship coalition was just that _ a concept _ until a group of five young politicos decided to get together and act on his suggestions.

Nick Gafuik was one of the architects of the Alberta Environmental Stewardship Coalition, and is now chairman of its steering committee.

“We decided very quickly that there was an opportunity to start bridging the gap between the intense public interest in this issue and the political discourse,‘‘ Gafuik said.

The primary objective of the coalition is to initiate a discussion between individuals from all walks of life, and interest groups from all points on the political spectrum, he said.

“We look back at the debates that have occurred in the political sphere in recent times, on things like health care, as a cautionary tale,‘‘ Gafuik said.

“The health-care debate has settled into very divided camps where no real discussion actually happens. ... My fear is that the environment question has the potential to emerge as that kind of debate too.‘‘

Gafuik said the aim of the coalition is to “step over that polarization and agree that environmental stewardship _ that is, understanding and caring for the relationship between our prosperity and our environment _ is a worthwhile endeavour.‘‘

Manning says the only way to bridge the gap between industry, government and the public is through a populist approach to environmental decision making _ an approach he says has a rich and storied history in Alberta politics.

“It‘s part of the DNA of Alberta to take grassroots political action,‘‘ Manning said.

“Some historians say that‘s a frontier phenomenon: It doesn‘t matter what family you come from, everybody‘s equal and there‘s not a lot of structure so you‘ve got to create your own. That‘s part of the political tradition here.‘‘

Political scientist Allan Tupper agrees that Canadians shouldn‘t be surprised to find Alberta at the forefront of the nation‘s newfound interest in environmentalism.

“People think Alberta is all pickup trucks and vast over-consumption of energy, and that‘s partly true, but it‘s just as true in Ontario,‘‘ said Tupper, who worked at the University of Calgary for 20 years but will soon assume a post at the University of British Columbia.

“People should take note of what Preston Manning‘s been saying. This is the leading voice of the environmental movement right now, and it really is rooted in the nature of Alberta‘s society, which really isn‘t understood in all its riches.‘‘

Even if the stewardship coalition seems like a made-in-Alberta approach to environmentalism, Manning hopes its tactics will resonate outside the province.

“I think it‘s got potential in other parts of the country,‘‘ he said.

“It‘s the people who burn the hydrocarbons that create as many problems as the people who produce them.‘‘

Manning notes that Ontario‘s transportation industry is a “huge burner of hydrocarbons.‘‘

“These same issues are relevant in other jurisdictions, and hopefully our democratic approach to the environment will find appeal there too.‘‘