Behind the smoke, a joke
By Michael Smyth
The Province, Page A06, 14-Sep-2000
The Liberals have scored huge political points against the NDP government
over the proposed pollution-belching Sumas 2 power plant in Washington
state.
They were at it again on Monday when tireless critic Barry Penner, the
Liberal MLA from Chilliwack, crashed an Environment Ministry news conference
and peppered officials on health risks posed by the gas-burning monstrosity.
But are the Liberals, never mistaken for radical environmentalists, truly
sincere in their righteous fight against American polluters?
Or are they, as the New Democrats claim, simply using Sumas as a convenient
whipping post to score easy political victories in a policy area where
they've been traditionally weak?
Well, check out who's the lead lobbyist for the Sumas plant in B.C., the guy
fighting to have the plant built so it can pollute the smoggy Fraser Valley
even more:
None other than the president of the West Vancouver Liberal riding
association and a member of the party's provincial council!
Liberal insider Mark Reder is a lobbyist with the large government-relations
company GPC in Vancouver. He was hired by National Energy Systems Co. of
Kirkland, Wash. (NESCO) to grease the rails for Sumas in British Columbia.
There's more: At GPC, Reder reports on his pro-Sumas activities to his boss,
Patricia Bowles, another prominent Liberal. Bowles used to be Liberal leader
Gordon Campbell's chief of staff at the legislature.
What a joke! Here are the Liberals proudly waging war against the Sumas
power plant in public, while in private their key party hacks are on NESCO's
payroll fighting to have the thing built anyway.
As you can imagine, the situation has created considerable internal tension
for the Libs.
Sources tell me things came to a boil last Monday night at a public
information meeting organized by Penner.
The NESCO suits showed up with Reder in tow. He tried to have the rules of
the meeting changed to benefit his client.
Reder, I'm told, demanded that NESCO be given written questions in advance.
He also wanted to change the order of speakers and actually went up on stage
to challenge the meeting's moderator.
An angry Penner, sources tell me, had to ask Reder to leave the stage.
Both Reder and Penner were tight-lipped yesterday.
"He (Reder) has duties and obligation in his work capacity with GPC,"
Penner said.
"I try to remember that when I talk to him.""
Reder declined to comment, citing client confidentiality.
The bottom line: Fraser Valley Liberals Penner, John van Dongen and Mike de
Jong have done a fine job fighting the disgusting Sumas plant. But when
senior power players in their own party work behind the scenes for the other
side, it makes all their work look opportunist and phoney.
Messages for Michael Smyth:
Voice mail: (604) 605-2004
E-mail: msmyth@direct.ca