B.C. premier snookered on dam by predecessor

Somewhere, Christy Clark must be laughing her head off.

The former Liberal premier suffered a dizzying fall from power after the election last May, but the most solemn vow she made in office came prophetically true on Monday.

Premier John Horgan announced the new NDP government will complete construction of the Site C dam, the $10.7-billion behemoth on the Peace River started by Clark’s Liberals three years ago.

Never mind that Horgan and the NDP said the dam was too expensive, too harmful to the environment and agricultural land, trampled on the rights of First Nations and that we didn’t need the power anyway.

It was Clark who solemnly vowed — at the memorial service for the late former premier Bill Bennett, no less — to push the Site C dam “past the point of no return.” And that’s exactly what she did. Horgan was forced to admit Clark had cooked an omelette he simply couldn’t unscramble.

“It must be completed,” Horgan said at a gloomy news conference in the legislative library, where cabinet ministers George Heyman and Michelle Mungall — both high-profile opponents of the dam — stood next to him in an apparent state of grief.

B.C. Hydro already has spent $2 billion on construction and said it would cost another $2 billion to cancel the project and return the worksite back to its natural condition.

That would have been $4 billion for nothing, something Horgan said would have triggered a 12 per cent jump in electricity rates and forced a possible credit downgrade on the province’s debt.

That would have blocked the government from building new schools and hospitals and from delivering on his much-hyped $10-a-day child care promise, Horgan said.

“I and my colleagues have to accept the situation as we find it, not how we wish it would be,” he said.

The announcement set off an expected wave of bitter condemnation from opponents of the dam, and happy celebration from its supporters.

“Affirming the construction of Site C is the right decision for the future of our province,” said Iain Black, president of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade.

The province’s big construction groups also were happy to hear they will keep their jobs and contracts.

But local landowners, environmental groups and key First Nations were furious.

The David Suzuki Foundation said Horgan should have cancelled the dam and built wind turbines instead.

And two First Nations — West Moberly and Prophet River — said they will sue the government and seek a court injunction to stop construction of the dam.

At the legislature, Green Leader Andrew Weaver expressed outrage at the decision to complete the dam, but said he won’t pull his support for the minority NDP government.

“Does this mean we’re going to topple the government? No,” Weaver said. “We’re not elected to pretend we’re playing baseball and I have the bat and ball and I am going to pick it up and go home.”

Most magnanimous, but there are few people who look more foolish in this entire affair than Weaver.

Weaver could have demanded Horgan kill the Site C dam as his price for supporting the NDP in their power-sharing agreement. I asked him why he didn’t and his answer was amazing.

“What would our trump card be if they said no?” he asked.

The “trump card” would have been refusing to prop up the NDP government, of course. If Weaver had done that, Horgan would have folded like a cheap lawn chair.

Instead, B.C. will get the dam

Christy Clark pushed past the point of no return. They will all blame each other when it goes even more drastically over budget.