While B.C. politicians and reporters watched final vote counts trickle in Monday, a literal power-shift was happening up north. BC Hydro finally switched on the first turbine at the new Site C dam. And that means we have to start paying for it.

With the election over, every family in the province could soon see their Hydro bills go up. Or the government will find some way to hide the $16 billion cost. But one way or another, it’s everyday people who will pay for this bloated make-work project – for the next 70 years.

It’s just one more way that life in B.C. is getting more expensive, stressful – and short. No wonder so many of our friends and neighbours voted for a Conservative Party promising change. Almost everyone is feeling squeezed.

We can’t get a refund on the dam, or bring back the farms and wildlife habitat it destroyed. But the decisions our leaders make in the next few months will determine how that very expensive electricity is used. The good news is there’s a lot of it: 1,100 megawatts.

Site C could service one LNG terminal, subsidizing fuel exports to Asia while doing nothing to reduce overall emissions. Or that new power could electrify hundreds of thousands of B.C. homes, immediately improving people’s health and saving them money for years to come.

One path leads to more boom and bust in our small towns: social services strained by out-of-province workers and ecosystems left depleted or dead. The other could kickstart local manufacturing, construction and renewable energy jobs, making our communities stronger.

With a record-breaking budget deficit and a new “majority” government hanging by a thread, premier David Eby’s BC NDP has a very narrow pathway to hang onto power. Their best hope is to make big moves that make a material difference in people’s lives.

That includes launching a new economic strategy based on fresh water, sunshine and wind. In partnership, of course, with Indigenous nations who want to host and build these projects.

Step 1: secure support from Opposition MLAs

Pending judicial recounts, the BC NDP appear to have won 47 seats in the election. One MLA has to serve as Speaker of the House, moderating debates. If that job stays with the BC NDP, that leaves 46 New Democrat MLAs to 44 Conservatives and two Greens.

In that scenario, every time the opposition parties voted against a government bill, it would be a deadlock. Technically the Speaker can break ties, but it undermines their supposedly neutral role – especially if they have to do it for every single vote.

If a government MLA missed a vote, a bill could fail. And if one BC NDP member resigned for health or other reasons, the government could collapse. It would be far more stable with a cushion of a few votes, provided by Conservative or Green MLAs.

Some of the former BC Liberals who drifted to the BC Conservative party seem uncomfortable in their new surroundings. Level-headed, experienced MLAs like Peter Milobar or Elenore Sturko might support some government bills. One might even offer to serve as speaker.

Green MLAs Rob Botterell and Jeremy Valeriote would probably be more natural allies. 53 per cent of British Columbians voted for either the BC NDP or Greens. Both parties’ supporters favour cooperation, and they agree on a range of policies – despite feuds between past leaders.

But on issues of energy and the environment, the BC NDP would have to show the Greens their priorities have shifted after years of supporting old-growth logging, Site C, fracking and LNG expansion.

Step 2: stop propping up dying industries

Valeriote was elected in the Howe Sound riding of West Vancouver-Sea to Sky on a promise to keep fighting the Woodfibre LNG terminal. The project is a strange marriage between Sukanto Tanoto, a controversial Indonesian billionaire, and private utility empire Fortis Inc.

Fortis bet big on the residential gas market in North America, but is now starting to panic. In most climates, most days of the year, electric heat pumps are cheaper to run than gas furnaces. And electric induction stoves sear, boil and simmer food with no poisonous exhaust. People in B.C. are starting to learn the benefits and make the switch to clean electricity. 

That’s why Fortis wants to connect its network of methane gas pipelines to an export terminal, to hedge against shrinking local market share. Tanoto, whose companies have been found guilty of tax evasion, wants cheap fuel for his LNG regasification terminal in China.

The only way Woodfibre makes economic sense is if FortisBC ratepayers cover the cost of boring a twin 24-inch pipeline nine kilometres through a mountain, and under the Squamish River. This major project is supposed to take four years to complete, at an unknown cost.

One year into construction, the gas terminal and pipeline face ongoing delays both from local geology and District of Squamish councillors, who refuse to issue permits for “man camps” in the heart of their community. It’s time to pause and ask if this project still makes sense.

It’s the same story up north with the so-called Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline. After a series of major amendments since it was approved in 2014, PRGT no longer goes anywhere near Prince Rupert. It faces deep opposition from communities along the route. 

Sold to the Nisga’a treaty government and a mysterious Texas company just months before the project certificate was due to expire, PRGT started construction in August. Nisga’a citizens were outraged to discover pipeline workers clearcutting a strip through their traditional lands.

Next door, Gitanyow hereditary chiefs set up a roadblock in late August, turning away PRGT traffic from their lax’yip (territory). They’ve controlled access to their land ever since with a checkpoint. This week the Gitanyow launched a lawsuit against the Ksi Lisims LNG project.

One valley over, the Kispiox Band of the Gitxsan nation is suing the BC Energy Regulator for its fast-tracking of PRGT pipeline construction. Their co-plaintiffs include Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition and the local Kispiox Valley residents’ association.

Both Woodfibre and PRGT are sunset-industry projects that would collapse without the provincial government propping them up. That energy should instead be put into industries that deliver lasting local benefits – and have long-term strategic value for B.C.

Step 3: expand BC Hydro’s call for power

Back in April, BC Hydro announced it was interested in buying new power from renewable energy projects with Indigenous ownership. It was the first time in 15 years the Crown corporation had put out a competitive call for power. It aimed to expand BC Hydro’s electricity supply by a modest 5 per cent. 

Proposals came pouring in from First Nations all over the province, adding up to 9,000 gigawatt hours per year. That’s enough juice to power nearly a million homes. The problem is the program was capped at 3,000 gigawatt hours.

BC Hydro plans to sign electricity purchase agreements in December, but only with a third of the 21 projects that could break ground. While still performing due diligence on proposals, and setting a competitive price for power, BC Hydro could expand this buildout.

If the BC NDP wants to immediately unlock private sector investment, put people to work and make every region of the province more energy secure, they could direct BC Hydro to buy more local power.

Unlike pipelines or dams, solar and wind projects get cheaper to build every year. They can bring new capacity online faster than projects like Site C, which broke ground in 2017. And they complement B.C.’s system of hydro reservoirs, which function like giant batteries.

Right now BC Hydro’s strategic plan calls for a $3 billion, ratepayer-funded transmission line from Prince George to new LNG terminals on the West Coast. That money could be spent instead on grid upgrades and rebates that actually benefit B.C. households.

The new capacity from Site C, and the same amount again from wind and solar projects, would provide reliable, affordable power for hundreds of thousands of heat pumps, induction stoves and electric vehicles. Homebuilders are calling for this to be the standard in southern B.C.

Electric technologies spread economic activity all over the province, supporting small businesses and keeping trades workers employed in their home communities. They also come with immediate benefits for customers, like not breathing nitrogen dioxide in your home.

Finally, they tap into B.C.’s strategic advantages – high mountains and flowing water – at a time when other resource industries are reaching depletion. In an uncertain world, with worsening natural disasters, it makes sense to decentralize our grid.

The other path 

There are other ways the BC NDP could spend its energy this fall, and the temptation is clearly there. One is to constantly attack the BC Conservative party in fear of the next election. The other is to start acting like them – and the two often go together.

Rachel Notley, former NDP premier of Alberta, spent much of her term trying to convince voters that she loved pipelines even more than the Tories. After she set the terms of the contest, voters chose the more believable pro-oil option, the United Conservative Party.

The BC NDP is drifting the same way on crime and punishment, vowing to solve a housing shortage and mass mental health crisis with more police and jail cells. But they will never sound as convincing as true-blue Conservatives. 

At the same time as they adopt overlapping policies on some issues, the BC NDP and BC Conservatives take turns caricaturing each other as dire threats to democracy. For most people (like the 42 per cent who didn’t bother to vote), these attacks cancel each other out.

The real danger is that politics becomes a 24/7 online outrage factory, with lawmakers simply characters on social media reacting to the latest sound bite. Meanwhile corporate lobbyists write the laws, and public services crumble.

There were certainly candidates in the last election who hold bizarre and in some cases, hateful views. Voters filtered most of them out, denying them seats in the legislature. A few squeaked through, and they will soon find out what happens to MLAs who embarrass their party.

Focusing on these oddballs instead of the major challenges facing B.C. would be a mistake. So would trying to mimic their platform. Trending right may have already cost the party this time around. Now is the time for a decisive pivot to populist policies that make life easier for people – like reliable, local renewable power. 

The benefits are immediate: local work, healthier homes, more resilience in natural disasters. Less pollution, more efficiency, lower bills. Better relationships with First Nations, and more revenue in rural communities. Out of all that, hopefully a sense of hope about the future.

Improving people’s real-life conditions is probably the only way to slow down the stampede to right-wing parties that promise strength and protection in scary times. And protecting our natural environment is our best chance to survive the coming decades of climate breakdown.

We elected the government we did because none of the parties deserve to hold ultimate power. And all of them are going to have to figure out how to work together in the best interests of people across the province – not just in the big cities down south.

Now is the time for leadership from all of our MLAs.