Placing the economy over the environment

Opinion

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew has been heavily criticized over the past several weeks for his government’s treatment of environment issues. Last week, it was revealed that his cabinet recently issued an order in council authorizing Environment and Climate Change Minister Mike Moyes to summarily dismiss four appeals that challenged the licensing of a new tailings plant at a critical minerals mine located near Whiteshell Provincial Park.

Tantalum Mining Corp. of Canada Ltd. — Tanco — was issued a licence in August of last year to build and operate a new tailings reprocessing facility that would store and manage waste materials produced during mining operations at the site.

Prior to the licence being issued, 49 submissions were made by various individuals and groups, with many raising concerns over the facility’s impact on water quality, traffic and road safety. Despite those objections, the licence was granted. The four appeals were filed after that occurred, but they have been tossed aside by cabinet without due process.

Moyes says the concerns expressed during the consultation process have been addressed through licensing conditions for the project, but Manitobans are left to take his word for it, having been denied an objective appellate review to verify that assertion.

The Tanco mine controversy is just the latest example of the Kinew government prioritizing economic development over environmental concerns in the province. Early in its mandate, the government lowered the provincial gasoline tax by 14 cents per litre for a year. It subsequently reinstated the tax, but at a lower rate than had been in place before the original cut.

Environmental advocates repeatedly warned the cut would result in higher greenhouse gas emissions by making it cheaper to operate high-emitting gas guzzlers. The government insisted on keeping its campaign promise to cut the tax, however.

In April of last year, when Parks Canada was working to prevent zebra mollusks from gaining a permanent presence in Clear Lake, Jamie Moses — Manitoba’s minister of economic development, investment, trade and natural resources at the time — urged the federal government to continue allowing boat traffic on the lake. He argued that a ban would harm tourism and the local economy. Then-environment minister Tracy Schmidt was nowhere to be seen on the issue.

Prior to the 2023 provincial election campaign, Kinew promised that Manitoba would have no new pipelines, but he is now proposing a pipeline that would traverse hundreds of miles of rock, tundra and muskeg to the shore of Hudson’s Bay. He points to the tariff war initiated by U.S. President Donald Trump as justification for his new position on pipelines, but a growing chorus of leading voices in the province disagree.

In June, former NDP candidate and party vice-president Chris Wiebe told this newspaper that “The province is burning and we’re talking about building pipelines up north … I just don’t see how a New Democratic Party can be discussing that.”

Last month, writer Clayton Thomas-Müller, a member of the Mathais Colomb Cree Nation, wrote in the Globe and Mail that “We need to mobilize to protest these carbon-intensive proposals and false climate solutions that Mr. Kinew is proposing.”

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Last week, professor Scott Forbes wrote on these pages that “Provincial premiers have also been bodysnatched by Big Oil & Gas. We expect that from Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, but Premier Wab Kinew? He’s cut gas taxes and pushed part-time pipelines to Hudson Bay that make zero economic sense.”

Manitoba voters normally regard the NDP as the province’s pro-environment party, but the actions of the Kinew government over the past two years don’t square with that reputation. In the past, New Democrats criticized Progressive Conservative governments for their willingness to compromise environmental protection measures — which often include an element of public safety — in order to encourage economic growth, but the current government is just as guilty.

It’s “business over the environment” approach closely resembles that of previous PC governments, and that likely explains why the opposition Tories are conspicuously silent on the government’s pro-pipeline, pro-tax cut, pro-economy policies.

They aren’t complaining because they largely agree with the Kinew government’s approach, but that leads to an obvious question: If Manitobans can’t count on the NDP to defend our environment, who can we count on?

Deveryn Ross is a political commentator living in Brandon. deverynrossletters@gmail.com X: @deverynross