XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, van.general   
   XPost: vic.general   
   From: "@nyet.ca   
      
   It's a tool that we have in British Columbia that other provinces don't   
   have.  It was used to defeat the HST from Harper's government.   
   Now it's likely to be used against the Enbridge pipeline - and perhaps   
   even the Kinder Morgan pipeline.   
      
   Stay alert.  Be ready to volunteer.  They'll need financial support as   
   well.   
   We can do this.   
   ______________________________________________________________________   
   The Canadian Press Posted: Jun 15, 2014   
      
   Northern Gateway opponents prepare for provincial referendum   
   Pipeline opponents developing strategies to delay, halt project   
      
      
   Resigned, perhaps, that federal government approval of the Northern   
   Gateway pipeline is inevitable, opponents of the project are formulating   
   a plan to make sure British Columbia's politicians remain opposed to the   
   project.   
      
   For months now, members of the Dogwood Initiative have been preparing   
   for a provincial referendum akin to the vote that forced the Liberal   
   government to repeal the harmonized sales tax in British Columbia.   
      
   		northern gateway map   
      
   A group of 40 prominent Canadian business and political leaders signed   
   an open letter urging the federal cabinet to approve the controversial   
   Northern Gateway pipeline project.   
      
   Should Ottawa give the pipeline the go-ahead by this Tuesday's deadline   
   and the province issues the necessary permits and authorizations,   
   spokesman Kai Nagata said his group will be ready.   
      
   "In a perfect world, politicians would do what they say they're going to   
   do and the province of British Columbia's clear rejection of Northern   
   Gateway would stand," Nagata said.   
      
   "But life doesn't always work that way. So the initiative build is a   
   strategy to basically hold our provincial politicians to their word on   
   this project."   
      
   The B.C. government officially declared its opposition to Northern   
   Gateway and told the federal panel reviewing the project that it   
   shouldn't go ahead as planned.   
      
   When Premier Christy Clark pressed for a greater share of government   
   revenues for the project she said repeatedly that while the final   
   decision is in the federal purview there are about 60 permits the   
   province will have to issue for construction to begin.   
      
      
   Northern Gateway Vote   
      
   Enbridge's Northern Gateway Project would bring diluted bitumen from   
   Alberta to the deepwater port in Kitimat, B.C., where it would be loaded   
   on supertankers and shipped to Asia.   
      
   "So the province could hold construction in limbo indefinitely," Nagata   
   said.   
      
   Under provincial legislation, for $50 any registered voter can apply to   
   Elections BC for a petition on their own proposed legislation.  If   
   approved, they have 90 days to collect the signatures of 10 per cent of   
   the registered voters in each of the province's 85 ridings.   
      
   The petitions are non-binding.   
      
   If the chief electoral officer verifies that threshold has been met, a   
   copy of the petition and draft bill are sent to a legislative committee.   
      
   The Select Standing Committee on Legislative Initiatives can either   
   table a report recommending introduction of the draft bill or put it to   
   a public vote. If more than half of registered voters cast ballots in   
   support, the government must introduce the bill in the legislature.   
      
   But even that is no guarantee of success. The bill proceeds as any other   
   legislation, with MLAs free to vote as they wish.   
      
   Petitions have poor track record   
      
   Since 1995, nine initiative applications have been approved but only one   
   petition gathered the required number of signatures to pass. That   
   campaign resulted in a province-wide vote in favour of repealing the   
   harmonized sales tax.   
      
   Bill Tieleman, one of the founders of the Fight HST campaign, wishes the   
   Dogwood organizers luck but said he's not optimistic about their odds of   
   success.   
   "It's extraordinarily difficult," he said.   
      
   Support for the initiative must come from every riding.   
      
   Although they set out with 85 per cent of voters opposing the tax, the   
   HST campaign only barely met the threshold in one Abbotsford riding,   
   Tieleman said.   
   And that was with taxpayers faced daily with the reality of paying the   
   hated tax, he noted.   
      
   "They'll make their targets in a lot of Vancouver and Victoria [ridings]   
   but that's not the way it works. It's not a five per cent or ten per   
   cent of all voters. It's every riding," Tieleman said.   
      
   "There's a lot more people who support the Enbridge pipeline for job   
   creation and economic reasons than supported the HST."   
      
   Nagata said he realizes there is work yet to be done.   
      
   But a legal team is working on the draft legislation and there are 450   
   trained volunteers on the ground across the province.  There are 5,500   
   people who say they will help collect signatures and already 27,000   
   people who have pledged to sign.   
      
   They are aiming for 15 per cent of voters in each riding to ensure   
   success once signatures are verified.   
      
   They'll need 320,000 verified signatures spread throughout the 85   
   ridings and Nagata said an announcement is imminent about labour,   
   environment and community groups that will join the campaign.   
      
   Despite the odds, he's confident that if the initiative must go ahead,   
   it will succeed.   
      
   "We know from our own polling and our work on the doorsteps that this is   
   an issue that's moved into the mainstream," he said.   
      
   "We live in this province. We pay taxes in this province. The idea that   
   a pipeline could be built through our province ... without any   
   democratic input from British Columbia is something that people —   
   regardless of their political affiliations or their education level or   
   their place of residence — agree on."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)