Kamloops city councillor Donovan Cavers supports British Columbia separating from Canada to form Cascadia along with Oregon and Washington if the Canadian federal government continues its insistence to build the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline, a proposal hugely unpopular with British Columbians.
The statement comes amidst a heated dispute over the twinning of the Trans Mountain pipeline, which has pitted B.C.’s NDP government and first nation peoples against Alberta, the federal government and Kinder Morgan. The Canadian Federal Government has gone so far as to threaten to use military troops to ensure the pipeline would be completed, despite its passage over unceded first nation land for which the Canadian government has no treaty.
Morneau go for it. Cancel equalization payments to #BC. I dare you…
Hey #Cascadia! looking pretty fit these days. : )@JustinTrudeau Pull. Your. Head. Out. Of. Your. Montréal. B…#Canada#UnitedStates#Cascadia
*draft bioregional map including some portions of the “U”S pic.twitter.com/iwblHn4twj
— Donovan Cavers (@DonovanCavers) April 11, 2018
Cavers was responding to Finance Minister Bill Morneau who said that the feds would cut B.C. off from equalization payments in response to the province’s stance on the Trans Mountain expansion project. Each year, the feds give money to the less wealthy provinces. B.C. has not received an equalization payment since 2009. However, it has received money through the Canada Health Transfer and the Canada Social Transfer programs.
“My response was if they’re going to try everything they can to try to push this pipeline project through British Columbia, which is not in British Columbia’s best interest, then we’re going to pull out all the stops, too,” says Cavers, who has sat on council since 2011 and is gunning for another term this year.
Kinder Morgan Canada announced last week it’s halting the Trans Mountain pipeline due to first nations resistance, and until it consults with its stakeholders. When asked about how serious Cavers was about the idea of Cascadia, he stated:
“If you look at the history of Quebec – and that was the reason I mentioned Montreal – they haven’t separated, but even the idea of separation has gained them a lot of traction on a variety of issues; it’s protected their language and their culture, arguably. And I think the same goes for British Columbia. The natural world is much more important to British Columbians and their lifestyle … than it is to other parts of the country.”
This sentiment mirrors a strong feeling south of the Canadian border as well – where Pacific Northwest mayors, governors, elected officials and business leaders are increasingly using the idea of Cascadia as a bulwark for human and environmental rights, creating what Sightline Institute terms the ‘thin green line’ between raw resource extraction – and Asian markets hungry for additional crude material. Pronvinces and states are also using their legal strength to tie up many federal policies in court, or be moved as unconstitutional. Many of these examples can be seen as in the Pacific Northwest Economic Region, forming the Cascadia Mayors Council, Cascadia Corridor, the Cascadia megaregion, the renaming of the Salish Sea, and supporting cross border projects like Cascadia high speed or solutionary rail.
Cascadians Take Action!
As one of the hubs for the idea of Cascadia – we’d like to ask all of our readers to take a little extra time to thank and make welcome politicians, businesses, public officials, family, friends – or anyone we see or hear supporting the idea of Cascadia.
If you see someone flying the Doug – take a moment and say how much you appreciate that.
In this case – let’s all take a moment to send Donovan Cavers a tweet or email saying how much we appreciate him taking a public stand in favor of Cascadia – and think of others we can support and reach out to in a positive way.
All the best – and Viva Cascadia!
