EDITORIAL PAGE — Business as usual

The British Columbia Treaty Commission has criticized the provincial government for not upholding a commitment to “protect” land from resource development while native claims are being negotiated. This ludicrous statement was too much even for even some of the most left-of-left stalwarts in the ranks of Glen Clark’s New Democratic Party government.

John Cashore, the province’s politically correct minister of aboriginal affairs, has long been supportive of native land claims. But he wasted no time in replying that the government had no intention of shutting down the province’s commerce in areas where land claims are outstanding — a sensible response, as it would seem every inch of the province’s land mass is subject to one claim or another.

The government’s volte-face may have something to do with the fact that it now finds itself with a budget deficit of several hundred million dollars, rather than the surplus it claimed to have just before the recent election.

The deficit was blamed on a poor season in the forestry industry, which explains why Premier Clark had rounded up those forestry executives a few months ago and ordered them to create thousands of new jobs, “or else.” In any case, the provincial government is finding that its well-meaning intentions to settle land claims run the risk of draining the treasury. Some bands are seeking hefty compensation payments, along with the right to freeze any sort of resource development on disputed lands at any stage during the negotiation process. The uncertainty is already affecting new investment, which ultimately means fewer jobs and fewer tax dollars paid into government coffers.

The bottom line for the British Columbia government is that it can not afford to pay out multi-million-dollar settlements. Nor can it afford to shut down the resource industries that drive the provincial economy, particularly in rural areas. And Clark must know that although he won the election, he did not get the majority of the popular vote. This means he can not risk alienating rural British Columbians, who already complain of being ignored by the urban politicians dominating the upper echelons of power in Victoria.

These are the people who have the most to lose in land-claim disputes. After all, no one is arguing that life should come to a standstill in Vancouver or Victoria.

In some respects, the government deserves to be criticized by the treaty commission, for the New Democrats had set the tone for these unrealistic expectations in the first place. Traditionally, the B.C. government had refused to negotiate land claims, based on a court ruling that such rights had been extinguished during colonization. But in its first term of office, the NDP took a different course and opened the door to a series of negotiations, without seeking consultation from other stakeholders. This led to a storm of protest from non-native peoples, as well as from resource and construction industries.

We are not arguing that land claim negotiations should be aborted, only that the rules be made clear. And we do argue that native groups should not have the right to demand that development be stopped in areas under dispute. This would be opening the door to economic anarchy.

Furthermore, the negotiations should involve all stakeholders; forestry, mining and other resource industries, as well as input from local non-native communities. The terms of any deal should be made public before signing, and so should the final price tag.