NDP is still stuck with its last treaty position, Delta MLA points out
Vaughn Palmer
Vancouver Sun
Friday, February 09, 2007
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=2281c427-0122-44a1-b6ad-38984465423b
VICTORIA - While Opposition leader Carole James wrestles with a position on the
proposed Tsawwassen treaty, one of her MLAs appears to be lining up against it
in the current form.
"It's a Liberal treaty," says Guy Gentner, New Democratic Party MLA for Delta
North. At this stage, he added, "I'd have to say I'm open to a renegotiated
treaty."
The sticking point for Gentner is the proposed removal of 200 hectares of
agricultural land from the provincial reserve. The band would get a free hand
to develop the land as part of the adjacent Deltaport.
Gentner has circulated a lengthy brief to party members, underscoring how the
land shift would depart from party policy regarding both treaty settlements and
the agricultural reserve.
As evidence, he cites the position taken by the last NDP government in
negotiating with the Tsawwassen band on the eve of the 2001 election.
"The language was clear and precise," Gentner reports, and he proceeds to quote
from documents of the day.
The key passage says that any provincial lands passing to the Tsawwassen band
"would be transferred with existing land use designations, including, where
applicable, the agricultural land reserve."
The next passage struck Gentner as so significant he put it in boldface: "Any
application for removal of this designation would have to follow the policy and
procedures of the land reserve commission."
The current treaty proposal instead provides for the land to be removed from
the agricultural reserve and transferred directly to the band without reference
to the commission.
Gentner's brief doesn't go into how this change came about; a few words of
background may be helpful.
The current B.C. Liberal government initially took the same position as its
predecessor, intending that any removal of agricultural land would be handled
by the commission.
But as negotiations approached the final stages last summer, Chief Kim Baird,
for the Tsawwassen band, took the public position that the failure to remove
the land would be "a deal breaker."
The federal government raised the concern that a provincial regulatory body,
the land commission, could be given a veto over treaty-making.
And the provincial government worried that the commission would be asked to
decide an issue -- preservation of agricultural land versus treaty settlements
-- that was outside its mandate.
At that impasse, the parties agreed to remove the land from the reserve via
treaty, relegating the final call to the elected members of the legislature.
But, as Gentner notes, that doesn't take New Democrats off the hook from the
position they took the last time they were in power.
"Fundamentally, until such time as the party renounces its original policy,
enunciated while in government, it remains the NDP's official position
regarding agricultural land exclusion under any land settlement agreement with
the Tsawwassen First Nation."
As to how that switch might be achieved, Gentner suggests that a revised
position "with regard to agricultural land reserve deterioration would require
adoption by convention."
I'll leave it to the party insiders to decide whether Gentner is right on
procedure. But his brief has surely staked out a strong position against the
treaty.
He says New Democrats are "wrestling with two core values"-- the need to settle
treaties and the need to protect farmland.
Gentner professes "sympathy" with the Tsawwassen band and "I hope we can find
some middle ground."
But for him, the need to protect agricultural land is "fundamental." He got
into politics on that issue way back in the 1970s.
I wonder where that leaves Carole James, who has avoided staking out a position
on the treaty since it was signed two months ago.
When I talked to her about Gentner's brief, she said he was simply helping the
caucus of MLAs reach a consensus.
"He's doing what he was told to do," James said. MLAs were asked to research
their positions on the treaty and get a measure of community feeling for or
against.
Sounds like a lengthy process. A few weeks back, James suggested the party
might reach a position early in the coming legislature session.
Now she's saying, "this discussion could go on for months." She's also leaving
the door open to the possibility that the New Democrats won't adopt a common
position for or against the treaty.
"We haven't got there yet," she said, when I asked if the caucus would adopt a
unified position or allow members a "free vote."
She and her colleagues have plenty of time to make up their minds. The
ratification procedure provides for the Tsawwassen band to vote first, and
that's not likely to happen before summer.
On that expectation, the provincial legislature would not take up the issue
until the fall session, scheduled to open Oct. 1.
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