Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
Tzeporah Berman and Host Logan McClure Davda speak at Countdown Summit 2025. June 16 – 18, 2025, Nairobi, Kenya. Photo: Callie Giovanna / TED
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Tzeporah Berman, Chair and Founder at Fossil Fuel Treaty & Co-founder Stand.earth, had a few things to say about British Columbia’s election of its first Conservative government in a century, and it’s renewed focus on energy and resource development.
Remember, Berman was appointed in 2016 by then-Alberta Premier Ratchel Notley to be co-chair of the Oilsands Advisory Working Group. Stand.earth was also one of the most prominent environmental organizations that fought the construction of the Trans Mountain Expansion. Her bio on Stand.earth notes, “She is currently a campaign advisor at Stand.earth and the chair of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative,” and “In 2021, she was arrested for blockading the logging of thousand-year-old trees in Fairy Creek on Vancouver Island and she gave a widely-viewed TED Talk presenting the case for a global treaty to phase out fossil fuels.”
Here’s what Berman posted on LinkedIn on Oct 25:
The Green vote did not cause the BC NDP to lose this election. The numbers are pretty clear. It’s also clear that David Eby and the BCNDP lost this election and saddled us with a majority Conservative government because they abandoned their base, broke their promises and then made a crass grab for more power in the middle of their term.
We now face a Conservative majority for the first time in nearly a century. A party that has campaigned on dramatically expanding fracking, dismantling CleanBC, repealing the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), and reversing protections and policies that many British Columbians have fought for over decades.
The consequences for our climate, our forests, our water, Indigenous rights and the public good could be devastating.
I believe this election offers a profound warning about what happens when progressive parties move to the centre-right in pursuit of power.
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When the NDP adopts the language of fossil fuel expansion, questions Indigenous rights and frames environmental protection as an obstacle to economic growth, it reinforces the very narratives that conservatives have spent decades building.
It helps normalize the idea that protecting nature threatens prosperity. That Indigenous rights stand in the way of jobs. That climate action is a luxury we cannot afford.
And it shifts the entire political debate further to the right.
We don’t have to choose between a healthy economy and a healthy environment. We don’t have to sacrifice Indigenous rights to create jobs. And we certainly cannot build a safer, more prosperous future by doubling down on the industries driving the climate crisis.
I supported Emily Lowan and the BC Greens because I believe we need leaders willing to stand up for those principles.
My fear is that the damage that was done by the BC NDP goes far beyond this election. When progressive governments themselves reinforce the politics of fear, extraction and economic growth at any cost, they make it harder to build public support for climate action, environmental protection and Indigenous rights.
Progressive parties cannot defeat the right by adopting its worldview. They risk legitimizing it.
The NDP didn’t just senselessly lose this election, they set back social license on addressing human rights, protecting our climate and environment.
And now all British Columbians will be living with the consequences. Buckle up folks. The next four years are not going to be pretty.
- 0135 SASPO-2988_Self serve_2026_YouTube0135 SASPO-2988_Self serve_2026_YouTube
- 0121 Ministry of Energy and Resources April 20260121 Ministry of Energy and Resources April 2026
- 0134 SASPO-2956_ Safety 20260134 SASPO-2956_ Safety 2026
- 0133 LC Trucking hiring Class 1A Payden0133 LC Trucking hiring Class 1A Payden
- 0132 UMWA 20260132 UMWA 2026
- 0129 Turnbull drivers operators0129 Turnbull drivers operators
- 0128 OSY Rentals updated0128 OSY Rentals updated
- 0126 Steel_Reef_Promo_0126 Steel_Reef_Promo_
- 0118 IBEW 30 sec0118 IBEW 30 sec
- 0114 Prospera Bold Vision0114 Prospera Bold Vision
- 0113 Miller Epic Cinematic Hollywood trailer0113 Miller Epic Cinematic Hollywood trailer
- 0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended
- 0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p
- 0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
- 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
- 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
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