Damning the Greens: Does Weaver Deserve to Keep Green Mantle?

Does Andrew Weaver's response to Site C justify his removal as head of the B.C. Greens?

by Charlie Smith  - The Straight

December 15th, 2017

The B.C. Greens say they're opposed to the Site C dam, but the caucus, led by Andrew Weaver, isn't doing a lot to stop it. Andrew Weaver


(Warning: This is a long essay.)

[For complete article, see original at the Straight.com here.]

Imagine you're in the back seat of a large pickup truck and there are three burly guys in the front seats.

The driver, Rich Coleman, is taking you straight toward a cliff.

You're starting to panic but Coleman isn't interested in hearing your worries about what's going to happen.

He keeps travelling headlong into certain disaster.

So you shout at the other guys in the front seat. You demand that one of them take the wheel and turn this vehicle in a different direction.

Much to your relief, they hear what you're saying and spring into action.

The two of them, John Horgan and Andrew Weaver, drag Coleman's clutching hands away from the steering wheel and push him over to the passenger side of the seat window.

Horgan plops into the driver's seat.

Weaver is now in the middle seat. Unlike Coleman, these two know that they're headed toward the precipice.

You feel calmer because you trust Horgan and Weaver to make the right driving decision.

They're not stupid men. They won't send you over the embankment crashing into the gully below.

But much to your shock, Horgan keeps the pickup going in exactly the same direction. Then he puts his foot on the accelerator.

Naturally, you're horrified.

You cry out to Weaver for help.

But he leans in toward Horgan, assuring him that he's got his back.

Weaver tells Horgan that if he drives over the cliff, nobody in the front seat is going to try pull his hands away from the wheel.

"I'll just sit beside you and complain about your driving," Weaver says with a wink and a smile.

With this, Horgan lets out a belly laugh. He quips that even his wife and his brother don't like his driving, but he's confident that any fears of disaster are vastly overstated.

Off to the side, Coleman mutters to himself, "I was right all along. These idiots are going to take me to my destination anyway. And if that yappy guy in the back is actually right and if I actually survive the crash, I can now blame Horgan and Weaver."

You're in the back seat feeling helpless about how to avert a catastrophe. You become enveloped with a sense of doom.