NDP Environment Critic brushes off former NDP Government Advisor

onApr 13, 2009 @ 14:14 PDT

In reaction to a scathing economic analysis of the BC NDP climate change plan, the party’s environment critic, Shane Simpson, is making the ridiculous claim that the author is somehow misguided in his findings.

Released on Friday, the economic analysis by renowned Simon Fraser University economist Dr. Marc Jaccard finds that the NDP’s climate plan could lead to 60,000 direct and indirect job losses by 2020.

According to a Province news article this weekend, NDP environment critic Shane Simpson claimed that:

“He [Jaccard] has been a critic of ours (the NDP) and I don’t believe Mr. Jaccard has an independent view on this.”

It’s insulting to an academic like Jacaard to be accused of dishonesty and being in collusion with government. What makes it even worse is that Simpson fails to mention that Jaccard has also been an advisor to previous NDP government’s – so much for his conspiracy theory.

On the very first page of Jaccard’s analysis it states:

“Professor at Simon Fraser University specializing in sustainable energy modeling and policy, Dr. Jaccard has been appointed by NDP, Conservative and Liberal governments to energy-environment policy advisory and decision making positions over the past two decades. The BC NDP government of the 1990s appointed him to chair the BC Utilities Commission (1992-1997), the Electricity Market Review (1995), the Public Inquiry into Gasoline Pricing (1996), and the Task Force on Electricity Market Reform (1997).” (my emphasis)

The election campaign here in BC hasn’t even begun and the NDP are already spinning hard to put lipstick on their “axe the tax” pig. Check back on DeSmogBlog for our analysis and coverage of the 2009 BC Election.

By Kevin Grandia

Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmog. He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Tweeters” on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning. Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevin’s research into the “climate denial industry” and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Koch’s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks. Kevin is the first person to be designated a “Certified Expert” on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder. Prior to DeSmog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health. In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications. Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.