Nuanced. - 286. Emily Lowan: BC Greens Leader Takes Aim at David Eby & Conservatives

Episode Date: October 20, 2026

BC Greens leader Emily Lowan joins to explain what she would demand from David Eby, why she wants higher taxes on the wealthy, and where she stands on housing, oil pipelines, DRIPA and Indigenous rights with host Aaron Pete. Send us Fan MailSupport the shownuancedmedia.ca

My name's Emily Lowen. I'm the leader of the BC Greens. How do you think about David E.B.? Frankly, regardless of the results of this election, I think his days are numbered. Taxes are often used to extract money from individuals, corporations, but how would you create more prospect? We have such an opportunity to become a leader in the green industrial economy. when it comes to green steel, manufacturing, utility scale, solar, geothermal. You know, these are projects.

Do you oppose the proposed Pacific Link pipeline? And how would you go about addressing that with the BCNDP and the current federal liberal government? How does our government have $40 billion to hand out to the fossil fuel industry? Like, I think that's corruption. What would you say to the 56% to 62% of British Columbians who actually support, a pipeline. It has been this provincial and federal government making strategic announcements, deeming this project in the national interests, constantly ringing media and sort of stumping for these projects. So do you think British Colombians are being tricked into supporting this?

There's a lot of propaganda push from the oil sands and the gas industry. What does success look like after this election? Emily Lohen, thank you so much for joining us today. Would you mind introducing yourself to listeners who might not be acquainted with your work? Hello, listeners. My name's Emily Lohen. I'm the leader of the BC Greens. And this is my first provincial election.

I've been leader for about a year now. And now the province is due with the polls in six days' time. This is being recorded on Sunday, October 18th. And I am so proud of the platform that the BC grains are running on. I think we'll get into it in this interview. But we're all about standing up to foreign multinational corporations and the ultra-wealthy in this province to deliver the affordable climate-safe future we deserve. Often, as you know, they're kind of two parties pitted against each other.

this election, it is mainly the NDP and the conservatives. And I'm wondering, what are your reflections on those two parties? Well, I think increasingly British Columbians don't want this two-party system where they're caught choosing between broken promises and cuts to services. I think, you know, I really heard that in the reaction to the debate that people want to see. a multi-party system. We don't want to, you know, go the way of the states and we need to see, I think we need the BC Greens and a minority government holding the government to account,

whoever that may be. And so, I mean, yeah, under the BC and EP, they had a majority government. There was no excuses to not deliver on exactly what they're promising in this election and the many broken promises that have led up to this election. You know, I think of $10 a day child care. You know, that's completely absent from their platform. And they froze it out of this year's budget. That was, you know, a banner platform for the NDP for many years. And they've just given up, just like they gave up on building social housing.

just like they've given up on effective transit routes and rail across the province. I think working people and unions and lots of indigenous nations across the province are feeling really abandoned by a government that promised to fight for them. And I think the BC&P specifically, especially David Eby, has lost his way. You know, people, people don't recognize him anymore. The people who, you know, knew him when he was, he was younger. I think he's sold out to, to, I don't know, the certainly moneyed interests in this province, but also just, you know, the corporate media, you know, he's caught chasing the political class instead of working people. you know, and I think the conservatives, I mean, it's like voting on a question mark, right? We know that the conservative, you know, if Lauren Dirkson were to be elected next Saturday,

it's the conservatives would have to change their constitution by vote of the party membership to allow that to happen. So, you know, it would be complete chaos. And frankly, knowing the far right base of their membership. I don't think they would actually allow that to happen. I think they would try to pull in someone else into that position. So I'm, you know, there are high states and I'm concerned about the state of our democracy, the fact, the very fact that we're in this election should be a concern about the state of our democracy that one man can choose to reach for his own cynical self-interest at the expense of $90 million and the exhaustion of the province. You know, I think people are really feeling that, this snap election.

How do you think about David E.B.? Because on the one hand, you're criticizing him. On the other, your greatest aspiration is to see him get a minority government where you and the BC Greens are propping up his government. Can you explain that? what seems to be an inherent contradiction? I mean, we are, I think we're interested in the leverage that we would have in a minority setting. And whether that would look like a formal agreement or support on a vote-by-vote basis, you know, that that's going to be determined after the election. But, yeah, I think it's about making the best use of,

of a bad situation and ensuring that the Greens have the greatest voice and are able to really fight and help deliver on on the promises that we're making this this election. And, you know, as, as you know, Erin, like, I walked away from the agreement with the BCNDP because they did not live up to their promise. And we haven't really seen that from a Green leader before. We got to the end of the year and the BCNDP had not delivered on two-thirds of what they contractually signed on to for the first year of the agreement with the BC Greens. And so they weren't willing to budge on a wealth tax on vacancy control to support renters or, you know, sectoral bargaining to make it easier to start and join a union. These are things that I think Horgans, B.C. and D.P. would have leapt to collaborate on.

But this is not a collaborative government. And I have real concerns about the leadership of David E.B. And I think, frankly, regardless of the results of this election, I think his days are numbered. So to clarify, are you confident you'd be able to find an agreement with David E.B. and the DCNDP? And it's like I said, if we can't find a compelling agreement, we would have real leverage on a vote-by-vote basis. Obviously, that would bring precarity. But, you know, I think that if the NDP finds itself in a minority setting, that should be a massive wake-up call. No, they triggered this election because they thought they could get a super majority. And so I think that would put us in a really important position to drive forward our agenda.

What would be your number one issue that you would want to discuss first with David E.B.? Yeah, I mean, I've said this a few times that I think proportional representation is the key to unlock a fairer voting system, where people don't feel like they're caught between, you know, choosing between cuts to services and broken promises, but they can actually vote for what they want, and they're going to see that reflected in the legislature. So, you know, I would, I think proportional representation is, is going to be really, you know, fundamental for us. But obviously, we've also been campaigning extensively on taxing BC's ultra-wealthy and mega corporations to pay their fair share. So we have the revenue to fund universal child care, fast and free transit, and the social

housing that we need. So, you know, there's the, I mean, honestly, I don't know if that makes me a terrible negotiator showing my hand like that, but I think I've been very clear through through the campaign that, you know, these are our hills to die on. And I think, you know, whoever is premier next week will need to reckon with that. Something interesting that you didn't put on that list in your top two, at least, was the environment. And I'm just wondering, we've heard a lot of focus from you on the ultra wealthy, on taxation in some parts on the economy.

But it is interesting to note that environmental management or stewardship wasn't in the top two of those lists, despite the fact you're a BC Green Party leader. Can you just walk us through your thinking on that? Yeah, well, when I say taxing the biggest corporations in this province, I'm talking about the foreign multinationals that run our resource extraction sector. You know, they haven't been paying their fair share in terms of resource for We have the lowest water industrial rates in all of Canada. And currently we get more money from alcohol and lottery sales than we do from LNG.

And so, you know, despite producing more than ever before. So when we're talking about our existing industries, I think it's time that, you know, we see a fair cut of that to pay into. into, you know, into social housing with green retrofits and heat pumps. Like, you know, I see climate action as integrated in everything that we do. And I want to have, you know, an exciting climate agenda that people see themselves in. Because I think we've been just so caught up in throwing people jargon and scientific targets. and, you know, like, lofty government planning.

But we haven't given people a vision of what climate action looks like, you know, whether that's, you know, the future workforce, the thousands of good green jobs that would be unleashed by our green economy plan, you know, what that looks like in the home in terms of, yeah, in transit, which is a huge climate action drive. May I ask? How would you create more prosperity? Like taxes are often used to extract money from individuals, corporations,

but how would you create more prosperity? Talking about taxes. So I think this is a very clear way that we can rein in the deficit and we can, you know, spend what it takes on child care, on transit and housing. We have such an opportunity to become a leader in the green industrial economy when it comes to green steel, manufacturing, utility scale solar, geothermal. You know, these are projects.

You know, every day I'm hearing stories about the projects in the green economy that are being neglected, deprived of funding, facing bureaucratic delays, and barriers because the government is so focused on getting these rip and ship gas projects out overseas. You know, and I just think it's a massive waste of taxpayer dollars and opportunity and time. I think government should be supporting the industries that are up and coming, the small businesses, the small entrepreneurs and, yeah, those in the green economy that have so much potential You know, I was, you know, reading about a nation near Camloops, who went through a court case and 14 years of bureaucratic delays to get BC's first utility scale solar farm built on their territory.

You know, they were clear 14 years ago, this is our way that we're going to ensure energy security, we're going to bring down utility bills and support our community. this way and they had to fight tooth and nail for it. You know, I want to ensure that communities and that nations are able to actually take the reins of their vision for their economy. And I think a lot of a lot of people are getting held back even though they want to pursue a green economy and I want our government to show up in service for that vision. One tax that I personally don't understand is the property transfer tax. It was sold over 20 years ago as a way to cool the market. It has never delivered that. And now it's just become a form, people often call it a friction tax, because each time, if you have a young person who's buying their first apartment, they have to pay the property transfer tax. Then if they move into a townhouse, they have to pay the property transfer tax. And then when they move into the house, they have to pay a property transfer tax each time around $20,000.

So $60,000 to move up that ladder. And I'm wondering, what are your thoughts on the property transfer tax? Yeah, I think it's super prohibitive. It certainly impacts young people. And also older generations. I hear a lot from older folks in my hopeful writing who are trying to downsize and, you know, again, yeah, move out of a larger home, for instance, into a condo or a rancher. And, yeah, I was literally on the doorstep with someone speaking about this yesterday.

Yeah. So it's for sure a concern. But, you know, I would love to dig in more to sort of the potential of the green economy. You know, I'm curious to hear some of your views as well. Aaron, because, you know, after touring the province and meeting so many communities, like, we're just, we're not seeing government support when it comes to building the future economy, you know, whether it's renewables or care centers or housing. Yeah, we're not, you know, community housing funds and the indigenous community housing fund was slashed. You know, these, these are really directly impacting people. And it was also, you know, you know, when we think about battery development, you'd think that BC Hydro would be this, like, wealth of knowledge, R&D, and like, you know, sort of a Kickstarter to support communities on on battery development and all these, these renewable projects. But, you know, it was in Hydegui, who's, you know, they're trying to get off diesel, right? And they've made huge strides, but it was BC Hydro that is sort of, you know, limiting that future and that potential because they don't have the knowledge on battery development and storage.

And so, you know, I think these are obvious ways that the province can invest in BC energy security to keep jobs, profits here and bring down our emissions. Two more questions. Do you oppose the proposed Pacific Link pipeline? And how would you go about addressing that with the BCNDP and the current federal liberal government? Yeah, I have been unequivocal in my opposition to this pipeline. I call it up Daniel Smith's pipeline. I think that's more accurate. And, you know, I just, you know, I just, you know, I just. just don't understand the proposal to begin with, frankly. I think Alberta should be building a refinery and finding some way to get it out there. It's just I am pretty enraged that the BC&DP folded on this issue immediately. Took a few months. A lot of their caucus is against. it. And, you know, this is a $40 billion taxpayer boondoggle that has effectively no private proponent. And that's because everyone is watching the global market. They're seeing China's

demand for oil plateau and fall. And this thing is going to be obsolete before it's built. Canada's not going to be the next Qatar. Like, let's be so honest, this is one of the most, you know, expensive products, and even the Trans Mountain Pipeline is not operating at full capacity. And it's said to lose $15 billion. So I just, it baffles me when working people are, you know, forced to fight each other for scraps on childcare, on housing, on transit, on these basic necessities of life. How does our government have $40 billion, to hand out to the fossil fuel industry. Like, I think that's corruption.

Like, I, and I will be very, very clear in that, that opposition, you know, as whether or not we, we form a minority government or not, you know, we are organizing against this, this pipeline and all the threat that it brings to BC's coastal economy. our coastal economy is worth, you know, $20 billion, roughly 200,000 jobs all across our coastline, will be devastated by a spill. You know, this is not in BC's interest, financially, environmentally, and frankly, I don't think it's even in Canada's interest. Like, you know, we have, we talk about this being important for our energy, sovereignty. But this particular route actually requires sign-off and coordination from the

American government, you know, with the overlap of BC's waters in this southern part of the province. So there are no shortage of issues, but, you know, my biggest is this would be an environmental disaster. This is at least a $40 billion taxpayer subsidy for a project that is is toxic to the private investor market right now. What would you say to the 56% to 62% of British Columbians who actually support a pipeline? I mean, I think the biggest concern that I have with this pipeline, I mean, I just rattled them off. But what I hear a lot from people is, well, it's inevitable. We might as well just give up, cut a deal.

But when you look at how did we arrive at that opinion over the last, you know, eight to ten months? You know, there used to be real public opposition to this project. But when you look at the record, it has been this provincial and federal government making strategic announcements deeming this project in the national interest. constantly ringing media and sort of stumping for these projects. And I think that is what has given it a sense of inevitability. But I always have to remind people that these sort of announcements, these designations, these handouts are all designed to just court private capital interest, right? and to give us a sense of inertia.

And so I think this is a ridiculous project that is riddled with issues. And I would like to remind British Columbians that there is a long history of people successfully organizing against these projects. you know, in eastern Canada, Energy East, you know, many Northern Gateway in B.C. And I'm so grateful to have the endorsement of Grand Chief Stuart Philip. And I am, you know, honored by his staunch, his incredible record and legacy on indigenous rights and environmentalism, his opposition to many of these projects. And so it's, I think when it comes to any resource extraction, we need to look at, you know, who actually owns this project, who would benefit and who's left holding the bag. And when I look at a project like this, it is British Columbia and it is our coastal ecosystems. And it is our taxpayer dollars that are all on the line here.

So do you think British Columbians are being tricked into supporting this? Just to clarify your comments about the news media and this being pushed and stumped, do you think that they're being tricked? I mean, when you look at the amount of funding that is going into pro-fossil advertising, that is, you know, blanketing our buses, our airwaves, there's a lot of propaganda push from from the oil sands and the gas industry. And they wouldn't be doing that if it was, if there was no public resistance. And so I think there's a lot being spent to convince British Columbians that this is in fact good for them when I believe it

it is really not. Okay, a few final questions. Thank you for sharing your time on DRIPA. As a First Nations chief, I'm very interested in your comments on this. You support keeping DRIPA, but the Gatsala decision, I think, raises a real practical question about how it affects existing laws before the legislature has time to update them. What would you do to make the rules clear for First Nations, businesses, and the public? I'm sure you're aware that one of the questions is all of these laws are assumed to being compliance with DRIPA, which means all of them could be challenged for not currently being in line with DRIPA, which just creates uncertainty across those laws.

What would you do to resolve that? I think the only issue with DRIPA is the fact that government has not done its homework to implement DRIPA and bring B.C. laws in alignment with these. minimum standards set out by the UN. And so when what we saw with with the Gigatla decision, you know, let's look at the history here. This is, as it relates to the Mineral Tenure Act, that's the most outdated piece of legislation in all of D.C. history. And the government refused to come to the table for years and years and years. And so of course, it reached a boiling point where the Gatla felt the need to take legal action. And so, you know, I just, I hate that nations are being blamed for an issue that government sat on and refused to come to the table and negotiate in

good faith. You know, it is, it is squarely up to the crown and government to be updating this this legislation and creating a trust, trusting, you know, nation-to-nation relationship where we can actually move that forward. When we talk about the Mineral Tenure Act, you know, like the free rights system is arcane. I could, I could, you know, go after this interview. I could buy a $25 dollar permit for a corporate license and stake a claim under my neighbor's house, under affecting their private property, if I claim to be a mining industry or a mining corporation with that interest. You know, it's absolutely absurd and it threatens both, you know, everyone's property rights, whether or not you're an indigenous or a settler. And so I just think that, you know,

The Gekalah did us a great favor, frankly, of shining a light on this archaic system. And Eby's response is, I think, just shows how bought out he is by the mining lobby. That he immediately had this knee-jerk-jerk reaction and took a very regressive position on this issue. And, you know, broadly with Dripa, I am disgusted by how conservatives have, have used this as a culture war to drive anti-Indigenous racism in this province. You know, this is something that many candidates and, you know, people in the Greens have experienced directly being shouted out of stores in their own community for being indigenous. You know, this is this is not right and this is not the direction that we can see our province

going in. And I think, frankly, it's just a cheap way. way to get people pointing fingers against each other instead of looking up and holding this government accountable for failing on the affordability crisis. One of my last questions is just around how do we navigate one of the topics that's arisen kind of again and again, which is around First Nations asking for specific time in certain geographic regions or BC parks. You'll know that Caroline Elliott had come out in her bid for BC leadership for the conservatives and said like, hey, it's unreasonable that First Nations

have any private access to some of these sites. The one, I believe, was up near Squamish. The Little Watt Nation had a specific time where they could go to Joffrey Lake and visit there without the ability for others to visit. I just had on Aaron Gunn, a member of parliament federally, and he said that all people should be treated equal and no race or ethnicity should have special access to BC parks. What are your thoughts on this emerging issue? Yeah, I mean, when it comes to draw free legs, there's issues from the outset about government communication and transparency about what is happening here.

And I think, you know, that that is a trend when it comes to this government's mishandling of reconciliation. There's no, there's so much opacity. And I think that's been driving a lot of that fear because people don't know what's going on. It's happening behind closed doors. There's no public registry or detailed information on how these negotiations are going or how individuals could be impacted. And so like specifically with parks, for instance, like what are the dates? What are, you know, what does this actually look like?

And I think it takes people by surprise. And so, you know, this is just, again, a classic issue of a government failing on public education and transparency. Final question. What does success look like after this election? How do you define, based on the outcome after election day, what success looks like? I mean, a minority government would, with the Greens would be a success where we have. have enough seats to hold real leverage in the legislature. And I hope to add a few members to the team. I think we're seeing real momentum growing. We just elected our guy Pete Fry as the first mayor, green mayor, in Vancouver,

first in any major city in Canada, with a whole progressive slate of our friends and greens and cope over there. So we're seeing this momentum grow. And I hope that we see it surge all, you know, right through Saturday. And I know that regardless of the outcome, we have phenomenal candidates that are, you know, prepared to run again and, you know, continue to help build this movement right after the election. I'm so proud that we have Lisa LaPointe, the four former chief coroner of BC for the over the last 13 years. She's running for us in Sanich South. We have amazing labor leaders, you know, president of the Victoria Teachers Association,

small business owners. We have Chief Patrick Mitchell running in Fraser Nicola, who's the chief of Kanaka Bar First Nation. These are people who have inspired me for years, and I am just so grateful to be running with such a team. How can people follow your work? So look up BCGreens.C.Gene's.C.E.A. feel free to, yeah, please follow, volunteer, donate, and, you know, I'm on all social media under my first and last name, Emily Lohen, or on just through the BC Green channels. Tremendous. Thank you very much for sharing your time. Best of luck on the campaign trail.

Yeah. Thank you so much. Bye-bye.