(Excerpt)

What’s wrong with corporations making a profit? That’s what powers our economies.

I believe in free-market capitalism. But in a true free-market economy
you can’t make yourself rich without making your neighbour rich. You
show me a polluter and I’ll show you someone who’s imposing his costs
of production on the public. Eastern Canadian lakes are contaminated
with mercury and your forests are acidified. That’s the result of
coal-burning power plants in the Ohio Valley. Those impacts pose costs
on the people of Canada and should, in a true free-market economy, be
reflected in the price of electricity generated by those plants. If
those plants had to pay the true cost of bringing their product to
market they would shift to natural gas or other less-polluting
counterparts. We ought to force polluters to absorb the true costs of
doing business. Not doing so distorts all of free enterprise.

What’s one of the big coming environmental issues?

Water is a major issue in the next decade, particularly for Canada,
which has the highest percentage of fresh water in the world. There
will be huge demands made on Canada’s water resources, not only from
Canadian industry but from the U.S. and elsewhere. The U.S. would like
to divert those water resources to obtain economic benefits outside of
their watersheds in places like the Great Lakes and in Western Canada.

You’ve expressed opposition to a Newfoundland power company called
Fortis Inc. and its proposal to build a hydro dam on the Macal River in
Belize. What’s the issue here?

I’ve been to the Upper Macal River and it’s one of the most
extraordinary ecosystems I’ve ever seen. It’s the last intact
rainforest watershed in all of Central America. It hasn’t been
disturbed since the ancient Maya. It’s where the last major rookery is
for the scarlet macaw, in all of Belize and probably all of Central
America.

There are 13 species of animals that will probably go extinct in
Central America if this dam is constructed. The proposed dam will only
supply something like 2.9 megawatts of power – about enough just to
power three small hotels. It’s an extremely small amount of energy to
sacrifice these extraordinary resources for.

Why should the dam concern Canadians?

The Canadian International Development Agency provided the funds for
the geological testing that underpins the environmental impact
assessment requested by the Belize government. But studies actually
show the geology in that area is fractured shale and sandstone, which
is highly likely to rupture or fail if the dam is constructed there.

But won’t a new dam benefit Belize?

In terms of economics, the project makes no sense. Belize has a
population of only 250,000 people, and if this dam is constructed, it
will impoverish these people for 50 years or more. We are concerned
that the Canadian government and CIDA have given legitimacy to a deal
that most courts would rule as unconscionable.

Belize is a democratic country ‚Äì why would it participate in a project that won’t be of benefit to its citizens?

There is an imbalance of power when a large multinational corporation
comes into a very poor country like Belize and makes deals with
government officials that impoverish an entire nation. This is the
worst face of globalization.