One of the Fraser Valley’s most controversial political figures, John Les, is once more facing calls for his resignation, this time from the Farm Industry Review Board over his views on climate change according to 24hrs.
Farm board chair must resign: watchdog
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A former BC Liberal minister and the current chair of a board overseeing agriculture in the province attended a Las Vegas conference focused on “promoting skepticism” about climate change — sparking at least one call for his resignation.
John Les is chair of the B.C. Farm Industry Review Board and is the former Solicitor General. The BCFIRB regulates marketing, produce grading, SPCA animal custody decisions, and farm practices.
This week Les — described as a “climate change denier” by a BC NDP critic in the past — attended the Heartland Institute’s ninth international conference on climate change.
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Les was forced to resign as a cabinet minister over his involvement in a police investigation into land dealings while he was mayor of Chilliwack. No charges were laid against Les but the investigation laid bare the practice under his administration of taking land out of the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) for developers without going through the approved provincial procedures of the ALR. One of the properties in question belonged to Les.
He was also forced to resign from another post-political career appointment which was not properly tendered. Les’ position on the environment has included the overseeing the wholesale takeover of Sumas Mountain by the gravel industry and an attempt to turn the misery of Calgary flood victims into a win for the gravel industry.
Since leaving politics Les has registered as a paid lobbyist for the company which receives and manages Vancouver’s garbage at a landfill site in the interior in order to help them fight plans by the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) to reduce the amount of waste it trucks through the Fraser Valley airshed in semi trailers every day by converting in to energy.
The Fraser Valley’s most notorious pseudo-environmentalists, Abbotsford’s Patricia Ross and Chilliwack’s Sharon Gaetz, have, like Les, presided over the gravel industry’s push into environmentally sensitive areas of the Fraser Valley Regional District (FVRD) during their terms at the helm of the FVRD. Both Ross and Gaetz have also devoted an enormous amount of political energy and capital into fighting, along with Les, the GVRD’s attempt to reduce the amount diesel fumes added to the Fraser Valley airshed by converting waste to energy.