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We were midway through an editorial board meeting on Wednesday with B.C. Green party leader Andrew Weaver and his caucus when a lightbulb went off over my head — presumably an LED powered by solar or wind energy.

Smarter folks may have concluded this earlier, but it suddenly dawned on me that Weaver is far more pragmatic than I had previously thought. So much of the Green agenda often feels too idealistic, in a Mickey Rooney, “Hey, gang! Let’s put on a show!” kind of way.

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We were in the midst of a discussion on the Site C dam — which the NDP government is currently deciding whether to complete (Weaver believes, as I do, that the NDP will finish the dam) — when I asked why the Greens were so opposed to what is one of the greenest power-generation projects imaginable and something he had previously supported.

He agreed that B.C.’s low carbon footprint, by First World standards, is largely due to the hydroelectric dams built in the past, but for him the issue comes down to cost. He is less concerned about issues raised by other environmentalists in and outside his party, such as the flooding of the valley, loss of farmland and native concerns.