Why pay more for energy? Because you pay more for everything else and because it's the “green” thing to do -- that seems to be the reasoning from the Bullfrog campaign I recently heard advertised on CKNW radio, where actors enthusiastically talk about how they love paying more for electricity.

The timing of this is perfect. Currently, British Columbians are being told how the HST is good for us and exactly what we need, and instead of sinking the economy further, it will actually do the opposite.

Some thinktank devised a scheme that would convince the public that bad is good and paying more taxes and fees is good.

As many of our readers may remember from their high school days when they read George Orwell's 1984, “doublespeak” or “doublethink” is a clever ploy that disguises, distorts, and reverses the meanings of words.

This energy doublespeak isn't so obvious, though, as it promises to be a greener and more efficient form of energy, as if BC Hydro wasn't already.

BC Hydro isn't perfect by our standards and it clearly needs upgrading, but the publicly owned utility company has kept electricity rates in B.C. low since its inception in 1961.

B.C. and its citizen-owned Hydro have been the envy of not only Canada but the world – BC Hydro is perhaps one of the greatest models of democracy in Canada.

The predatory three-step process that has been employed over the years has involved dismantling BC Hydro, selling off its assets and outsourcing Hydro jobs to U.S. interests, then getting British Columbians to accept a rate hike on top of it all.

Had it not been so trendy and hip to be “green,” the Bullfrog ad campaign would be laughable and nobody would buy it, but the “green” initiative has held the proverbial gun to our heads and some may feel obligated to allowing the give away of B.C. water rights.

What these Bullfrog ads leave out is that BC Hydro, for the most part, does use green energy and always has. Why fix what isn't broken?

This certainly wouldn't be the first time the environmental movement and the threat of global warming was used as a pretext for another tax. It wasn't so long ago that we allowed ourselves to be coaxed into believing that paying more taxes would result in less carbon emissions. To this day, it still hasn't reduced carbon emissions.

Are we really to believe that paying higher hydro rates is going to save the planet? Only Winston Smith knows.

— John O'Connor