10 Questions with BC Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver
By Carol Linnet of DeSmog Canada B.C. Green Party leader Andrew Weaver went from being B.C.’s solitary Green MLA in 2013 to holding the balance of power in the province’s current minority government. While the transition has had its ups and downs for the climate scientist, public scrutiny of Weaver’s position and what he ought...
Opinion: Good news -- some projects that got it at least partly right
By DeSmog Canada editors Being an environmental journalist at this point in history can be a bit, well, depressing. It often means bringing negative stories to light: stories about government failing to balance development with environmental protection, or about companies getting away with harmful practices, or about Indigenous...
Opinion: The second 'Warning to Humanity' and what we can do
A year ago, we revisited the 1992 “World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity.” Signed by a majority of Nobel laureates in sciences at the time and more than 1,700 leading scientists worldwide, the document warned, “Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course.” It called for a new ethic that encompasses our...
Assessed property values: a few dramatic changes
Assessed property value changes from 2017 to 2018 Revelstoke residents will see an average increase in property values of just over 21% -- the largest increase in the Kootenay-Columbia region. The next largest increase in average assessed values is 17.2%, in Fruitvale. Midway takes third place, with an average increase of...
Opinion: NDP Government's Site C Math a Flunk, Say Project Financing Experts
By Sarah Cox, DeSmog Canada The NDP government’s arithmetic on Site C cancellation costs is “deeply flawed,” has “no logic at all,” and is “appalling,” according to three project financing experts. Eoin Finn, a retired partner of KPMG, one of the world’s largest auditing firms, said Premier John Horgan’s claim that terminating...
A report on seniors, with notes on child poverty, housing, and finally, some music to contemplate it all by.
In the wake of news about an elderly New Brunswick couple in care, married for 69 years, who were separated just before Christmas this year to accommodate the husband in a facility about 45 minutes away from the wife’s facility because of his need for a higher level of care for dementia, our thoughts can turn to the increasing...
Opinion: Is Site C really a done deal? Is it over?
A summary, by Carol Linnet of DeSmog Canada Site C is a go. Premier John Horgan announced the decision Monday morning. It was met instantly with threats of legal action, requests for an injunction, and condemnation from Amnesty International. Let's start with the legal stuff. Within minutes of the...
Opinion: Site C's bill of goods carries a hefty price tag
Difficult to imagine them getting caught dead in the same room a few weeks ago, but to paraphrase William Shakespeare, “Site C acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.” The list of supporters includes the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, B.C. Building Trades, Christian Labour Association and the Progressive Contractors Association....
BC Supreme Court overturns decision of BC Oil and Gas Commission
The BC Supreme Court has ruled against the BC Oil and Gas Commission (OGC), and overturned the approval of a natural gas pipeline north of Fort Nelson. In an oral decision on December 15, 2017, Madam Justice Gerow found that the OGC’s conduct was “unreasonable” and described the Commission as being “intransigent” (or...
Column: From the Hill -- the wine case at the Supreme Court of Canada
One of the many happy tasks of a Member of Parliament is meeting up with constituents when they visit Ottawa. Last Thursday I had the pleasure of inviting representatives of the Okanagan wine industry to lunch. They and their legal team had just had a memorable morning intervening in an important Supreme Court action, known...
