COLUMN: A Bill to improve the Species at Risk Act
Last Friday, I tabled my Private Members Bill, C-363, in the House of Commons. This bill would patch a large loophole in the Species at Risk Act, or SARA, that has allowed previous governments to wilfully ignore scientific advice as to which species need protection in Canada. SARA is designed to be transparent and timely. ...
B.C.'s Wild West reputation laid to rest — NOT!
The headlines should have read “B.C.'s Wild West reputation laid to rest.” Instead, British Columbians woke up to “Taxpayers would give millions to political parties in NDP plan,” all thanks to an ill-advised decision to slide two unexpected provisions into the government's campaign finance reform package: a transitional...
Site C or No Site C — Public hearing Tuesday in Nelson
British Columbians are facing a crucial test in the coming weeks – reaching an opinion on the planned Site C dam. Currently estimated to cost $8.8 billion, the hydroelectric dam on the Peace River is the single most expensive public infrastructure project ever proposed in B.C. history. Originally put forward along with a...
From the Hill: Time to invest in post-secondary education
A couple of weeks ago, students returned to colleges and universities across Canada after a long summer break. They have been working hard for months to earn enough to pay for their education, but these days those summer wages don’t go very far. Housing costs have been skyrocketing across the country in recent years,...
Labour Day Message —We have a lot to celebrate
For the first time in 16 years, B.C. workers have much to celebrate on Labour Day. Both the B.C. NDP and the B.C. Green Party campaigned for a government that would make life more affordable, fix the services people count on, create jobs, act on climate change, and build a sustainable economy that works for everyone. Now,...
River Talk: The Columbia River Treaty and the Free Trade of Water
Eileen Delehanty Pearkes has been researching and writing about the history and politics of water in the upper Columbia Basin since 2005. Her book on the Columbia River Treaty, A River Captured, was released in 2016. Recently, her travelling exhibit on the Columbia River Treaty, curated for Touchstones Nelson, won a national...
20,000 days of nature conservation
At the end of this summer, Wednesday (August 30 2017), the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) will mark exactly 20,000 days of conservation. This milestone provides an opportunity to celebrate and reflect on the work done by NCC and our partners each day, and the conservation we need to accomplish in the 20,000 days to come....
OP/ED: Money can't buy you love, but it can buy you votes
B.C.'s 2017 election will go down in the history books and in more ways than one. The province’s closest election also turned out to be its most expensive. While the final numbers will increase as a few stragglers report and additional candidate spending is tacked on, the B.C. Green party spent $905,000 on its campaign, the...
Column: Dark times? Rise and shine together.
Are we entering a new Dark Age? Lately it seems so. News reports are enough to make anyone want to crawl into bed and hide under the covers. But it’s time to rise and shine. To resolve the crises humanity faces, good people must come together. It’s one lesson from Charlottesville, Virginia. It would be easy to dismiss the...
Premier issues statement on hate groups organizing in Vancouver
Premier John Horgan released the following statement about a rally by hate groups taking place on Saturday, Aug. 19, 2017 in Vancouver: "Hate has no place in our province. We reject all forms of racism, discrimination, intolerance and bigotry. "Recent events and images from Charlottesville, Virginia were horrifying, and hateful...