Features

Eight reasons the Site C dam is not needed: My testimony to BC Utilities Commission

Oct 16, 2017

Last week, I appeared before the BC Utilities Commission (BCUC) at their Technical Presentation Session in Vancouver, and gave a brief presentation about my findings relating to the economics of the proposed Site C dam. Here’s what I had to say: Thank you to the Commission for the invitation to speak. My name is Marc… View Article

BC First Nations are poised to lead the renewable energy transition

Oct 12, 2017

By Karena Shaw

These are exciting times in British Columbia for those interested in building sustainable, just and climate-friendly energy systems. The recent change in government could mean a shift away from a corporate agenda driven by the needs of a massively energy-intensive fracking and LNG industry towards one that prioritizes action on climate change, First Nations’ self-determination… View Article

Vancouver looks to more ambitious affordability proposals

Oct 3, 2017

By Marc Lee

When the previous BC government brought in a 15% foreign buyer tax in August 2016, Metro Vancouver’s housing market paused: real estate transactions dropped dramatically, prices fell at the high end of the market and housing starts slowed. By Spring 2017, however, the housing market rediscovered its animal spirits, and more recently we are back… View Article

A Dam Troublesome Exception: Progress Energy’s dams should not be exempted from environmental review

Oct 2, 2017

By Ben Parfitt

I sent the following letter to BC’s Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) in response to Progress Energy’s extraordinary request to retroactively exempt the Lily and Town dams from environmental reviews. Such reviews should have been conducted before the dams were built. Not only did those reviews not happen, but the company also failed to obtain other… View Article

Firehose of corporate cash or financing our democracy together? A no-brainer

Sep 25, 2017

By Shannon Daub

A long-overdue and badly-needed overhaul of BC’s election finance rules was introduced by the provincial government last week. Media headlines mostly focused on the decision to include public funding for political parties, questioning whether it is an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars and whether the governing NDP has reversed itself on this issue. But this… View Article

BC’s last Climate “Leadership” Plan was written in big oil’s boardroom (literally)

Sep 18, 2017

By Shannon Daub

Newly uncovered documents obtained through Freedom of Information requests reveal the cozy relationship between the fossil fuel industry and the last BC government went even further than suspected — all the way to inviting industry to directly craft the province’s climate “leadership” plan. Let’s rewind for a second: back in the spring of 2015, then-premier… View Article

Budget Update investments a positive first step for British Columbians

Sep 11, 2017

By Iglika Ivanova

The BC Budget Update injects much-needed investment in a number of important policy areas that will quickly start to make a positive difference in the lives of families and communities around the province. Some of the highlights: MSP fee cut Medical Services Plan (MSP) fees will be cut by 50% in January 2018 for everyone,… View Article

9 things to look for in Monday’s BC Budget

Sep 8, 2017

By Alex Hemingway

BC’s new government is set to table its first provincial budget on Monday, September 11. While it is expected to be less comprehensive than a full budget (as almost half the year has already passed), the investments made or missing from it will reveal a lot about this government’s priorities. The agreement signed by BC… View Article

Debunking the Fraser Institute’s latest scaremongering on Indigenous rights

Jul 4, 2017

By Seth Klein

In a particularly dick move (sorry, no other term for it), the Fraser Institute chose National Aboriginal Day (June 21) to release a report by Tom Flanagan claiming that a sharp increase in people with Registered Indian status will drive up government costs. The methodology employed by Flanagan is remarkably shoddy, as I explain below…. View Article

Time to rethink the approval process for fossil fuel industry developments in BC’s northeast

Jun 28, 2017