Transparency & accountability

Dangerous precedent: Petronas subsidiary gets free pass after building unlicensed fracking dams

Oct 22, 2018

In a decision without precedent in its 25 years of existence, British Columbia’s Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) has told Progress Energy that two massive unauthorized dams that it built will not have to undergo environmental assessments. The decision comes after the company made an audacious request to the EAO to have the two dams declared… View Article

Pro rep will indeed mean more minority governments — bring it on!

Oct 16, 2018

By Seth Klein

Debunking the claims of proportional representation naysayers This post is part of a series explaining the benefits of proportional representation and debunking myths from the ‘No’ side of BC’s 2018 electoral reform referendum. More from the series is available at policynote.ca/pr4bc. Among the fear-mongering claims of the ‘No’ side in BC’s electoral reform debate, a… View Article

Mount Polley four years after the tailings dam breach: business as usual

Aug 28, 2018

By Judith Marshall

“If you asked me two weeks ago if this could have happened, I would have said it couldn’t.” Imperial Metals president Brian Kynoch, spoke these words at a news conference on August 5, 2014, the day after the devastating collapse of a tailings dam at one of Imperial’s operations, the Mount Polley copper and gold… View Article

The Petro State Lackey: How BC’s zest for natural gas fuels Alberta’s oil sands

Aug 8, 2018

By Ben Parfitt

In the past year, an energy dispute for the ages has played out in Canada, culminating in the federal government announcing that it will buy an aging oil pipeline for $4.5 billion and then twin it with a new high-capacity pipeline that would move massive amounts of diluted bitumen from Alberta to tidewater in British… View Article

Damming the information flow: BC government officials button lipped on potentially dangerous dams

Mar 29, 2018

By Ben Parfitt

Early last spring, provincial civil servants cut off virtually all communication about what the government knew about a sprawling network of potentially dangerous and unregulated dams in northeast BC on the pretext they could not comment because of the impending election. The coordinated effort meant there was virtually no comment until months after voting day… View Article

Do you want a more transparent, accountable government? Tell them so!

Mar 19, 2018

By Keith Reynolds

The story goes that Franklin Delano Roosevelt once met with a group of activists who wanted bold action. He listened and then said, “You’ve convinced me. Now go out and make me do it.” BC’s new government is holding a consultation on updating our Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy legislation. On the basis… View Article

As UK Auditor disparages P3s, BC continues to use them

Jan 25, 2018

By Keith Reynolds

The public private partnership (P3) model to provide public infrastructure and services is an expensive mess, and new international evidence confirms this. The question now becomes, when is that mess going to wash up on BC’s shore? Despite increasing evidence that P3s are a bad idea, BC’s government is going ahead with this flawed procurement model,… View Article

Numerous unlicensed dams found structurally unsound; remediation orders issued

Dec 18, 2017

By Ben Parfitt

More than half of nearly 50 dams that fossil fuel companies built in recent years without first obtaining the proper permits had serious structural problems that could have caused many of them to fail. And now, BC’s Oil and Gas Commission (OGC), which appeared to be asleep at the switch in allowing the unlicensed dams… View Article

Newly disclosed data shows need for inquiry into fracking

Dec 11, 2017

By Ben Parfitt

In May 2014, British Columbia’s then Minister of Natural Gas Development, Rich Coleman, came out swinging when a team of Canadian and American scientists issued a report saying that fossil fuel industry fracking operations could contaminate surface waters and groundwater sources. “The reality is we’ve been doing this for over 50 years, we’ve never had… View Article

The University of Victoria seeks to profit from climate change deniers and policy obstructionists: The Exxon connection

Nov 3, 2017

By James Rowe, Claire O’Manique, Emi Belliveau and Malkolm Boothroyd

The school year is now well under way. For many new students starting at the University of Victoria, the university’s stated commitments to sustainability were likely attractive, especially for BC residents whose summers were haunted by relentless wildfires. Given the needed move towards low-carbon economies it makes excellent sense for students to select universities that… View Article

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A progressive take on BC issues

A progressive take on BC issues

Transparency & accountability

Dangerous precedent: Petronas subsidiary gets free pass after building unlicensed fracking dams

Pro rep will indeed mean more minority governments — bring it on!

Mount Polley four years after the tailings dam breach: business as usual

The Petro State Lackey: How BC’s zest for natural gas fuels Alberta’s oil sands

Damming the information flow: BC government officials button lipped on potentially dangerous dams

Do you want a more transparent, accountable government? Tell them so!

As UK Auditor disparages P3s, BC continues to use them

Numerous unlicensed dams found structurally unsound; remediation orders issued

Newly disclosed data shows need for inquiry into fracking

The University of Victoria seeks to profit from climate change deniers and policy obstructionists: The Exxon connection