On a recent trip to an oil refinery in Saint John, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that, with TransCanada's proposed Energy East pipeline, "we're not just expanding our markets for our energy projects... We are also at the same time making sure that Canadians themselves benefit from those projects and from that gain in energy security."
It's refreshing to finally hear Harper talk about energy security for Canadians. This country is vulnerable to the next international oil supply crisis because it still imports almost half the oil Canadians use.
Environment and sustainability
Ten years ago, the provincial government made the welcome decision to provide greater opportunities for First Nations to participate in and benefit from forestry operations in British Columbia.
The result was a flurry of new resource and revenue sharing agreements between the government and numerous First Nations that underscored the government’s commitment to enter a “new relationship” with the province’s first peoples.
The recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) should be a wake-up call for Canada. With a development model based on ever more fossil fuel extraction, Canada’s economy and financial markets are on a collision course with the urgent need for global climate action.
The IPCC, for the first time, stated an upper limit on total greenhouse gas emissions – a global “carbon budget” to keep temperature increase below 2°C. This is considered to be the threshold for “dangerous” climate change, and also the target for international climate negotiations.
When delegates attend Metro Vancouver’s Zero Waste conference on Wednesday, they will hear from innovators and big thinkers about how to radically redesign waste out of our economy. Ideas will be presented to aggressively reuse, repair and maintain what we consume, and for composting and recycling to keep all materials flowing in a “closed loop.”
Shortly before the May election, the provincial government withdrew legislation that could have handed de facto control of publicly owned forestlands to a handful of forest companies.
The contentious sections of the bill were dropped amid a swelling chorus of questions about why such a gift would be bestowed without any debate about what it meant for our shared lands and resources.
More than 20 years ago, British Columbia signalled to the world that sustainable development was a concept it took seriously. In the intervening years, the phrase has become so over-used as to make people’s eyes glaze over. But back then it actually meant something, and our province led the world in enacting policies that better protected biological diversity for the benefit of present and future generations. Thanks to provincial administrations on both the left and right sides of the political spectrum, we created a network of new parks that was the envy of the world.
Last week's report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reaffirmed the scientific consensus that global warming is happening and is primarily caused by human use of fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) for our energy needs.
For the first time, however, the IPCC stated an upper limit on total greenhouse gas emissions – a global "carbon budget" to keep temperature increase below 2°C, the aspirational target for international negotiations, and considered the threshold for "dangerous" climate change.
Highlights of recent CCPA-BC research. Inside this issue Time to rethink BC’s LNG plans by Ben Parfitt; Why wheelchair fees are not fair and what they say about the state of seniors care in BC by Janine Farrell; Why does BC have the highest poverty rate in Canada? by Iglika Ivanova; BC government to blame for looming BC Hydro rate increases by Marvin Shaffer; Water withdrawal stats run dry by Ben ParfittInvestor alert: TSX over-valued due to a “carbon bubble” by Marc Lee
Small farm owners Pam and Clint Cavers were blindsided on August 28, 2013 when Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives (MAFRI) staff showed up to “seize and destroy” their locally produced and cured prosciutto (pork).
Ironically, just months ago, MAFRI presented the Cavers with $10,000, naming their prosciutto the “Best New Food Product” in the Great Manitoba Food Fight competition.
Pam Cavers neatly summed up the Province’s approach to supporting local food, “With one hand they giveth and the other they taketh away.”
Inside this issue: