Internal documents released via Freedom of Information laws show that, while the B.C. government was publicly apologizing to the Fort Nelson First Nation for exempting natural gas plants from environmental assessments without consultation, the province quietly used a loophole to allow the exemptions to continue — a...

By Sarah Cox for The Narwhal BC Hydro has gone to court to avoid revealing the names of public employees who decide which companies are awarded lucrative Site C project contracts during construction of the $10.7 billion hydro dam. B.C.’s Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) ordered BC Hydro to release the...

By  Sarah Cox, from The Narwhal In an unprecedented move, the Dzawada’enuzw nation is claiming in court that farming Atlantic salmon — which often carry disease — in their traditional waters constitutes a violation of Aboriginal rights Willie Moon’s family used to catch hundreds of salmon a day ...

We’ve heard a lot in the news lately about the challenges facing the oil sector, but much less about the serious problems confronting another natural resource industry—forestry. Two years ago, the United States placed significant import tariffs on softwood lumber.  Those illegal tariffs are still in place, yet we hear almost...

In this coldest time of the year, we often think of the people in our area who are homeless.  Some have ended up on the streets and in rough camps because of mental health issues, addictions, or a combination of the two.  Some are children fleeing abusive parents or women fleeing abusive spouses; others have become disabled. ...

This week the House of Commons passed Bill C-76, the Elections Modernization Act, the federal government’s answer to the so-called “Fair Elections Act” that the Conservatives enacted in 2014.  And although I and the rest of the NDP caucus voted in favour of the bill, I would say this bill is “a day late and a dollar short.”...

November MLA Report The Legislature has begun the fall sitting so I am back in Victoria until the end of November. As Opposition, it is our job to use question period to take the NDP government to task on its policies and political decisions especially in the areas of taxes and jobs. The policy of allowing only specific unions...

Japanese Knotweed is among the most feared invasive weeds, because of its effects on real estate values, taxes and infrastructure; it is unfortunately able to damage all three – it damages property values merely by being there, raises taxes by increasing municipal costs, and damages infrastructure by invading foundations,...

To The Editor:   Would you vote for a party list without candidates? Of course, you wouldn't, and neither would anybody else. Of course, we will keep local representation under pro rep, and of course nobody will be 'appointed' an MLA unless we vote for them. How dumb do Liberal Party bosses think BC voters are that we would...

"This is the scariest thing about the IPCC Report — it’s the watered down, consensus version." By Jon Queally, Staff Writer, Common Dreams If the latest warnings contained in Monday's report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)—which included pronouncements that the world has less than twelve years to...