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Let's go back to what Finance Minister Colin Hansen had to say about private energy projects and if you google "Colin Hansen power" you will see and hear for yourself. It is a tissue of fibs.
Growth is a self fulfilling prophecy. For as fast as we expand to the outer limit, that outer limit is handled by developers demanding and getting more
land to handle the growth, establishing yet another outer limit.
If you had just arrived from Mars and looked at old issues of the Vancouver Province and the Vancouver Sun going back a decade you would never, for a moment, know that there have been any environmental issues in BC let alone the disastrous Rivers and Fish Farms catastrophe. In fact you would assume that Premier Gordon (Pinocchio) Campbell is a very popular politician.
The recent revelation that Richmond-based Kwantlen Polytechnic University has been acting as a paid lobbyist (though they eschew that label) for a highly contentious billion-and-a-half dollar real estate development atop farmland has brought to the fore some serious ethical questions. Namely, should publicly funded academic institutions be engaging in this sort of behaviour, and if so, do they have a duty to disclose such financial arrangements to the public and the bodies they lobby.
Any self-respecting publication needs good cartoons. And so it is our distinct pleasure to introduce The Common Sense Canadian's "Cartoonist in Residence," Gerry Hummel.
The environmental issues which have emerged as important in the last decade in BC are the fish farms and private power and both issues have been largely ignored by the media. In days of yore, Fotheringham and Nichols in the papers, Jack Webster and Gary Bannerman on radio, and Cameron Bell and Keith Bradbury at BCTV would have been all over the government on both of these issues. Moreover – and here’s the critical point – the Campbell government would never have got away with rank and demonstrable deceit on these two issues had Canwest, TV and print, and talk radio not badly let the public down - badly.
Damien Gillis discusses the dire threats to Clayoquot Sound and other stories The Common Sense Canadian is following with CJSF's Stuart Richardson.
Return to the scene of BC's biggest environmental protest - more vulnerable today than ever. Wild salmon populations in Clayoquot Sound are collapsing, and the Wild Fish Conservancy is searching for answers, beginning with the open net salmon farms that clog the fjords of this ecological treasure. The Common Sense Canadian catches up with the scientific team in Clayoquot to discover what they've learned after two years of important research.
Clayoquot Sound, the place everyone thought had been made safe for nature, sits on the edge of the precipice overlooking utter destruction while industry - and it must be said some First Nations - and the two senior governments are fighting to see who will give it the last and fatal push.
A group of concerned citizens, conservationists, and First Nations gathered outside the AGM of Imperial Metals in Vancouver recently to voice their opposition to the company's proposed open pit copper mine on Catface Mountain, in the heart of
Clayoquot Sound. Learn about the threats to Clayoquot from one of the most destructive forms of mining there is. 3 min. video.
By increasing the amount of waste diverted away from landfills through recycling and composting, from 55% to 70%, Metro Vancouver has made a forward thinking decision that puts more focus on waste reduction. The controversy is over what to do with the remaining 30% of our garbage. The Draft Plan includes three possible options for the leftover waste. Metro’s favoured option is the construction of a new incinerator, followed by incineration in another location, or continued landfilling. Article includes song and two videos.
We, the public, must continue to demand proper hearings on environmental issues as a matter of right. But there is a much larger issue which we've all been avoiding - how long can we continue as a society which practices uncontrolled consumption?
Ideas on how to effectively deal with the big challenges of our time seem scarce. Perhaps this is the reason why 10,000 people felt they needed to flood the streets of Toronto to yell out their frustrations to what seemed like deaf ears within the summit.
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Clayoquot Defenders Rally to Stop Catface Copper Mine
A group of concerned citizens, conservationists, and First Nations gathered outside the AGM of Imperial Metals in Vancouver recently to voice their opposition to the company's proposed open pit copper mine on Catface Mountain, in the heart ofrnClayoquot Sound. Learn about the threats to Clayoquot from one of the most destructive forms of mining there is. 3 min. video.
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Video: William Shatner Supports Bill for Wild Salmon
BC's iconic wild salmon got a little help from Canadian icon William Shatner when he addressed the media and public via video.
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Stopping Oil Supertankers in Vancouver
Did you know that massive tankers are shipping oil from the tar sands through Burrard Inlet, putting the entire south coast in grave jeopardy? Or that current plans are to increase volumes to up to 10 tankers per week? Concerned citizens gathered recently in Vancouver to hear from experts about the risks from these tankers and what British Columbians can do about it.
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Dr. Daniel Pauly on the Fraser Sockeye Collapse
At the end of last year's disastrous season for Fraser River sockeye returns, Dr. Daniel Pauly addressed a number of questions and theories surrounding the grave situation. Government officials and spokespeople for the salmon farming industry were quick to dismiss concerns about impacts from open net salmon farms on wild salmon migratory routes by shifting the blame to factors over which we have less control, like global warming.
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Maude Barlow on Fish Lake and Protecting Canada's Water
Canadian water warrior and international environmental powerhouse Maude Barlow spoke recently to a crowd of several hundred in Vancouver on the plan to turn Fish Lake and possibly 20 other lakes across Canada into toxic dumps for mines. A must-see for anyone who cares about protecting our water.
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Triumphant Victoria Finale for Salmon Migration! (and more)
Watch the climactic finish of the "Get Out Migration" for wild salmon - May 8 in Victoria, where 5,000 turned out to the the lawn of the provincial Legislature to tell governments to get open net salmon farms out of BC's waters.
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Rafe Mair & Bill Vander Zalm on Campaign to Stop HST!
Rafe Mair interviews former Socred cabinet colleague and BC Premier Bill Vander Zalm for TheCanadian.org on the campaign to stop the HST. Watch this fascinating ten minute discussion covering why the HST is bad for British Colombians and how this historic initiative can defeat the controversial tax.
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Walking to Victoria for Wild Salmon - May 8!
Watch this 2 min promo for Alexandra Morton's "Get Out Migration" final rally in Victoria on May 8 - featuring the hit song "Walking to Victoria" by Sointula's Backbone Road, and footage from this historic walk for wild salmon all the way down Vancouver Island!
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Canadians Say No to Enbridge Pipeline and Tankers
Greenpeace Canada and other environmental groups and citizens gathered outside the regional office of Enbridge in downtown Vancouver to say no to the company's proposal to pump bitumen from the Tar Sands across BC and into coastal supertankers in the Great Bear Rainforest.
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Wild salmon advocates call for the resignation of CEO of Cermaq
Wild salmon advocates on the historic Get Out Migration called for the resignation of Geir Isaksen - CEO of Norwegian Government-owned Cermaq, the world's second largest salmon farming corporation - at the company's headquarters in Campbell River, over his failure to protect BC's wild salmon from the ecological impacts of his company's farms.
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