BC Hydro, first quarter sales

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So BC Hydro plans to spend $57 billion over the next decade to meet what CEO Chris O’Riley and NDP Minister Josie Osborne say is a rapidly growing demand for electricity. For years, the utility has claimed that electricity demand is increasing by 40 percent over 20 years. That rise is 1.8 percent annually compounded, equal to the rate of BC’s population growth in the last ten years. This month, BC Hydro raised its demand forecast growth by more than one-half. The actual sales numbers do not live up to the forecasts…

Drug overdose drugs are preventable

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Last week, the British Columbia Coroners Service reported unregulated drug toxicity deaths of at least 192 people in July 2024. The leader of the BC Conservatives believes this is largely a matter of criminality. He wants to imprison chronic drug users. People who actually know something about substance use disorders know there are better ways…

We have a problem; we have the right solutions

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British Columbia has been reliant on hydroelectricity for generations. However, climate change is threatening that supply. Persistent dry conditions have become a reality. BC Hydro has spent tens of millions of dollars to add capacity and upgrade generating equipment at its hydroelectric dams. But this 28 year record reveals a problem. The output per MW of capacity was 54% higher in fiscal year 1997 than in FY 2024.

A Step Too Far

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A Facebook post by Gordon F.D. Wilson, the BC Liberal leader who was pushed aside in 1993 by big business interests who wished to install the more submissive Gordon Campbell. Wilson’s comments are so good they are worth repeating here.

Journalism without fact-checking

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Beware of what you read about BC Hydro in news sites operating to benefit those who aim to privatize billions of public dollars. One example is a Derrick Penner article published by Postmedia. The Vancouver Sun headline screams that BC Hydro cannot deliver the electricity this province needs. The source of that claim is a group funded by private industry, a group that promotes unregulated private business and works to undermine BC’s main public utility…

20 year demand growth 1/5 of BC Hydro predictions

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Three days after the final date allowed by law for making public its Annual Service Plan, BC Hydro made the document available on its website. Electricity sales to residential, commercial and industrial customers in fiscal year 2024 were 0.34% higher than in FY 2023, and 8.45% more than 20 years before. Observers may have noted that for many years, BC Hydro has been predicting 40% growth in 20 years.

Democracy is threatened

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Elections in the next few months will alter governments in three Canadian provinces, as well as in Washington DC, and in all states of the USA. Justin Trudeau will call a Canadian federal election in less than a year. Journalism we can trust is vital at all times, especially in late 2024 and early 2025. Voters can find endless information from many sources, but we need accurate and thorough information to make informed decisions. Democracy cannot survive if voters are uninformed or misinformed.

Little involvement by rank and file members in Lib-Con alliance

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Leaders of BC Ununited Liberals and the radical BC Conservatives have been sharing amorous glances for a while. Now beyond come-hither looks, they are consummating the relationship. The political environment in the province is close to where it was during the Campbell/Clark years. A right-wing coalition opposes the centrist NDP. One difference: the big business alliance now wears nametags that say conservative instead of liberal. Another distinction is the shift toward the alt-right.

Outrageous! Is there anything left to be said?

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I searched Google to see if Postmedia’s Vancouver Sun had reported on this outrageous story. A friend thinks Tyler Olsen is probably BC’s hardest working journalist. His tiny team at Fraser Valley Current keeps delivering news that larger organizations miss or ignore. Perhaps it is because FVC doesn’t simply rewrite talking points issued by politicians and corporations.

Froomkin on political lying and fact-check failures

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Froomkin says the party of America’s right-wing — this applies in Canada too —  abandoned forthright arguments in favor of dog-whistles and disinformation. In a late 2023 Globe & Mail article, political reporter Campbell Clark wrote about Pierre Poilievre telling lies when the Conservative leader claimed that the Canada-Ukraine free-trade agreement would force Ukraine to adopt a carbon tax. That was untrue. But nowhere does it say bluntly that the Conservative leader was lying. The Globe’s headline writer avoided the harsh description and wrote, “Pierre Poilievre tells tales.”

The Carbon Tax You May Not Be Aware You Are Already Paying

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Over the past few months there has been a lot of rhetoric by the BC United Party and the BC Conservative Party on scrapping the Carbon Tax. Of course, this is low hanging fruit and makes for easy political messaging. There is, however, another carbon tax that you may not be aware you are already paying and will continue to pay until, globally and locally, we reverse the effects of climate change.

BC NDP in 2024

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My conclusion is that the BC NDP wants to do good things, but lacks the courage needed to achieve progressive goals. The party seems to believe that issuing a press release about a policy objective is just about as good as achieving that goal. BC NDP has not published a platform as August 21. I will update this page when they do.

Conservatives: climate change deniers

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BC Conservative Party leader John Rustad told KelownaNow that climate issues are not an existential threat and not a crisis. He said, “Matter of fact, I don’t even think it’s our largest issue that we need to deal with on an environmental side. There are much more pressing issues that we should be focused on.”

Yes, we should be very worried

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Pat Mccutcheon is running for the BC Greens in Surrey Cloverdale. He recently pointed me to this video and said: “Probably the most powerful & disturbing video I have ever seen on climate change.  Renowned climate scientist, Johan Rockstrom, lays it all out in this July 2024 TED Talk.