BC Conservatives tolerate bigotry

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South Surrey Conservative candidate Brent Chapman was revealed to have called Palestinian children “inbred, walking, talking, breathing time bombs.” Additionally, he agreed with a podcast host from the fringe that what happened at residential schools was a “massive fraud.” Chapman joked about Indigenous kids dying after they’d been forced to leave their family homes. Rustad refused to eliminate Chapman or other Conservative candidates with records of bigotry. He said, “People sometimes make mistakes.”

An important week in British Columbia

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Right-wing coalitions friendly to big business ruled this province for 52 of the last 72 years. Led by a man removed in 2022 from the Official Opposition caucus for denying established climate science, Conservatives have absorbed BC United, successor to the misnamed BC Liberal Party. After next Saturday, a new government will be formed by the centrist free-enterprise NDP, or the Conservatives, a party that welcomes far-right radicals, fascists, and bigots.

The forever war against regulation

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John Rustad and Kevin Falcon talk about red tape reduction, but the real goal is deregulation, something demanded by their business sponsors. But regulations are vital tools for improving our day-to-day lives. These promote trust, predictability, and stability. Regulations exist to protect consumers from unsafe products and unfair business practices such as collusion and price-fixing. They exist to protect public health and safety and the environment…

Dangerous methane emissions are rising faster than ever

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Canada is one of 155 nations that signed the Global Methane Pledge. GMP promises to reduce methane (CH4) emissions by 30% from 2020 levels by 2030. Despite the commitments, atmospheric concentration of the greenhouse gas is increasing faster now than at any time since the 1980s. Methane emissions result primarily from fossil fuel production, agriculture, waste management, and other human activities, including flooding of hydropower reservoirs like the one behind BC’s Site C dam.

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.