Most B.C. and Alberta First Nations favour oil and natural gas development. So why do we let activists claim otherwise?
By Gregory John and Mark Milke Canadian Energy Centre A common tactic of anti-oil-and-gas activists and some international organizations over the past decade is to group all Indigenous people under the false narrative of broad opposition to energy development. Those with anti-development agendas ostensibly enlist Indigenous allies as the easiest way to delay or stop…
How to mitigate job loss, fear and uncertainty for workers as British Columbia navigates its post-pandemic recovery
COVID-19 represents the largest labour market disruption in British Columbia’s history. Uncertainty and fear among businesses, workers and customers about the pandemic affect how we grasp the new normal and move beyond the crisis. They will only resume their lives and work when they feel safe, and see very low-risk pathways back to commerce and…
Thoreau, Gandhi and King understood that going to jail was a reasonable price to pay for protest. Why don’t we accept that today?
In 1849, American philosopher Henry David Thoreau was angry at his government’s actions in the Mexican-American War and at the continued legality of slavery in the United States. He published an essay entitled Civil Disobedience, in which he stated that that the evils of war and slavery should be confronted by citizens through withholding their…
Oil sands extraction declined largely because of shutdowns and maintenance of some production facilities. Crude oil extraction also falls
The natural resources sector in Canada continues to be challenged. A new report released Friday by Statistics Canada said real gross domestic product (GDP) of the natural resources sector fell 2.2 per cent in the third quarter, following a 2.8 per cent rise in the second quarter. The federal agency said the decline was largely…
TC Energy Corporation – the former TransCanada – has sold off a nearly two-thirds share of a controversial pipeline that will carry natural gas from northeast British Columbia to a contentious LNG export terminal in Kitimat TC Energy announced it will sell 65 per cent of the Coastal GasLink Pipeline Project to private equity firm…
Whales, glorious sunsets, warming fires, close-knit family, a hand-cut tree, elaborate toasts – and plaid!
[smartslider3 slider=78] The humpback whales were still breaching and blowing as we crossed by ferry from Little River to Powell River on our way back to Skelhp after a week with friends. In mid-December, the big ocean visitors begin their travels south, and once again the local orcas and sea lions become the dominant residents…
The B.C. government’s claim in the court challenge to medicare that waiting lists don’t harm patients is nothing short of ridiculous
After years of political debate and public frustration, it seems the future of Canadian health care may now depend on the outcome of a decade-long legal battle that’s now in the hands of a B.C. Supreme Court justice. The plaintiffs are Dr. Brian Day, the private Cambie Surgery Centre and four British Columbians who have…
The days are increasingly short and grey, but nature is on full display everywhere we look
I’m looking out of our living room window on a predominantly grey sea and landscape. The eye first trips over some close-in treetops before it encompasses five km of Jervis Inlet, leading to Scotch Fir Point in the mid-distance. The bulk of Texada Island beckons in the further background, hiding whatever it wishes behind its…
Capital, companies, equipment and crews are leaving Canada for better opportunities, with the U.S. an easy choice: PSAC
The Petroleum Services Association of Canada has decreased its forecast for the number of wells expected to be drilled across Canada for this year. In its third update to its 2019 Canadian Drilling Activity Forecast, PSAC revised its number from 5,300 (May 2019 revision) to 5,100 wells drilled. PSAC now projects 2,425 wells to be…
To listen to the teacher unions and their supporters, the sky is about to fall if class sizes for secondary schools get bigger. The evidence shows they're dead wrong
Class war may soon break out in Canada. More than half of Canadian high school students are in Ontario or British Columbia. Teacher negotiations continue in both provinces with secondary school class sizes a central issue that could trigger strike action. The B.C. Teachers’ Federation wants to retain or lower high school class size limits…
By Gregory John and Mark Milke Canadian Energy Centre A common tactic of anti-oil-and-gas activists and some international organizations over the past decade is to group all Indigenous people under the false narrative of broad opposition to energy development. Those with anti-development agendas ostensibly enlist Indigenous allies as the easiest way to delay or stop…
