BC Hydro in court to keep Site C expenditure details from public
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...
CBT, CPC purchase control of Waneta expansion for $991 million
Columbia Basin Trust and Columbia Power Corporation announced today they have entered into an agreement with Fortis Inc. to purchase its 51-per-cent interest in the Waneta Expansion hydroelectric generating facility located near Trail, for $991 million. “We are extremely pleased to be restoring ownership to the originally...
Columbia Basin Trust intern program helps businesses create and retain jobs
Is your business growing or succession planning? Columbia Basin Trust's Career Internship Program may be able to help meet your resourcing needs. Applications are currently being accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis. "This program helps create jobs and increases employment opportunities for recent college and university...
BC Ombudsperson Report found illegal reductions of income assistance
B.C. Ombudsperson Jay Chalke released an update of a May 2018 report today that found the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction failed to follow the law in relation to the calculation of income assistance benefits. Special Report No. 41, Working Within The Rules: Supporting Employment For Income Assistance...
‘Drastic and scary’: Salmon declines prompt First Nation to take Canada to court over fish farms
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 ...
Column: News to cheer or fear for the New Year
Introduction: last year of our Second twenty-first-century Decade (!) Year-end and year-start reviews can be an occasion for melancholy or celebration, and yet I personally feel neither. Mostly I feel astounded to find myself 19 years into the twenty-first century, and the third millennium, when it seems not so long ago that the pregnant year […]
Column: Forestry issues
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...
Column: From the Hill -- Homelessness
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. ...
Darkwoods Conservation Area to grow
A large tract of protected lands stretches between Nelson and Creston, including areas managed by the Province of British Columbia and the Darkwoods Conservation Area, owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). Yet one area within Darkwoods — the Next Creek watershed — remains unprotected. This is about to...
Dams and Earthquakes: Austin Engineering Honoured Again
Austin Engineering Ltd. and its team of like-minded partners are constantly analyzing dams, including how they react during earthquakes. The innovative thinkers are pleased to announce that their research, recently presented at the Canadian Dam Association, has received another accolade: the Clean Energy BC ‘Operational...
