Tag Archives: Gov of BC

Politics

B.C. budget a mixed bag on climate

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

B.C.’s budget viewed through a climate lens got mixed reviews from the province’s environmental and conservation sector following its release Tuesday. 

The province got kudos for bolstering funding for parks and trails for active transportation initiatives to get people out of their cars and on bikes and walking paths. But the budget was panned by those hoping to see a wholesale commitment to the protection of old-growth or urgent, large-scale reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. 

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Jobs

Temporary Foreign Workers Hit Record Levels in BC

By  Zak Vescera, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

B.C. businesses are hiring a record number of temporary foreign workers as they struggle to fill jobs. 

The latest federal data show there were  more than 32,200 people in B.C. under the federal government’s Temporary  Foreign Worker Program at the end of 2022, more than Ontario, which has  more than twice B.C.’s population. 

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Indigenous Nations, Rivers & Oceans

Milestone agreement to protect vast West Coast marine areas endorsed by First Nations, Ottawa and B.C.

 Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Fifteen First Nations are assuming stewardship of a vast network of marine protected areas in their traditional territories that span two-thirds of Canada’s West Coast. 

The Great Bear Sea MPA Network, an unprecedented initiative co-developed with the B.C. and federal governments, is the result of two decades of work, said Christine Smith-Martin, executive director for Coastal First Nations. 

The Indigenous-led initiative, also known as the  BC Northern Shelf MPA Network, involves 100,000 square kilometres of ocean and stretches from Northern Vancouver Island to the border of Alaska. It was formally endorsed and celebrated on Sunday at IMPAC5, a global marine conservation summit underway in Vancouver. 

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Health, Politics

Why a Top BC Heart Surgeon Quit for Politics

By Moira Wyton, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Dr. Sanjiv Gandhi was more frustrated than usual. The pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon and former chief of cardiac surgery at BC  Children’s Hospital had just spent a shift in the midst of an  unrelenting respiratory illness season. In between caring for his most  urgent patients, he’d had to inform some parents their children’s  non-emergency surgeries were being postponed yet again.

Before driving home that  night of Nov. 14, Gandhi fired off a tweet to his few dozen followers at  the time, calling for mask-wearing as a “mandatory inconvenience”  during such a crisis. 

The tweet blew up,  gathering more than 11,500 likes to date. It also added to the ire from  Gandhi’s employer, the Provincial Health Services Authority, for his  comments to media outside the official channels. 

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Health

Grant awarded to Kuu-us Crisis Line Society, which serves Indigenous communities across B.C.

By Alexandra Mehl, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Port Alberni, BC – Kuu-us Crisis Line Society is one of 22 Indigenous-led non-profits awarded $216, 000 over the course of three years from a provincial program.

Cindy McAnerin, associate director at Kuu-us Crisis Line Society, said a need that they have is to upgrade their vehicles for outreach.

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