Tag Archives: BC

Food, Poverty

Rent and Food Push ‘Living Wage’ Up 17 Per Cent

By Zak Vescera, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The cost of life in British Columbia has risen at a record rate this year as runaway rent and food prices erode savings and squeeze wallets. 

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ 2022 Working for a Living Wage report  found two parents in Metro Vancouver would each need to make $24.08 an  hour to afford housing, food, child care and other expenses for a family  of four, up 17 per cent from $20.52 in 2021. The minimum wage in B.C.  is $15.65. 

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energy efficiency, Politics

BC leads in Canada’s Energy Efficiency scorecard for the fourth year in a row

Efficiency Canada has just released its 2022 Canadian Energy Efficiency scorecard and British Columbia leads the rankings for the fourth year in a row.

“BC’s updated climate plan includes several nation leading policies. Now the province needs to implement them,” it states in the report.

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Parks, Rivers & Oceans

A deeper dive into the marine protected network plan on Canada’s West Coast

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

There’s much to celebrate in the proposed plan to create a string of marine protected areas stretching Canada’s West Coast from northern Vancouver Island to Alaska, experts say. 

But the lack of information on specific protection measures for the BC Northern Shelf MPA Network means the blueprint to preserve sensitive ocean ecosystems risks becoming a string of “paper parks” — legally designated areas that don’t actually have effective conservation or stewardship measures. 

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Health

B.C. needs to invest in primary care to stem the bleeding of family doctors from rural areas

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Rural communities in B.C. will continue to suffer critical doctor shortages and the knock-on effect of repeated emergency room closures until B.C.’s primary care system is modernized, an expert says.

New physicians are shunning family practice, while established doctors are abandoning it because of the way primary health care is delivered, said Dr. Rita McCracken, a family physician and researcher with the University of British Columbia’s Department of Family Practice.

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Tourism

Wilderness Tourism Association’s new Executive Director: Looking towards ‘a really bright future’

Janeen Sutherland has been the Wilderness Tourism Association’s (WTA) Executive Director for close to three months. 

The North Vancouver native has a background in tourism and sustainable community development. 

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