Tag Archives: Sonal Gupta

Environment, Indigenous Nations

BC’s development agenda tramples rights, First Nation leaders warn

By Sonal Gupta, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Indigenous leaders across BC are sounding the alarm over two new provincial bills they say threaten to undermine their people’s rights and weaken environmental safeguards.

The legislation introduced by Premier David Eby’s government aims to fast-track major infrastructure developments and clean energy projects. But First Nations leaders argue the bills were developed without the proper consultation required under BC’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA).

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Politics

BC Conservatives pitch a carbon tax on US coal as a trade-war measure

By Sonal Gupta, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

British Columbia Opposition Leader John Rustad floated the idea on Monday of imposing a carbon tax on American thermal coal exported through B.C. ports, in response to the U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber. While some climate activists fighting coal exports say this would lead to positive results by increasing the price of a dirty fuel, they argue the most effective action would be to ban exports altogether to tackle the climate crisis. 

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