BC politics

B.C. government program spending, in millions, from 2016 to 2021. (B.C. finance ministry)

B.C.’s tax take continued to climb during COVID-19 pandemic year

Federal billions offset loss in fees, licence revenues

 

B.C. Premier John Horgan listens as Finance Minister Selina Robinson presents the province’s latest budget, April 20, 2021. The budget forecasts $19 billion in deficits over three years. (Hansard TV)

B.C. budget deficit $5.5 billion, less than half last year’s forecast

Province’s COVID-19 spending tops $10 billion for 2020-21

 

Firefighter lights a back-burn to interrupt the spread of a B.C. forest fire in the summer of 2017. Preventive burns have been advocated since after the 2003 Okanagan Mountain fires. (B.C. Wildfire Service)

B.C. forest fuel load becoming priority after decades of warnings

Prescribed burning urged since 2003 Okanagan wildfires

 

B.C. Premier John Horgan, right, walks with Hardy Wentzel, CEO of Structurlam in Okanagan Falls, March 2019. Horgan’s NDP government has emphasized value added production and redistribution of Crown timber licences. (Penticton Western News)

Record B.C. lumber profits should go to wildfire fight, Horgan says

Prices have plummeted from May peak, supply tightening

B.C. Premier John Horgan, right, walks with Hardy Wentzel, CEO of Structurlam in Okanagan Falls, March 2019. Horgan’s NDP government has emphasized value added production and redistribution of Crown timber licences. (Penticton Western News)
B.C. Labour Minister Harry Bains takes questions from reporters at the B.C. legislature, Nov. 20, 2019. (Tom Fletcher/Black Press)

B.C.’s minimum working age going from 12 to 16 in October

Some recreation, farm, administrative, retail jobs allowed at 14

B.C. Labour Minister Harry Bains takes questions from reporters at the B.C. legislature, Nov. 20, 2019. (Tom Fletcher/Black Press)
Trozzo Creek fire 7.5 km northeast of Winlaw in the B.C. Kootenay region, July 17, 2021. As of July 21 the fire is estimated at 1,100 hectares, out of control but not threatening structures. (B.C. Wildfire Service)

Stay out of B.C. back country while fire risk high, Horgan urges

State of emergency is to help move people out of danger

Trozzo Creek fire 7.5 km northeast of Winlaw in the B.C. Kootenay region, July 17, 2021. As of July 21 the fire is estimated at 1,100 hectares, out of control but not threatening structures. (B.C. Wildfire Service)
Faydra Aldridge, CEO of the B.C. Schizophrenia Society, speaks at a funding announcement July 20, 2021. (B.C. government video)

B.C. psychosis intervention to expand with 100 care providers

Regional mental health programs to include rural outreach

Faydra Aldridge, CEO of the B.C. Schizophrenia Society, speaks at a funding announcement July 20, 2021. (B.C. government video)
Google Earth image of B.C.’s Fraser Valley, an area of intensive agriculture and development pressure for housing and industrial needs. (Google)

Eyes in the sky have a future for B.C. farmland, minister says

Satellite surveillance of agricultural use stopped after protests

Google Earth image of B.C.’s Fraser Valley, an area of intensive agriculture and development pressure for housing and industrial needs. (Google)
Cranes guide sections of Coastal Gaslink pipeline into a 1.3 km tunnel under the Murray River in northeast B.C., June 2021. (Coastal Gaslink video)

Coastal Gaslink pipeline nears halfway mark with B.C. river crossing

Tunnel under Murray River one of longest in North America

Cranes guide sections of Coastal Gaslink pipeline into a 1.3 km tunnel under the Murray River in northeast B.C., June 2021. (Coastal Gaslink video)
B.C. Emergency Health Services ambulance station at Langley Memorial Hospital. (Black Press files)

B.C. funds 85 new paramedics, 22 ambulances as demand climbs

22 rural ambulance stations to be upgraded to 24/7

B.C. Emergency Health Services ambulance station at Langley Memorial Hospital. (Black Press files)
Staying at home is preferred by most seniors to moving to assisted living or other care facilities, but B.C. has a shortage of home care staff and some seniors move into care before it is medically necessary. (Office of the Seniors Advocate)

B.C., care homes partner to train more senior home support staff

Entry-level candidates to receive paid work placements

Staying at home is preferred by most seniors to moving to assisted living or other care facilities, but B.C. has a shortage of home care staff and some seniors move into care before it is medically necessary. (Office of the Seniors Advocate)
A farm tractor and baler sit in a hay field on a misty morning, ready for a day’s harvest. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

B.C. to ease restrictions on secondary farm homes – in 2022

Agricultural Land Commission approval won’t be needed

A farm tractor and baler sit in a hay field on a misty morning, ready for a day’s harvest. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Bjorn Dihle inspects the acid mine drainage flowing into the Tulsequah River from a containment pond filled by effluent from the Tulsequah Chief Mine in B.C., October 2018. The mine cleanup has been a point of dispute between B.C. and Alaska for many years. (Chris Miller photo)

Northwest B.C. mines safe for salmon, Alaska legislators told

Projects developed in Stikine, Taku, Unuk River watersheds

Bjorn Dihle inspects the acid mine drainage flowing into the Tulsequah River from a containment pond filled by effluent from the Tulsequah Chief Mine in B.C., October 2018. The mine cleanup has been a point of dispute between B.C. and Alaska for many years. (Chris Miller photo)
A tunnel boring machine drills to accommodate pipelines through Burnaby Mountain to connect to the expanded Westridge Marine Terminal, May 2021. The twinning project is a quarter completed, with active construction in Alberta and across B.C. (Trans Mountain photo)

Latest Indigenous bid for Trans Mountain backed by pipeline company

Pembina Pipeline partners on oil expansion, northwest B.C. LNG

A tunnel boring machine drills to accommodate pipelines through Burnaby Mountain to connect to the expanded Westridge Marine Terminal, May 2021. The twinning project is a quarter completed, with active construction in Alberta and across B.C. (Trans Mountain photo)
Hydrogen fuel pump in Vancouver is one of four in B.C. There were 10 stations funded by the B.C. government in 2020. (Canadian Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association)

B.C. targets heavy trucking for next hydrogen fuel development

Mixing with natural gas part of Canada’s first hydrogen strategy

Hydrogen fuel pump in Vancouver is one of four in B.C. There were 10 stations funded by the B.C. government in 2020. (Canadian Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association)
Temperatures in Victoria reached 40 degrees on Monday, with records broken all across the province this week. (Tom Fletcher/Black Press)

Heat wave help for communities stretching B.C. emergency resources

Restrict 9-1-1 calls to emergencies, public safety minister says

Temperatures in Victoria reached 40 degrees on Monday, with records broken all across the province this week. (Tom Fletcher/Black Press)
Barrier protects checkout clerk at a grocery store in North Vancouver, March 22, 2020. (The Canadian Press)

B.C. businesses may still require masks as COVID-19 order lifts

Masks recommended for 70% of public not yet fully vaccinated

Barrier protects checkout clerk at a grocery store in North Vancouver, March 22, 2020. (The Canadian Press)
Long-standing promise: former B.C. municipal affairs minister Selina Robinson shows 1979 front page where then-minister Bill Vander Zalm promises to cut red tape from housing approval process, at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention Vancouver, Sept. 25, 2019. (Tom Fletcher/Black Press)

B.C. municipalities get incentives to speed up housing approvals

Rezoning slow, costly and ‘amplifies the voices of the few’

Long-standing promise: former B.C. municipal affairs minister Selina Robinson shows 1979 front page where then-minister Bill Vander Zalm promises to cut red tape from housing approval process, at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention Vancouver, Sept. 25, 2019. (Tom Fletcher/Black Press)
Douglas fir in Saanich, B.C., classified as old growth for a coastal tree at 250 years old or more. (B.C. government)

B.C. appoints expert panel on further old-growth forest preservation

More deferral areas coming this summer, forests minister says

Douglas fir in Saanich, B.C., classified as old growth for a coastal tree at 250 years old or more. (B.C. government)
Nisga’a Museum in the B.C. Northwest is among the Indigenous tourism projects funded for improvements by the province’s COVID-19 recovery fund. (Nisga’a Lisims Government photo)

B.C. COVID-19 recovery fund aids 60 Indigenous tourism projects

Landmarks, galleries, resorts, trails aim to build reconciliation

Nisga’a Museum in the B.C. Northwest is among the Indigenous tourism projects funded for improvements by the province’s COVID-19 recovery fund. (Nisga’a Lisims Government photo)