Peace Valley ranchers Ken and Arlene Boon are part of several law suits over Site C Dam (Damien Gillis) Even if the BC Liberal government decides today to approve the now $8.5 billion Site C dam, the project still faces some big legal hurdles – based on mistakes the government
Continue readingAuthor: Damien Gillis
The Common Sense Canadian: Clark govt, Science World selling LNG Kool-Aid to kids
Ministers Rich Coleman and Shirley Bond watch a recent demonstration on the “science of LNG” (BC Govt) The BC Liberal government’s all-out push to build an LNG industry is extending into the province’s classrooms and the minds of its students. The latest partner in this effort, Science World, is co-hosting a series of
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: First Nations react to LNG approvals with highway blockade
Highway 16 blockade on Saturday (Photo submitted) A group of 65 Gitxsan First Nations and supporters, led by several hereditary chiefs, showed up on an icy December Saturday to block Highway 16, near Hazelton. They were peacefully registering their opposition to the recent granting of 3 new environmental certificates for proposed LNG
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Yukon First Nations score big court win in Peel Watershed case
The Peel Watershed’s Wind River (Jill Pangman) Two Yukon First Nations have won yet another landmark indigenous legal victory – this time against the local territorial government, over the vast Peel Watershed. Thomas Berger explains Peel case to media in January 2014 The case was brought by famed Canadian legal
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: BREAKING: Kinder Morgan work trucks roll up Burnaby Mountain
Kinder Morgan contractors delivering construction materials to Burnaby Mountain (Salix O’Connell/facebook) Kinder Morgan contractors began rolling work trucks with construction equipment up Burnaby Mountain at approximately 10 PM on Thursday. Photographs shared on a citizen-led facebook page show trucks, trailers, fencing, and other materials and workers at the site of
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Govt fears losing LNG, fracking social licence to social media: Internal briefing note
Rich Coleman tries to conjure up some good LNG PR with this youtube video (BC govt youtube page) The BC government is worried it can’t control the way fracking and liquefied natural gas (LNG) are being criticized through social media, documents obtained through a Freedom of Information request reveal. As a result, the
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: The Law is an Ass: Rafe on Burnaby citizens’ loss to Kinder Morgan
Kinder Morgan contractors clash with citizen protestor on Burnaby Mountain (Darryl Dyck/CP) “If the Law says that”, said Mr. Bumble, “the Law is an ass”. The good citizens of Burnaby have lost their case against the large international corporation, Houston-based Kinder Morgan, who wish to extend their pipeline from Alberta to Burnaby.
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Kinder Morgan may win in court, but it’s quickly losing social licence
Citizens protest Kinder Morgan outside BC Supreme Court (Photo: AJ Klein/facebook) Houston-based pipeline giant Kinder Morgan may obtain an injunction from the BC Supreme Court today to remove protestors from their Burnaby Mountain blockade of the company’s exploratory work. In all likelihood, it will also secure a positive verdict from
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: 94% opposition to Woodfibre from municipal candidates answering LNG survey
Rendering of proposed Woodfibre LNG project near Squamish, BC Of the 31 candidates who responded to a recent questionnaire on the controversial Woodfibre LNG proposal for Howe Sound, 29 – or 94% – were opposed. The survey, conducted by Propeller Strategy, was presented by phone or email to all 98 candidates
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Photographer to share stunning images of Great Bear Rainforest
Photo by Ian McAllister – from new book Great Bear Wild This Friday in Vancouver, groundbreaking wilderness photographer Ian McAllister will discuss his new book, Great Bear Wild – Dispatches from a Northern Rainforest, through a multi-media presentation that leads audiences into one of the world’s most spectacular landscapes, now threatened by proposed oil
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: As California drought drives up BC food prices…a dam to flood our best farmland?
California’s Central Valley is facing record drought conditions As British Columbians share a meal this weekend, giving thanks for the food with which we are so blessed, year-round, let us pause for a moment to consider where so much of it comes from: California. Let us also say a prayer
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Pipelines in Parks? Public comment sought on Kinder Morgan’s plans
Citizens have until Oct. 12 to submit comments to the government regarding Kinder Morgan’s plans to build its Trans Mountain pipeline expansion through protected areas in BC’s Parks. Read this post from the Sierra Club on what’s at stake and how you can get involved. Not only has Kinder Morgan’s
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Red Chris Mine: First Nations win round 1 with Imperial Metals in court
Tahltan and Secwepemc First Nations and supporters celebrate at the BC Supreme Court (contributed) BC First Nations added a small but potentially significant notch to their legal winning streak yesterday, with a temporary victory over Imperial Metals in BC Supreme Court. The company was seeking an interlocutory injunction and enforcement order enabling it
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Imperial Metals asks court to remove Red Chris Mine blockade
First Nations have been protesting several Imperial Metals mines since Mount Polley (Photo: Facebook) Imperial Metals, the company behind the Mount Polley tailing pond disaster, is seeking an injunction today at the BC Supreme Court to forcibly remove Tahltan First Nations protestors from a blockade of the company’s newest project,
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: BC should not be bullied or suckered by Petronas over LNG taxes
Petronas CEO Shamsul Abbas addressing BC LNG conference (Damien Gillis) News this morning that Malaysian energy giant Petronas is considering pulling out of the nascent BC LNG industry over the taxes the province wishes to collect from its gas resources called to mind a legendary story about Tommy Douglas when he was premier
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Large hydro dams aren’t “green” – they actually drive climate change
BC’s WAC Bennett Dam (Photo: Damien Gillis) Read this August 14 EcoWatch column by Gary Wockner, which explodes the myth of “green” hydro dams – food for thought as Canada considers building Site C Dam atop some of the country’s best farmland. People believe hydroelectric dams provide clean energy. It’s not true. I
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: BC Hydro vastly underestimates loss of farmland to Site C Dam
At a recent press conference in Vancouver, renowned agrologist Wendy Holm and lifelong Peace Valley farmer Renee Ardill spoke to the vast, quality farmland that the proposed Site C Dam would flood or disrupt. “These soils are completely unique,” explained Holm, a past president of the BC Institute of Agrologists.
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Behn, Gillis to talk fracking in Yukon as govt reviews moratorium
Caleb Behn, subject of the forthcoming film Fractured Land, will talk fracking in the Yukon (Zack Embree) The Common Sense Canadian’s Damien Gillis and First Nations resource management expert and recent law graduate Caleb Behn will be in the Yukon from September 15 to 18, discussing the pros and cons of
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Christy Clark: Govt ready to embrace Tsilhqot’in case, Aboriginal title – Chiefs cautiously optimistic
Video of the historic meeting between the premier of BC and First Nations leaders – featuring Christy Clark, Chief Roger William and Grand Chiefs Ed John and Stewart Phillip. Watch the premier’s dramatic about-face on the landmark Tsilhqot’in legal case, as she vows to embrace the Supreme Court ruling and
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: “Fundamentally uneconomic” Site C Dam would lose $350 million a year for taxpayers: Industrial energy expert
The retired head of the Association of Major Power Users of BC, Dan Potts, estimates the proposed Site C Dam would lose $350 million for taxpayers and BC Hydro ratepayers. The 30-year pulp mill manager told media in Vancouver yesterday that the project, estimated to cost $8 Billion or more, is
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