Monday, May 27, 2013 Like many, I did not see Premier Christy Clark’s surprise majority win coming. The environmental community, West Coast Environmental Law included, saw some of the other parties as offering stronger environmental platforms. So, with the election dust settling, the question is what does the new government
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Environmental Law Alert Blog: Top 5 environmental promises from Premier Christie Clark
Monday, May 27, 2013 Like many, I did not see Premier Christie Clark’s surprise majority win coming. The environmental community, West Coast Environmental Law included, saw some of the other parties as offering stronger environmental platforms. So, with the election dust settling, the question is what does the new government
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Election 2013 – On protecting BC’s Salmon
Thursday, May 2, 2013 Earlier this year, the BC Legislature declared the Pacific Salmon to be BC’s official fish. Which is no doubt nice for the salmon. But even nicer would be real legal protection for the salmon. With the platforms from all four parties now available, what are candidates
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Election 2013 – On protecting BC’s Salmon
Thursday, May 2, 2013 Earlier this year, the BC Legislature declared the Pacific Salmon to be BC’s official fish. Which is no doubt nice for the salmon. But even nicer would be real legal protection for the salmon. With the platforms from all four parties now available, what are candidates
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Election 2013: Party platforms from 10,000 feet
Friday, April 26, 2013 The BC New Democratic Party released its election platform on Wednesday (April 24th), the last of the four main parties to release its platform. What? You don’t have time to read yet another election platform? Well today is your lucky day, because this environmental law alert
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Election 2013: Party platforms from 10,000 feet
Friday, April 26, 2013 The BC New Democratic Party released its election platform on Wednesday (April 24th), the last of the four main parties to release its platform. What? You don’t have time to read yet another election platform? Well today is your lucky day, because this environmental law alert
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Elections – a time to assert your environmental values
Friday, April 19, 2013 Tools and resources that raise environmental issues in the context of an election are always of interest over here at the West Coast Environmental Law Association. So we thought we’d direct our readers to two new tools: VoteEnvironment2013 and the CBC Vote Compass. Tools and resources
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Elections – a time to assert your environmental values
Friday, April 19, 2013 Tools and resources that raise environmental issues in the context of an election are always of interest over here at the West Coast Environmental Law Association. So we thought we’d direct our readers to two new tools: VoteEnvironment2013 and the CBC Vote Compass. Tools and resources
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Are BC’s election advertising rules silencing public debate?
Friday, April 19, 2013 Well, the writ’s been dropped and this Environmental Law Alert post is brought to you by the West Coast Environmental Law Association, sponsor under the Elections Act. We do understand the value of regulating advertising that is intended to sway elections, but the BC Elections Act
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Are BC’s election advertising rules silencing public debate?
Friday, April 19, 2013 Well, the writ’s been dropped and this Environmental Law Alert post is brought to you by the West Coast Environmental Law Association, sponsor under the Elections Act. We do understand the value of regulating advertising that is intended to sway elections, but the BC Elections Act
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Premier Clark abandons promise to ban cosmetic pesticides – now promises to regulate
Friday, February 22, 2013 Premier Christie Clark once promised a ban on cosmetic pesticides in BC, but the BC government is now promising laws that require that licensed pesticide applicators be hired for pesticide use for cosmetic purposes, "with some exceptions." West Coast, the Canadian Cancer Society, the David Suzuki
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: The Smoking Gun: Who was the real author of the 2012 omnibus bills?
Friday, January 11, 2013 Kudos to Greenpeace Canada for finding something of a smoking gun exposing the role of the oil and gas industry in the gutting of Canada’s environmental laws. Greenpeace has released a letter from the Energy Framework Initiative (EFI), representing every major oil and gas industry association,
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Yukon court decision could force BC to overhaul its antiquated mining laws
Thursday, January 10, 2013 The decision of the Yukon Court of Appeal in Ross River Dena Council v. Government of the Yukon – delivered just days before the end of 2012 (on Dec 27th) – may force governments across Canada – including in BC – to rewrite their mining laws.
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: West Coast questions legality of wolf-kill contest
Monday, December 17, 2012 Should hunting clubs be able to hold wolf-killing contests, with the intent to cull the wolf population? A legal opinion we prepared for Pacific Wild on the legality of a controversial wolf-kill contest is calling the legality of the contest into doubt, and escalating concerns about
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: First Nations lead the charge against Canada-China Trade deal
Friday, December 14, 2012 First Nations in BC are playing a national leadership role in pushing back against the controversial Canada China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPPA), and are hooking up with some non-Aboriginal allies in that fight. A press release issued today by the Union of BC
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: From Twitter Moots to Chemical Valleys, lawyers are talking environmental rights
Friday, December 14, 2012 On November 20th Team U of Alberta won the world’s second-ever Twitter Moot, arguing that we all have a right to a healthy atmosphere. Meanwhile our friends at Ecojustice and David Suzuki Foundation are asking Canadians to demand environmental rights. Why are more and more environmental
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Living Democracy from the Ground Up: Why Local Voices Matter
Thursday, December 6, 2012 Living Democracy from the Ground Up is a mini-documentary series produced by West Coast Environmental Law that takes an up close and personal look and the impacts that individuals could feel on the ground from rollbacks to our environmental laws. The stories in the series demonstrate
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Gutting Canada’s environmental laws = increased litigation
Thursday, December 6, 2012 Almost a year ago, Natural Resources Minister, Joe Oliver, made an unfounded accusations that environmental organizations were adopting "a quintessential American approach: sue everyone and anyone to delay the project even further." Now, one year later, it's become clear that the government's attack on Canada's environmental
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Cohen Commission: Put Wild Salmon First!
Friday, November 2, 2012 The final report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River was released on October 31st, contrary to rumours that the document would not be made public. The report, while not finding any single cause of declining Fraser River
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Environmental law is funny (really)
Thursday, November 1, 2012 When asked in polls, a large majority of Canadians think that it’s important for BC and Canada to have strong environmental laws. The trouble is, when public interest environmental lawyers start talking about different models of environmental assessment, or the legal definition of “critical habitat”, most
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