Columnists

Big Daycare: Advanced Education Minister Melanie Mark and B.C. Premier John Horgan announce additional early childhood educator training spaces, Langara College, Vancouver, Sept. 5, 2019. (B.C. government)

B.C. VIEWS: It’s an uphill battle to build the nanny state

Training positions added, filling them is another question

Big Daycare: Advanced Education Minister Melanie Mark and B.C. Premier John Horgan announce additional early childhood educator training spaces, Langara College, Vancouver, Sept. 5, 2019. (B.C. government)
American Robin sings in the sun. (Margo Hearne photo)

On the Wing: Pocket Birding and Being Insignificant

by Margo Hearne We are letting the sunshine in. It’s been lovely…

  • Sep 7, 2019
American Robin sings in the sun. (Margo Hearne photo)
ICBC president and CEO Nicolas Jimenez. (Black Press Media file)

LETTER: ICBC boss responds to accusations of failing to adapt

ICBC CEO Nicolas Jimenez responds to column by the CFIB’s Richard Truscott

  • Sep 4, 2019
ICBC president and CEO Nicolas Jimenez. (Black Press Media file)
Labour Minister Harry Bains joins BCGEU president Stephanie Smith and supporters recycling copies of the Employment Standards Branch “self-help kit” for workers reporting pay disputes, Surrey, Aug. 28, 2019. A teachers’ union representative holds a banner behind to protest the lack of a new contract. (B.C. government)

B.C. VIEWS: More Labour Day milestones for the NDP

Gift to U.S.-based construction unions keeps on giving

Labour Minister Harry Bains joins BCGEU president Stephanie Smith and supporters recycling copies of the Employment Standards Branch “self-help kit” for workers reporting pay disputes, Surrey, Aug. 28, 2019. A teachers’ union representative holds a banner behind to protest the lack of a new contract. (B.C. government)
Richard Truscott is the Vice-President, B.C. and Alberta, Canadian Federation of Independent Business (Submitted).

COLUMN: ICBC is not just broke, it’s broken

Richard Truscott is B.C. and Alberta vice-president at Canadian Federation of Independent Business

  • Aug 28, 2019
Richard Truscott is the Vice-President, B.C. and Alberta, Canadian Federation of Independent Business (Submitted).
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps is interrupted by protesters as she introduces Environment Minister Catherine McKenna for an announcement of a conservation project, Oak Bay, Aug. 19, 2019. (Black Press Media)

B.C. VIEWS: Pipelines set to roll as federal politicians posture

Projects to drive B.C., Canadian economy in years ahead

Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps is interrupted by protesters as she introduces Environment Minister Catherine McKenna for an announcement of a conservation project, Oak Bay, Aug. 19, 2019. (Black Press Media)
B.C. legislature Speaker Darryl Plecas takes questions about the report on senior staff from former chief justice Beverley McLachlin, May 15, 2019. (Tom Fletcher/Black Press)

B.C. VIEWS: Log exports and my other errors so far in 2019

Plastic bags, legislature overspending turn out differently

B.C. legislature Speaker Darryl Plecas takes questions about the report on senior staff from former chief justice Beverley McLachlin, May 15, 2019. (Tom Fletcher/Black Press)
Pellet plant recently completed at Terrace’s only sawmill uses waste wood to create a new revenue stream. (Skeena Sawmills)

B.C. VIEWS: Sawmill struggles as NDP boosts northwest log exports

Skeena Sawmills comeback threatened by B.C. government

Pellet plant recently completed at Terrace’s only sawmill uses waste wood to create a new revenue stream. (Skeena Sawmills)
A man looks over a brochures offering various retirement savings options in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

OPINION: Why is the B.C. NDP government abandoning pensioners?

Michael Powell is the president of the Canadian Federation of Pensioners

  • Aug 8, 2019
A man looks over a brochures offering various retirement savings options in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
Richard Truscott is the Vice-President, B.C. and Alberta, Canadian Federation of Independent Business (Submitted).

COLUMN: Business owners hand B.C. government another dismal grade, CFIB says

CFIB wants policy makers to take three simple steps in order to improve their grade

  • Aug 6, 2019
Richard Truscott is the Vice-President, B.C. and Alberta, Canadian Federation of Independent Business (Submitted).
Burlington Northern Santa Fe train hauls one of many daily loads of thermal coal from Wyoming along White Rock beach, for export to Asia power plants. Shipments through B.C. ports jumped after California, Oregon and Washington stopped shipments from their ports. (Michael Chu/Flickr)

B.C. VIEWS: Politicians grasp at straws, avoid climate policy reality

It doesn’t matter what parties offer in the fall Canadian election

Burlington Northern Santa Fe train hauls one of many daily loads of thermal coal from Wyoming along White Rock beach, for export to Asia power plants. Shipments through B.C. ports jumped after California, Oregon and Washington stopped shipments from their ports. (Michael Chu/Flickr)
Marbled Murrelets, those mystery seabirds that nest in old-growth forests and whose nest sites are still as elusive as they were 40 years ago. Wikimedia Commons

COLUMN: A lifetime of learning

The fledgling song is now silent

  • Aug 3, 2019
Marbled Murrelets, those mystery seabirds that nest in old-growth forests and whose nest sites are still as elusive as they were 40 years ago. Wikimedia Commons
Forests Minister Doug Donaldson announces program to preserve 54 of the largest trees in B.C., Saanich, July 17, 2019. (B.C. government)

B.C. VIEWS: NDP pushes ahead with Crown forest redistribution

This isn’t the time for a radical Indigenous rights agenda

Forests Minister Doug Donaldson announces program to preserve 54 of the largest trees in B.C., Saanich, July 17, 2019. (B.C. government)
B.C.’s first government cannabis store opens in Kamloops, October 2018. The city is getting two more government stores this year. (Black Press files)

B.C. VIEWS: Will the NDP lose money selling marijuana?

Government monopoly sounds great, if you work there

B.C.’s first government cannabis store opens in Kamloops, October 2018. The city is getting two more government stores this year. (Black Press files)
Jock Finlayson, executive vice president and chief policy officer of the Business Council of BC. (Submitted)

COLUMN: B.C. must find new ways to grow economy as housing market unfurls

Jock Finlayson is executive vice president and chief policy officer of the Business Council of BC

  • Jul 12, 2019
Jock Finlayson, executive vice president and chief policy officer of the Business Council of BC. (Submitted)
Townsend’s warblers busy in the bird bath. (photo Margo Hearne)

On the Wing: Oystercatcher Chicks and Fairies in the Garden

We had seen the Black Oystercatcher sitting on a log high up on the beach

  • Jul 12, 2019
Townsend’s warblers busy in the bird bath. (photo Margo Hearne)
Caribou calf in a maternity pen near Revelstoke, to protect it from wolves until it is old enough to survive. (Black Press Media)

GUEST COLUMN: Condemning caribou to extinction in B.C.

Province’s two-year moratorium on new mining, logging not enough

  • Jul 8, 2019
Caribou calf in a maternity pen near Revelstoke, to protect it from wolves until it is old enough to survive. (Black Press Media)
Caribou herds in B.C. are divided into four groups, southern mountain (shown), central mountain, northern mountain and boreal. (Black Press Media)

B.C. VIEWS: Killing B.C. industries won’t save the caribou

Herds dwindling across Canada, with or without logging

Caribou herds in B.C. are divided into four groups, southern mountain (shown), central mountain, northern mountain and boreal. (Black Press Media)
A Varied thrush was spotted on the annual Breeding Bird Survey.

On the Wing : Singing Birds, Bears and Muddy Roads

Sandhill Crane chicks have hatched; tiny, golden birds run around their parent’s ankles as they feed

A Varied thrush was spotted on the annual Breeding Bird Survey.
An old-growth forest clearcut in Schmidt Creek on eastern Vancouver Island in May 2019. (Mark Worthing/Sierra Club BC)

COLUMN: Clearcutting B.C.’s last old-growth leaves all of us poorer, forever

Jens Wieting of Sierra Club BC responds to columns by Tom Fletcher and David Elstone

  • Jun 24, 2019
An old-growth forest clearcut in Schmidt Creek on eastern Vancouver Island in May 2019. (Mark Worthing/Sierra Club BC)