Thoughts on BC Politics and More

Okay, now that we appear to have COVID-19 under control, how will governments pay for their actions?   There is still a risk of a second wave, and more issues to come, but the bill for all of the government support is a sure thing.   British Columbia’s deficit?   We will hear a start of the telling of that tale later this month from the finance minister. My guess is that BC will be looking at a deficit somewhere between $7 and $15 billion.   To put that in perspective, that is possibly more than the c ombined total amount of income taxes and sales taxes collected in BC. There are three options (for paying that back):   First ... grow the economy at a faster rate than spending to shrink the deficit over a number of years. This is the best option but with all of the negative NDP policies, unfortunately it is not likely.   Second ... increase taxes. This would be very negative for quality of life and economic activity but it appear...

After failing to take any meaningful action to address the forestry crisis, John Horgan and the NDP are only now getting around to finally asking the federal government for support, something the BC Liberals called for months ago. “ There are steps that the provincial government should have taken months ago, including asking for immediate federal assistance ,” says BC Liberal forestry critic and Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad. “ My concern is that the province waited until ten weeks before a federal election before it finally decided to act. Layoffs and mill shutdowns have been happening for months and the provincial government has done nothing to help workers and their families except ask Ottawa for help at the very last minute .” Calls for action have been coming from all over – INCLUDING the United Way. Excerpt from a letter, to the BC government, by the United Way A month ago, the United Way wrote to NDP Premier John Horgan with an urgent appeal for $3 mill...

Yesterday George Heyman (Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy) and Michelle Mungall (Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources) announced a n environmental assessment certificate had been issued to New Gold’s Blackwater Gold Project. New Gold proposes an open-pit gold and silver mine with a project footprint of approximately 4,400 hectares, located approximately 110 kilometres southwest of Vanderhoof. Blackwater is expected to extract 60,000 tonnes of ore per day with a net annual production of 22 million tonnes per year during the mine’s 17-year operational life. New Gold’s Blackwater Project is located 160 kilometres southwest of Prince George. The mine site will include an open pit, ore processing facilities, a tailings storage facility, waste rock dumps, water management facilities, offices, accommodation camps, warehouses, and a truck shop. To power it, a 140-kilometre transmission line would connect the mine site with an e...