Thoughts on BC Politics and More

Northeast Pennsylvania is home to the state’s largest landfill, almost three square kilometres of household and industrial waste, a grey moonscape of trash almost the size of Stanley Park. On the dump’s western corner, not far from the town of Scranton, a column of silver compressors works away, turning the landfill’s methane into “renewable natural gas” by a company owned by BP, formerly British Petroleum. Its biggest customer so far is FortisBC, British Columbia’s largest natural gas utility, supplying 1.2 million customers across the province . . . . CLICK HERE for the full story

  When Nanaimo recently voted to ban FortisBC’s natural gas hookups from new buildings, Alberta’s infamous pro-oil and gas “war room” launched a cross-border political campaign to reverse the move.  The Canadian Energy Centre (CEC) is a publically funded provincial corporation created by former Alberta premier Jason Kenney to protect and promote the fossil fuel industry.  The CEC has launched a hardball lobbying push on its associated Support Canadian Energy website urging oil and gas supporters to flood Nanaimo city council with letters to press the local government to reverse its decision.  The Alberta agency targeted the small municipality of Nanaimo after its city council recently decided to accelerate the phaseout of FortisBC gas hookups in new buildings to meet B.C.’s mandated climate targets ... CLICK HERE for the full story

HEY FORTIS ... what the heck is the Clean Energy Levy that I have just recently noticed I am paying?   Looking at the back of my statement, under the Definitions and Explanation of Terms does not provide the answer, it is conveniently absent.   A search through Google however comes up with the answer -- a response directly from Fortis : In addition to those charges, there are other items on the bill that we collect on behalf of all three levels of government. This includes GST for the federal government, the carbon tax for the provincial government and the clean energy levy , which goes toward supporting investment by the provincial government in clean energy technology . HOLD ON A SECOND... the Clean Energy Levy sounds like exactly what we were told the Carbon Tax was for.   At least that is what the Government of BC states online in a section entitled, British Columbia 's Carbon Tax   (The BC) Government wi...

Happy (?) New Year ... and from the " Just in case you missed it " files, news of what you'll be paying more for ... As of January 1st Medical Services Plan (MSP) premiums increased by about 4 per cent, thanks to our BC Liberal government.   ON TOP OF THAT, MSP premium rates, paid by over half million couples, will increase by an additional $14 per month (on top of the above noted 4 per cent increase). BUT THERE'S MORE ... Property Tax revenue is expected to grow by an average of 4.3 per cent during the next three years. And of course there's the three we were already well aware of: ICBC ... an average increase of 5% Fortis ... increases by 2.76% BC Hydro ... increases by 3.5% The Carbon Tax was expected to increase annually by an average of 1.6 per cent per year, over the next three years.   Facing an election, and the heat the Federal Liberals were taking over the Carbon Tax, Christy Clarks BC Liberals decided ...