by Pieter Vorster | Dec 15, 2018 | News and Events, Newsletters
Must Reads from Last Week The Must Reads is going into hiatus over the holiday period. The NIPR Greens wish you all a wonderful year end. Get ready for the 2019 election! Locally Greens of North Island-Powell River December 2018 gathering Left to right: Doug Cowell, Carol Thatcher, Mark de Bruijn, Blair Cusack, Jay van Oostdam, Megan Ardyche, Mark Tapper (Photo by Pieter Vorster) About 40 Green supporters gathered at the Comox Golf Club to eat, drink and get reconnected. The next gathering will be NIPR’s candidate nomination meeting sometime in January or early February 2019. Provincially The BC referendum on proportional representation We know that the Liberals and the anti-PR campaign are now focused on delegitimizing the outcome of the voting referendum even before the results have been announced. Watch this video to find what they’re doing and how you can block their obvious moves against democracy in action. Municipal leaders vote in favour of a new watershed governance model In September, this blog reported on the push for this resolution at the Union of BC Municipalities upcoming meeting. “In essence, the resolution is a transfer of resources and a sharing of responsibilities (from Province to Municipal) to allow for local governments, in partnership with First Nations and local watershed entities, to have the power to address community water needs and concerns locally.” Read more. Now you can also test your River IQ. You can play this game over and over; each time you will get different rivers to choose from, and brief information about that river. Site C: Parks Canada shirks UN request for review...
by Pieter Vorster | Dec 1, 2018 | News and Events, Newsletters
Must Reads from Last Week BC Electoral Reform Referendum Youth reject big media disinformation on PR Referendum Throughout this referendum, “big media has been able to sow considerable confusion, but what has been the effect on the younger generation? According to a recent poll, despite all the big media disinformation over the last year, 53 per cent of youth between the ages of 18 and 34 are likely to vote for proportional representation while only 22 per cent say they will likely vote for the existing First Past the Post (FPTP) system. Whatever the eventual outcome of the referendum, this is a stunning repudiation of big media, as well as the No side.” Read more. LOCALLY Campbell River – Drinking water protection The Campbell River Environmental Committee (CREC) started a change.org petition to BC NDP Minister George Heyman, calling on the government to “legislate enforceable and mandatory landfill siting restrictions in the Environmental Management Act.” This petition is regarding Upland Excavating Ltd’s Application to deposit Non-Hazardous solid waste and contaminated soil and treat the leachate, across from McIvor Lake, Campbell River’s drinking water. Please sign the petition and share with friends. Merville – Water protection Many of you are aware of the Merville Water Guardians and the fight to stop a request for rezoning in order to bottle and sell water from the local aquifer. The Merville Water Guardians have now started a Leadnow petition to the BC government to protect BC groundwater from commercial interests. Read and sign here. Can green innovations stop polluted stormwater from killing our waters? “…every time it rains after a dry period,...
by Pieter Vorster | Nov 17, 2018 | News and Events, Newsletters
Must Reads from Last Week BC Electoral Reform Referendum Quote pick of the day, from York University professor, Dennis Pilon: “There’s lots of arguments in favour of our current system - it’s just they’re not democratic ones. They’re great for dictatorships.” Fair Vote Comox Valley and Fair Vote Campbell River are both out talking to voters at events this weekend. Elections BC reported, as of Friday, that 18% of ballots have been returned. Please ask all your friends and family in BC to send in their ballots. Or better yet, drop them off at their local Service BC centre, due to the rotating mail strikes. Provincially The growing pains of BC water law An excellent article by Gavin MacRae of the Watershed Sentinel, special to Decafnation. Excerpt: “BC’s original Water Act was a relic, drafted when Vancouver was still a fledgling city and before Canada’s first airplane took to the skies. It would govern water use in the province for over a century, until in 2016, a long overdue replacement arrived: the Water Sustainability Act (WSA). Conceived after a long period of public consultation, the WSA aims to “address the new challenges of the 21st century, including climate change, population growth and increasing pressure on water resources.” … and so, the POLIS Water Sustainability Project is very important “Anybody, I would challenge them, name me something you think is important, whether you think it’s the economy, or local livability (sic), or food systems, or good health — all of it ties back to water. So as a society we better get our water management and water governance right....
by Pieter Vorster | Nov 10, 2018 | News and Events, Newsletters
Must Reads from Last Week BC Electoral Reform Referendum Top B.C. court rejects group’s attempt to stop electoral reform referendum Remember the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association? “The lobby group representing over 2,000 companies wanted a suspension of a cabinet order-in-council on the referendum and an order prohibiting the counting of ballots while it challenges the referendum process in court. [B.C. Appeal Court Justice Gregory] Fitch disagreed that the lower court erred in not recognizing that the association’s claims of irreparable harm would result from a limit on third-party advertising during the referendum (emphasis added) and that public confidence in the democratic process would be eroded.” Read more. Just to refresh your memory of how responsibly the ICBA is engaging in the referendum debate, here are some of the images from their Facebook page: You can tell by the numbering that there are seven more images in a similar vein…and no, they’re not trying to be funny. As of Nov. 9, 3.7 per cent of referendum ballots returned so far According to Elections BC, the Courtenay-Comox riding has returned 11% of the 121,888 ballots received by Elections BC to date. This is a tie with the Boundary-Similkameen riding. North Island has returned 8.7%. Powell River-Sunshine Coast riding has returned 6.5% of the ballots received. It looks like ridings where Fair Vote groups have been most active are getting a good return of ballots. Of course, we don’t know what the votes in those ballots are, but just that level of participation is encouraging. I think Elections BC is updating that website daily. Understanding the referendum – final FVCV...
by Pieter Vorster | Nov 3, 2018 | News and Events, Newsletters
Must Reads from Last Week BC Electoral Reform Referendum Proportional Representation lawn signs Members of Fair Vote Comox Valley are getting a lot of questions about why there aren’t pro-PR signs around the Valley. The No side has lots of signs – and a lot of very large signs – and supporters of PR are getting upset that the Yes side isn’t putting out signs. So, here’s the answer: Fair Vote Comox Valley HAS been putting out signs, and they are being stolen. As far as we know, signs in people’s yards are being left alone, but virtually all the pro-PR signs on public land have been removed. I say “removed,” but really I mean stolen. Barb Berger of FV Comox Valley has a letter to the editor in the Comox Valley Record. What is astonishing is a comment in the online version from Darryl Pippin, who is involved with WiseVoteBC, which is directly connected to Bill Tieleman and Suzanne Anton’s official opponent group. Pippin accuses Barb Berger of “making widely (sic) inappropriate accusations without some backup.” He then proceeds to make WiseVoteBC the victim by talking about how one of their signs was defaced. He then proceeds to threaten RCMP investigation – of the defacement of their sign, NOT of the theft of FV signs. Lest you think this referendum is an interesting side-show and you don’t really need to get involved, watch the video on the goose-stepping soldiers. Read this article about how wealthy BC Liberal donors are bankrolling the opposition to proportional representation. Remember that the Independent Contractors of Businesses Association of BC actually went...
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