The on-line newsmagazine, The Tyee, recently ran an opinion piece of mine under the headline “The Wild West and Dysfunctional BC Politics: Fracking and sour gas deserve debate, but get cartoon treatment from the Clark government.” My special thanks to Tyee editor David Beers or whoever it was who chose to run the image of [...]
Ben Parfitt’s Blog Posts
Ben Parfitt, Resource Policy Analyst at the CCPA’s BC Office, is a long-time writer on BC’s bountiful natural resources and the huge challenges involved in managing them in environmentally and socially responsible ways. He works closely with environmental activists and the many people who work in the province’s resource industries who are committed to progressive change.
The Wild West? Come on! Put your emotions in check
June 17th, 2011 · Ben Parfitt · Comments Off · Climate change, Economy, Energy, Environment, resources & sustainability, First Nations & Aboriginal
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The Wild West and dysfunctional B.C. politics
June 14th, 2011 · Ben Parfitt · 2 Comments · Climate change, Economy, Energy, Environment, resources & sustainability, First Nations & Aboriginal
Anyone wanting to see just how dysfunctional politics in B.C. has become should check out Bob Simpson’s recent Private Members’ statement in the provincial legislature. For seven minutes Simpson, Member of the Legislative Assembly for Cariboo North and one of two Independent MLAs, spoke about why he and fellow Independent Vicki Huntington (Delta South), had [...]
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Oil and our coast – surely southern B.C. as important as The Great Bear
June 2nd, 2011 · Ben Parfitt · Comments Off · Energy, Environment, resources & sustainability, First Nations & Aboriginal
Like Mitch Anderson, in a must-read feature article in The Tyee, I am perplexed at the comparatively little attention that environmental organizations pay to the growing prospect of massive increases in oil shipments out of the Port of Vancouver. For the last few years, a coalition of environmental organizations, First Nations and others have stepped [...]
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About Fracking Time: BC’s Independent MLAs Call on Premier to Investigate Hydraulic Fracturing
May 27th, 2011 · Ben Parfitt · Comments Off · Economy, Energy, Environment, resources & sustainability, First Nations & Aboriginal, Provincial budget & finance
As British Columbia Premier Christy Clark makes her debut in the provincial legislature this coming week, the media spotlight will likely be on the predictable verbal sparring between her and Adrian Dix, the NDP’s recently minted leader, over Clark’s alleged “fix” of the Harmonized Sales Tax. Meaning that Independent MLAs Bob Simpson and Vicki Huntington [...]
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On the Forest Fire Front Line: One Ecologist’s Take on What it Will Take to Safeguard Communities
May 13th, 2011 · Ben Parfitt · 8 Comments · Economy, Environment, resources & sustainability, Municipalities, Provincial budget & finance
With one of the colder springs on record, many British Columbians quite naturally yearn for a good stretch of warm, dry weather. But for many people in the province, prolonged periods of hotter and drier weather are often far from welcome. That’s because when things get hot and dry they burn. And in many regions [...]
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If Our Forests Count Then It’s Time to Count
April 22nd, 2011 · Ben Parfitt · 11 Comments · Economy, Environment, resources & sustainability
Judging by the comments published in response to an opinion piece that Anthony Britneff and I co-wrote and that The Province newspaper published this week, there is growing concern within the ranks of the provincial Forest Service and in the professional forestry community over the current state of health of our publicly owned forests. Inventories [...]
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A Call to Action on the Forest Front
April 8th, 2011 · Ben Parfitt · 5 Comments · Climate change, Economy, Environment, resources & sustainability, First Nations & Aboriginal
Does the provincial government have a coherent plan to address the exponentially deepening forest health crisis in our province? Evidently not, as outlined by two scientists in a sobering critique of provincial government forest policy (or the lack thereof) published in today’s Vancouver Sun. Penned by Suzanne Simard, a professor of forest science at the [...]
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Health Act Inquiry Into Threats Posed by Sour Gas A Step Closer?
March 30th, 2011 · Ben Parfitt · 4 Comments · Energy, Environment, resources & sustainability, Health care
A local citizens initiative aimed at highlighting the health threats posed by sour gas wells in B.C.’s energy-rich Peace River region appears to be gaining momentum, but whether or not it will result in a public inquiry remains to be seen. Last week, the Alaska Highway News reported that during her first installment of promised [...]
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Free to grow or free to fail? Emerging science raises questions about health of our future forests
January 31st, 2011 · Ben Parfitt · 32 Comments · Climate change, Environment, resources & sustainability
As tree-planting company representatives from across British Columbia gather in Kelowna for a conference this week, a lot of attention will focus on the question of just how significant a reforestation challenge we have on our hands in the province. Even those of us who know comparatively little about our forests understand that some astonishing [...]
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Pat Bell’s YouTube Foray – Sowing Seeds of Misinformation
September 21st, 2010 · Ben Parfitt · 20 Comments · Climate change, Economy, Employment & labour, Energy, Environment, resources & sustainability
Unlikely as it is to garner a huge following on YouTube, one suspects a recently uploaded video message by B.C. Forests Minister Pat Bell may soon have more than a few forest industry workers, commercial tree nursery owners and members of Bell’s own ministry shaking their heads in disbelief. Under the pretext of kicking off [...]
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