Posts by Ben Parfitt

Ben Parfitt

About Ben Parfitt

Ben joined the CCPA staff team as a resource policy analyst in 2005 after years working as an investigative journalist with numerous magazines, and previous to that as a reporter with The Vancouver Sun. He is author and co-author of two books on forestry issues and currently devotes much of his policy research to natural resources, with special attention paid to energy, water, and forest resources and climate change.

Ben values being part of a great team at the CCPA as well as the opportunities provided to meet regularly with First Nations, community leaders, environmental advocates and the many people who work in the province’s resource industries and who are committed to progressive change.

Ben is an avid cyclist and budding day hiker who likes to take advantage of the many outdoor recreation options open to him and others living in Victoria and south Vancouver Island. He is the proud father of a super-talented daughter, Charlotte Priest, who is wise beyond her years and has taught him much. He also loves to listen to music—the good old fashion way—on vinyl. Follow Ben on Twitter

Does Premier Clark, the great petro pretender, have a Plan B?

Jun 24, 2013
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In January, one of the world’s most sophisticated deep-sea drilling vessels, the $540-million Chikyu, left the Japanese Port of Shimizu destined for a distant point in the Phillippine Sea. The voyage marked a milestone in what by then was an 18-year, $700-million research and development effort aimed at one day weaning Japan off of its… View Article

The Great Bear Rainforest – Carbon Store or Carbon Story?

Jan 17, 2013
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The provincial government, First Nations and environmental organizations alike have all hailed it as an ecological triumph and a shining beacon of a new economic order based on conservation principles. Yet when it comes to talking openly about one of the hallmarks of that emerging economy – a project that cashes in on the carbon-storing… View Article

Hail to the Chief? Or Bailing on the Chief?

Apr 18, 2012
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A leaked provincial Cabinet document indicates that the provincial government is contemplating “suspending” the powers of one of its most powerful public servants in order to expedite a controversial logging program that has raised alarm bells in the professional forestry community. The document leaked late Tuesday afternoon, is the second confidential report in as many… View Article

Log exports: waving the white flag of economic defeat

Mar 28, 2012
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Hi folks — I recently wrote this op ed for the Times Colonist on raw log exports and wanted to share it here too. We’re told there’s no alternative to sending our unprocessed wood out of the country; but some in the industry beg to differ… As more and more raw, unprocessed logs leave British… View Article

A toxic spill and communications chill

Mar 6, 2012
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So here’s the little that we know about a pipeline break that occurred more than half a year ago and that British Columbia’s Oil and Gas Commission feels for whatever reasons the public is best kept in the dark about. The incident occurred on August 19 of last year when a 35-year-old pipeline broke and… View Article

Time to give shale gas industry a closer look before we’re totally fracked

Nov 9, 2011
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Despite the recent release by Canada’s natural gas industry of a set of guiding principles governing the controversial gas well “stimulation” method known as hydraulic fracturing or “fracking”, and despite the almost immediate endorsement of those principles by BC Premier and industry cheerleader Christy Clark, more and more British Columbians are justifiably worried about what… View Article

O’Leary breached CBC standards, Ombudsman rules

Oct 14, 2011
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It took just a week following the airing of an “interview” on CBC television’s The Lang & O’Leary Exchange for the public broadcaster’s Ombudsman, Kirk LaPointe, to rule that the public broadcaster’s journalistic standards had been breached. For all those who saw the segment on the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations – either when it aired… View Article