British Columbia Today Archives

Advocates slam lack of surgical abortion services in Fraser Health hospitals

By Shannon Waters July 5, 2022

Abortion-rights advocates say that hospitals in one of B.C.’s largest urban centres do not currently provide surgical abortions.

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B.C. can afford to up public sector wages by five per cent: CCPA

By Shannon Waters June 28, 2022

The province should cough up the cash to give public sector workers “a fair deal,” according to Alex Hemingway, senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

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‘A failure of will’: Cullen commission finds fault but no evidence of corruption

By Shannon Waters June 16, 2022

Cabinet ministers, high-level bureaucrats and law enforcement officials were aware B.C. had a problem with dirty money for nearly a decade, but not nearly enough was done to turn the tide until 2018.

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B.C. business groups tell finance committee they want lower taxes 

By Shannon Waters June 14, 2022

The Surrey Board of Trade and the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade want the province to conduct “a comprehensive tax review” as businesses find themselves “buried in provincial debt, rising inflation and an even higher cost of living” in the wake of the pandemic.

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Recommended B.C. legislature reforms still lacking after three years

By Shannon Waters June 6, 2022

In the wake of the 2018 legislature spending scandal, “significant changes” to the Legislative Assembly’s operations were made to ensure the fraud and breach of trust committed by ex-clerk Craig James “never happen again,” according to government house leader Mike Farnworth.

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Cadieux hopes to see ‘more people like me’ in BC Liberal caucus

By Shannon Waters May 2, 2022

Cadieux leaves with two pieces of business unfinished: her private member’s pay transparency legislation and a bill that would implement accessibility standards for new housing.

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B.C. mum on timeline for farm-gate cannabis sales

By Shannon Waters April 4, 2022

It was September 2020 when B.C first announced plans to “develop a farm-gate sales program” to give cannabis growers the ability to sell their products at their production sites. But one-quarter of the way through 2022, there is still no sign of what the program will look like — or when it will launch. 

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No free contraception in B.C.’s 2022 budget

By Shannon Waters February 28, 2022

When the NDP promised to make prescription contraception free in October 2020, Burnaby—Lougheed MLA Katrina Chen — the minister of state for child care — framed the campaign promise as a matter of fairness. But the government seems to be in no hurry to make good on that promise, as it was not mentioned in this year’s throne speech and Budget 2022 contained no new funding for the policy.

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B.C. craft cannabis industry seeks changes from government

By Shannon Waters February 3, 2022

The BC NDP and Ottawa could be doing more to support the west coast craft cannabis industry and create jobs, insiders say.

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Liberal leadership candidates pitch plans to tackle drug poisoning crisis

By Shannon Waters January 31, 2022

After more British Columbians died of overdoses in the first 10 months of 2021 than in any year previously, Liberal leadership hopefuls say it’s time to handle the crisis differently, even as the NDP government insists its efforts were working prior to the pandemic.

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