Six new wildfires on Vancouver Island among 115 in B.C.
(via The Times Colonist)
The service recorded 115 new fires in B.C. Wednesday — most of them started by an intense lightning system that touched nearly every region. As of Thursday afternoon, there were six new fires on the Island.
Mayoral candidate Wai Young promises to scrap bike lanes in Vancouver
(via Vancouver Courier)
Young promises free parking on Sundays, says will end 'radical, agenda-driven war on transportation’.
Jogger accidentally crosses U.S. border from B.C., gets detained for 2 weeks by authorities
(via CBC News)
Cedella Roman, visiting mom from France, says border patrol held her for crossing into Blaine, Wash.
New atlas of Indigenous Peoples reveals country 'before the lines were drawn
(via Ottawa Citizen)
The Royal Canadian Geographical Society unveiled its four-volume Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada on Thursday, a two-year labour that offers an unprecedented amount of information about Canada’s first peoples, their languages and culture, and a history that is both inspiring and tragic.
Laurier facing $1.5M lawsuit from controversial professor Jordan Peterson
(via CTV News)
Controversial professor and author Jordan Peterson is suing an Ontario university and three of its staff for defamation over remarks allegedly made when a teaching assistant was disciplined for showing a video of him to her class.
Postmedia’s connection to Donald Trump
(via Canadaland)
David Pecker has been accused of wielding the National Enquirer to protect friends including Trump and Harvey Weinstein. He also helps decide how much Postmedia execs should get paid
Welcome to Blaine, the town Amazon Prime built
(via The Verge)
Blaine isn’t just any small town: it sits right on the 49th parallel that divides the United States and Canada. As the only US border town located in the shadow of a major Canadian city, Blaine’s economy is uniquely dependent on the relationship between the two countries. It’s a position that also leaves the town vulnerable to the vagaries of e-commerce trends and exchange rates. That vulnerability has only been exacerbated by mounting tension between Washington, DC and Ottawa, an emerging trade war, and the looming threat of a boycott.
British Columbia cracks down on anonymous ownership amid housing crisis
(via Reuters)
British Columbia said on Wednesday it is preparing legislation to crack down on “hidden ownership” in real estate and pledged Canada’s first public registry of property owners, amid concerns that offshore money and criminal investors are helping fuel a housing crisis in the Pacific Coast province.
Vancouver orders closing of Sahota-owned Regent hotel, plans purchase
(via The Globe and Mail)
The City of Vancouver is shutting down a decrepit hotel that houses dozens of the city’s most vulnerable renters, and is planning to take the unusual step of buying the building and another owned by the Sahota family.
Indigenous storytelling is inspiring British Columbia and Alberta youth to study mathematics
(via HuffPost)
Mathematics isn't often associated with Indigenous cultures, but one Canadian professor wants to change that.
B.C. to ask high court to overturn acquittal of polygamous leader
(via CTV News)
A B.C. Supreme Court judge found Oler not guilty in February 2017, concluding the Crown failed to prove the man crossed the border in 2004 with a 15-year-old girl who later married a member of a polygamous sect in the United States.
Fix tax rate or risk business exodus, trade association warns
(via CBC News)
At the same time, investment in the U.S. is booming, fuelled in part by the uncertainty President Donald Trump is creating over the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement — and in part by his tax plan, released in December, that cuts the top corporate tax rate from 35 per cent to 20 per cent beginning this year.
Canadian Blake Leibel found guilty in California court of murdering and torturing girlfriend
(via Toronto Star)
A Canadian man who wrote a graphic novel that features gruesome killings was convicted in Southern California on Wednesday of the torture and mutilation of a live-in girlfriend who had given birth to their child weeks before.
Get impregnated by World Cup stars and win free Whoppers, says Burger King
(via The Guardian)
Burger King’s Russian division has apologized for a social media campaign offering free burgers for life to women who get pregnant by football players.
Koko the gorilla dies; redrew the lines of animal-human communication
(via NPR)
Koko, who was 46, died in her sleep Tuesday morning, the Gorilla Foundation said. At birth, she was named Hanabi-ko — Japanese for "fireworks child," because she was born at the San Francisco Zoo on the Fourth of July in 1971. She was a western lowland gorilla.
Health officials propose trampoline park regulations for B.C.
(via Vancouver Courier)
Vancouver Coastal Health officials are calling for provincial and municipal regulations and standards for trampoline parks following a fatality at Richmond’s Extreme Air Park and a rising numbers of trampoline-related injuries reported at local hospitals.
Vancouver development fees ‘nail in the coffin’ for long-delayed project from mental health non-profit and developer
(via The Vancouver Sun)
Additional development costs expected to be imposed on the project would render it “financially unviable,” said the proponents, Boffo Properties and the Kettle Society (a non-profit supporting people with mental illness).
B.C. fish farms will require Indigenous consent
(via The Globe and Mail)
The NDP government will announce on Wednesday B.C.’s aquaculture industry will have four years to adapt before any tenures are cancelled, sources told The Globe and Mail. The veto power most assuredly means that some companies will be evicted because the farms are adamantly opposed by some – but not all – Indigenous groups.
Marijuana legalization Bill C-45 officially passes Senate vote, heading for royal assent
(via Global News)
The Senate voted 52-29 to approve the government’s newest version of Bill C-45 on Tuesday evening.
Cheers erupt as Federal Court judge approves historic gay purge settlement
(via CBC News)
Settlement entails reconciliation and remembrance measures, including a national monument.
Trudeau India trip included $17K for celebrity chef, $3.6K for hockey jerseys
(via CTV News)
Vikram Vij, an Indo-Canadian restaurateur and vocal Liberal supporter, had his transportation, accommodation, per diems and incidentals covered by the federal government. That figure does not include the cost of the meals he helped prepare.
Neko Case is telling the truth
(via Buzzfeed )
With new album Hell-On, Neko Case has become more uncompromising than ever, both in her music and how she thinks about the world.
Elon Musk sends company-wide email about Tesla saboteur and ‘outside forces’
(via Motherboard)
The Tesla CEO told employees that someone within the company has been committing corporate espionage.
Zone out: TransLink proposes change to distance-based fare system
(via The Vancouver Sun)
Since the mid-1980s, the transit authority has charged riders using a zone-based model, where the more zones you cross, the more you pay. But it is a system that sees some unlucky commuters pay hefty fares for the shortest of rides, while others get away with paying far less for longer commutes.
B.C. first province to have funding available for on-reserve housing
(via Global News )
The B.C government is pledging $550 million over the next 10 years to build and operate 1,750 new units of social housing for projects, both on- and off-reserve in Indigenous communities. The funding will make British Columbia the first province in Canada to invest provincial housing funds into on-reserve housing.
UBC study finds one-quarter of fish products in Metro Vancouver are fraudulently labelled
(via The Georgia Straight)
A new study by UBC's food safety and health engineering lab, in partnership with Oceana Canada and the University of Guelph, has revealed that one out of every four seafood items sold in Metro Vancouver is improperly identified.
Indigenous protesters in Washington declare Trans Mountain won't be built
(via CTV News)
Activists call the project the Standing Rock of the north, comparing it to the fierce Standing Rock Sioux protests that stalled the Dakota Access Pipeline for months.
Trudeau says he won’t ‘play politics’ on U.S. migrant children policy
(via National Newswatch)
Trudeau would not offer an opinion on the controversial policy, saying his role as prime minister is to stand up for Canadian values but also to maintain a constructive relationship with the U.S.
South Korea suspends wheat and flour sales from Canada over GMO plants found in Alberta
(via CBC News)
South Korea has moved to ban the sale of Canadian wheat and flour, following Japan's lead, in the wake of the discovery last year of unapproved GMO plants in Alberta.
Head of VW's Audi arrested in Germany over diesel scandal
(via Reuters)
Rupert Stadler’s arrest on Monday threw Volkswagen (VW) into turmoil as it struggles to recover from cheating revelations, which emerged after regulators blew the whistle in September 2015 on the carmaker’s use of illegal software.
Generation pickleball: welcome to Florida’s political tomorrowland
(via Politico)
Republicans’ political future looks a lot like this vibrant, fast-growing, Trump-friendly retirement community outside of Orlando.
Vancouver man will build you a laneway house for free — but there's a catch
(via Vancouver Sun)
The catch? (Because you knew it was too good to be true.) Laird gets the rental income for 12 years before handing over the keys.
Inquest ordered into death of Stanley Cup rioter
(via The Times Colonist)
The B.C. Coroners Service has scheduled a public inquest into the death of William Ryan Fisher, a Stanley Cup rioter who died just days after beginning a three-year prison sentence.
BC’s proportional representation voting system options include two that are lesser known
(via The Globe and Mail)
Two PR systems that will be on the ballot – rural-urban proportional and dual member proportional – are lesser known. However, proponents say both would be clear upgrades over B.C.’s current first-past-the-post.
As Vancouver tried to woo Amazon, staff fretted over housing data that could make city 'look bad'
(via National Post)
Internal records show officials were faced with a major potential weakness: how to make the city attractive in the midst of an affordability crisis?
Ethics watchdog clears Bill Morneau in pension bill fallout...
(via CBC News)
'I found that he did not place himself in a conflict of interest,' Mario Dion writes.
Meanwhile, in Bill Morneau’s riding, 40 per cent of children live in poverty
(via National Newswatch )
Four in every 10 children residing in Finance Minister Bill Morneau's downtown Toronto riding live in poverty, one of the highest rates identified in a new report tracking child poverty rates across all 338 federal ridings.
Trump migrant separation policy: Children 'in cages' in Texas
(via BBC News)
Authorities did not allow photos or videos to be taken inside the centre, but US Customs and Border Protection later released several images. Former First Lady Laura Bush has compared it to the internment camps used for Japanese-Americans during World War Two. A Democratic congressman who visited the site said it was "nothing short of a prison".
Scientists scramble to stop bananas being killed off
(via The Guardian)
A British company has joined the race to develop a banana variety resistant to diseases and climatic changes that threaten to disrupt the availability of the country’s favourite fruit – or even kill it off altogether.
B.C. psychology regulator warns priest is not registered to practise
(via CTV News)
The college says it issued the warning about Rev. Lucien Larre of Coquitlam, B.C., in the interest in public safety after it became aware of potentially misleading information circulating about the man's credentials.
British Columbia or East Africa? Court to help decide venue of human-rights case
(via Times Colonist)
The high court has agreed to hear an appeal by B.C.-based Nevsun Resources (TSX:NSU), which argues the East African country would be the more appropriate forum.
Conservatives set to force all-night voting over Liberal refusal to reveal carbon tax cost
(via Global News)
The Conservatives have set the stage for a possible second filibuster in the House of Commons and are vowing to keep Liberal MPs voting for up to 30 straight hours in an attempt to get the government to disclose the cost of its carbon tax plans.
Nunavut MLAs choose new premier after non-confidence vote removes Paul Quassa
(via The Globe and Mail)
A new premier has been chosen in Nunavut to take over from Paul Quassa who lost his job earlier today in a non-confidence vote. Joe Savikataaq, the deputy premier in Quassa’s cabinet, promised he’d do his best to work with his colleagues
Ottawa orders regulator to investigate sales practices by big telecom companies
(via Financial Post)
The government wants to ensure consumers are treated fairly and directed the CRTC to report on potential solutions to protect consumers.
Trump's gutted EPA might lead to 80,000 more deaths per decade
(via Engadget)
According to two Harvard scientists, changes proposed or in process to EPA policies will lead to over 80,000 additional deaths over the next decade -- and respiratory problems for over a million people.
Antarctica loses three trillion tonnes of ice in 25 years
(via BBC News)
Satellites monitoring the state of the White Continent indicate some 200 billion tonnes a year are now being lost to the ocean as a result of melting.
The Joy of Sleeping: Bob Ross recordings recast as bedtime audio series
(via Ars Technica)
Blissful and soothing reruns of Bob Ross’ The Joy of Painting can make even hardened Internet users drift away to a sublime dream world, complete with happy little trees and happy little clouds. Now, for those that can’t get enough during the day—and have trouble drifting off at bedtime—there’s a happy little audio series.
B.C. Human Rights tribunal rejects request for physical, DNA testing on trans woman in hate-speech case
(via Star Metro Vancouver)
The decision was part of Morgane Oger’s ongoing human rights complaint against religious rights advocate Bill Whatcott for hate speech in a case that legal analysts say is testing the limits of free speech — and will also show whether the courts actually protect trans people from discrimination.
B.C. child representative has 'grave concerns' about oversight of group homes
(via The Prince George Citizen)
British Columbia is failing to adequately screen staff caring for children and youth inside group homes, exposing vulnerable young people to unacceptable risk and harm, says the province's representative for children.
Over 150 Coquitlam care workers laid off following unionization
(via Star Metro Vancouver)
Care workers at Lakeshore Care Home voted to join the HEU on April 20, followed by workers at Madison Care Centre on May 1st. On May 22, care staff at those homes were given notice that they will be laid off — including 110 unionized care workers and 48 non-unionized support staff.
B.C.-based company tied to Facebook data scandal denies lying to Commons committee
(via CBC News)
MPs from across party lines today tore into a senior executive of a B.C.-based tech firm linked to the Facebook data scandal, accusing him of obfuscation and reminding him several times that he was under oath.
As cost of living increases, number of B.C. seniors living in poverty spikes
(via Star Metro Vancouver)
British Columbia has the highest rate of seniors living in poverty across the country and that number has more than doubled since 2000, according to a new report.
Lindsay Shepherd files lawsuit against Wilfrid Laurier University, claiming 'attacks' have 'rendered her unemployable in academia'
(via Ottawa Citizen)
Lindsay Shepherd, the teaching assistant who rose to prominence after she was controversially disciplined for showing her class part of a TVOntario program on gender-neutral pronouns, is suing Wilfrid Laurier University, two professors, and a manager of the school’s Diversity and Equity Office.
The Stanford Prison Experiment was massively influential. We just learned it was a fraud.
(via Vox)
The most famous psychological studies are often wrong, fraudulent, or outdated. Textbooks need to catch up.
How “bullying” Amazon killed a Seattle tax meant to help the homeless
(via Racked)
The “head tax” would have helped support the city’s homeless population.
Richmond hospital sues mother of million-dollar baby, amid growing concern over Chinese birth tourism
(via South China Morning Post)
Dozens of ‘baby houses’ have sprung up in British Columbia to house pregnant Chinese women seeking automatic Canadian citizenship for their children, with one in five births at Richmond Hospital involving non-resident mothers
