Redeye

Canada Energy Regulator just came out with its latest long-term energy outlook. The analysis in the report shows that with even modest new climate policies, there’s no need to build the Trans Mountain and Keystone XL pipelines, undermining Prime Minister Trudeau’s position that the expansion of oil production is consistent with Canada’s climate policy. We speak with Eugene Kung of West Coast Environmental Law.

At a time when the Vancouver Police department is under pressure from a broad range of activist groups and the City of Vancouver to end street checks, it has formed a new neighbourhood response team in the downtown core that could lead to an expansion of this type of police activity. We talk with Meghan McDermott of the BC Civil Liberties Association about the VPD’s new unit.

Discover Canada is the official study guide for people who are preparing to take the Canadian citizenship test. But its portrayal of Canada is far from accurate, according to five women faculty members at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. We speak with Anne-Emanuelle Birn, Professor of Critical Development Studies and Global Health at the University of Toronto.Read the article: https://theconversation.com/canadian-citizenship-study-guide-should-tell-the-truth-about-racism-144629

Vancouver City Council just spent two weeks discussing the climate emergency plan they asked staff to develop last year. They heard from 75 speakers both for and against the actions recommended in the plan – and ended up passing all 37 recommendations. Ian Mass joins us on our City Beat feature with more details about the climate plan and several other motions coming before council tomorrow.

A long tradition of the amateur detective exists in the mystery genre. The latest sleuth is Annick Boudreau, a clinical psychologist created by a Vancouver comedian, playwright, and novelist who based the character of Annick Boudreau, in part, on his own therapist. We speak with Charles Demers about the book, Primary Obsessions.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is reported to be the largest private foundation in the world holding almost $47 billion in assets. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Foundation has risen to a position of even greater prominence. However as a private institution, the Gates Foundation’s interests and investments remain largely hidden from public view. Tim Schwab raises questions about the accountability and transparency of the institution’s investments in his recent article, “When the Poor Get Sick, Bill Gates Gets Richer”, which appeared in the October edition of The Nation.

Justin Trudeau once claimed that Canada had no colonial past. A new book just out from Fernwood Press would disagree. Canada In the World looks closely at Canadian foreign policy and finds a consistent pattern of colonial conquest and capital accumulation. We speak with the book’s author, Tyler Shipley, professor of society, culture, and commerce at Humber College.

The Canadian government has announced that the final provisions of the Secure Air Travel Regulations are now in force. These new regulations modify Canada’s No Fly List regime but, according to the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, they do not address the basic problems that plague the system and continue to result in the undermining of individuals’ rights as they travel. We talk with Tim McSorley, national coordinator of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group.

More than 150 residents of long-term care and assisted living homes have lost their lives to Covid-19. However, tens of thousands more have been deeply impacted by the loss of connection to family and loved ones. Seniors Advocate Isobel MacKenzie says there have been more calls, letters and emails on the issue of visit restrictions than any other single issue in the history of the Office. She joins us to speak about the findings of a recent survey by the Office of the Seniors Advocate that garnered more than 15,000 responses.

On October 7, a huge crowd of people gathered outside a court building in Athens. They were waiting to hear the verdict in the trial of 68 members of the far-right organization Golden Dawn. The hearing was the biggest trial of fascists since the Nazi trials at Nuremberg after WWII. The crowd in Athens erupted with joy when news emerged that the judges had ruled that Golden Dawn was a criminal gang, not a legitimate political party. We speak with Patrick Strickland, an author, journalist and editor who divides his time between Athens and Texas.

The Fraser estuary is one of the largest estuaries on the Pacific coast of North America. It is the rearing grounds for Canada’s most productive salmon runs and connects a food web that links fish, birds and marine mammals across thousands of kilometres of the North Pacific Ocean. The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority is proposing another massive container terminal on Roberts Bank in the Strait of Georgia. We speak about the project with Misty MacDuffee of the Raincoast Conservation Foundation.

Over 200 scholars of 20th century authoritarianism have signed an open letter of concern about the current state of democracy. The letter was released just a couple of days before the presidential election in the United States. It states that, while democracy appeared to be flourishing everywhere in the years following the end of the Cold War, today it seems to be withering or in full-scale collapse globally. We speak with Jennifer Evans of the New Fascism Syllabus board, who wrote the letter.

A constitutional test of Quebec's Bill 21 began Monday in the Quebec Superior Court in Montreal. The law, which was passed last year, prohibits public teachers, as well as government lawyers and other civil servants, from wearing religious symbols such as turbans and hijabs at work. The National Council of Canadian Muslims and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association are among the groups involved in the challenge. We speak with Sarah Abou-Bakr, Quebec Advocacy Coordinator with the NCCM.

British Columbia in known around the world for its beautiful natural scenery and abundant wildlife. But some species in BC have been dwindling. Sockeye salmon stocks plunged last year and caribou, moose and mountain sheep have also seen significant declines. A broad coalition had formed to urge the provincial government to take concrete steps to protect and restore habitat. We speak with John Bergenske, conservation director at Wildsight.

Built in the 1950s, the Little Mountain social housing complex was a key public asset in Vancouver. 13 years ago, the BC Liberals sold the housing to a private developer, Holborn Properties, in a deal shrouded in secrecy. Hundreds of people were displaced and more than 200 family homes were demolished. The residents were promised a quick return to new and modern homes but today, most of the social housing units remain un-built and the land sits virtually vacant. Community advocate David Chudnovsky joins us to talk about a recent legal victory in the fight to restore Little Mountain.

In January 2019, Vancouver City Council unanimously approved OneCity Councillor Christine Boyle's motion declaring that we are in a global state of climate emergency and that constitutes a crisis for Vancouver. The motion went on to direct staff to prepare recommendations for ramping up the city’s climate actions in line with efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C. On November 3rd, the largest and most comprehensive set of climate emergency recommendations will be debated by city politicians.

On October 24, Chile voted in favour of replacing its neoliberal constitution written more than 40 years ago under the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. 78% of people backed a new charter in a plebiscite held Sunday. Estefanía Milla-Moreno is from Santiago, Chile. She is currently a PhD candidate in forestry at the University of British Columbia.

A new report on the current and future viability of the Site C dam on the Peace River was released this month in the midst of BC’s recent election campaign. Energy economist Robert McCullough concluded that the project is a net loss and will cost British Columbians well into the future. Ken Boon is president of the Peace Valley Landowners Association. We spoke with him about the McCullough report.

If a mining company comes into a community to prospect for a mine and community members don’t want it there, they have to hit the ground running. A new book is going to make it a whole lot easier to do that. Unearthing Justice is a comprehensive guide on how to protect your community from the mining industry. We speak with author Joan Kuyek, founding national coordinator of Mining Watch, Joan Kuyek.

It’s 2020, and Canada is not on track to meet our greenhouse gas emissions targets. To do so, we’ll need radical systemic change to how we live and work—and fast. How can we ever achieve this? Top policy analyst and author Seth Klein reveals we can do it now because did it before during the Second World War. We speak with Seth Klein about how wartime thinking and community efforts can be repurposed for Canada’s own Green New Deal.