In the news today, Dec. 21

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B.C. CITIES WANT FIRMS TO PAY FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps says only one oil and gas company has responded to a letter the city wrote to 19 multinationals last year asking for help covering the costs of climate change. Victoria was one of the first municipalities in B.C. to pen a letter to oil and gas companies asking they help cover the costs of things such as flood protection and new infrastructure to accommodate sea level rises. Helps says storm surges combined with a one-metre sea level rise, which is projected to occur by the year 2100, could cost the city more than $400,000 per day in business disruption losses.

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ELDER’S SON REMEMBERS HIS LEGACY AS LOVING FATHER

The son of a well-known and respected First Nations elder says his father’s legacy will be the love he spread. Elmer Courchene, who was 82, died on Dec. 5 after a battle with lung cancer. He had been a spiritual adviser to Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde, as well as two former national chiefs, and First Nations leaders provincially and regionally. His son, Randal Courchene, says despite struggles that came along with being a residential school survivor, his father always made sure his family was filled with love.

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B.C. VOTERS REJECT ELECTORAL SWITCH FOR THIRD TIME

Voters in British Columbia have rejected a proposal to switch to a system of proportional representation to elect members of the legislature for a third time, prompting all three parties to declare electoral reform a dead issue. The current first-past-the-post system received 61.3 per cent of the votes cast in a mail-in referendum, while proportional representation got 38.7 per cent in the results released Thursday by Elections BC. About 1.4 million voters cast ballots by the Dec. 7 deadline, which represents a turnout of 42.6 per cent of eligible voters.

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IN ALSO IN THE NEWS:

— The Bank of Canada releases its latest business outlook survey and senior loan officer survey today.

— A judge is set to deliver a decision on an injunction for two Junior B hockey leagues, after a lawyer representing some Indigenous teams argued that all the “white teams” got together and formed a new league that excludes First Nations.

— Statistics Canada is shceduled to release its gross domestic product figures by industry for October.

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

In the news today, Dec. 21

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