Close X
Thursday, November 28, 2024
ADVT 
National

Climate change key focus of B.C. budget: minister

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 22 Feb, 2022 12:23 PM
  • Climate change key focus of B.C. budget: minister

VICTORIA - The challenges of climate change facing British Columbia are expected to be the main focus of the budget Finance Minister Selina Robinson tables today.

Robinson says ensuring communities have the resources they need to address climate change will form a large part of the New Democrat government's budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year.

Robinson told a pre-budget news conference on Monday that the realities of climate change hit the province over the past year with deadly heat waves, wildfires and storms that caused major flooding and infrastructure damage across southern B.C.

She says the budget will include details about the government's plans to introduce a year-round B.C. Wildfire Service dedicated to full-time fire prevention, preparedness, response and recovery.

But Robinson was saying little about the financial accounting of the damage caused by last fall's floods and mudslides that hit agricultural operations in the Fraser Valley, left communities evacuated and brought vital transportation links to a standstill.

In November, Robinson forecast a budget deficit of $1.7 billion for the 2021-22 fiscal year, down from the original projection of $9.7 billion last February.

 

MORE National ARTICLES

Coquitlam RCMP want the rightful owner of cash found to come and claim it

Coquitlam RCMP want the rightful owner of cash found to come and claim it
Did you accidentally drop a significant amount of cash in the 400-block of Schoolhouse Street? Coquitlam RCMP is asking the rightful owner to come forward. On February 9, 2021, someone was walking near the 400-block of Schoolhouse Street, Coquitlam when they dropped a large sum of cash.

Coquitlam RCMP want the rightful owner of cash found to come and claim it

2,000 Indian students scammed as 3 Canadian colleges shut after bankruptcy

2,000 Indian students scammed as 3 Canadian colleges shut after bankruptcy
Over 2,000 Indian students, who face an uncertain future after three Montreal colleges closed last month by declaring bankruptcy, have demanded intervention by the Canadian government to give them justice. The CCSQ College, M. College, and CDE College had collected millions of dollars in tuition fees from these students before closing.

2,000 Indian students scammed as 3 Canadian colleges shut after bankruptcy

Tories name leadership race rules-makers

Tories name leadership race rules-makers
The party's constitution requires the creation of a committee to determine the rules and procedures to be used as members prepare to select a permanent replacement for Erin O'Toole.

Tories name leadership race rules-makers

Feds offer cities aid for transit shortfalls

Feds offer cities aid for transit shortfalls
Provinces must match the funding, and work with cities to more quickly increase the supply of housing. Freeland says municipalities need the financial help to manage the economic repercussions of the pandemic and maintain transit systems.

Feds offer cities aid for transit shortfalls

Flag a collective symbol with individual meaning

Flag a collective symbol with individual meaning
Canadians might not be known as fervent flag wavers like their U.S. neighbours, but the Maple Leaf’s display at protests on Parliament Hill and at border crossings has given some people pause, said Carmen Celestini, a post-doctoral fellow with the Disinformation Project at Simon Fraser University's school of communication in Burnaby, B.C.    

Flag a collective symbol with individual meaning

Canfor curtailing production at Taylor Pulp

Canfor curtailing production at Taylor Pulp
The company says inventories at the mill in northeastern B.C. that produces bleached chemi-thermo mechanical pulp (BCTMP) have reached capacity.

Canfor curtailing production at Taylor Pulp