B C Update – CP
Source: The Canadian Press – Broadcast wire
Jan 27, 2016
(BC-LNG-Coleman)
Natural Gas Development Minister Rich Coleman says he’s confident B-C’s environmental regulations will measure up to any new or upgraded emissions standards unveiled by the federal government.
Coleman makes the comments in advance of a trip to Ottawa next week to meet with his federal counterpart to discuss environmental issues linked to L-N-G and pipeline developments.
Federal Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr has said his government is about to revise the environmental approval process for oil and gas projects.
Coleman expects the Trudeau government to approve the multi-billion-dollar Prince Rupert-area Pacific Northwest L-N-G export plant by late March. (The Canadian Press)
—
—
(BC-Tsimshian-LNG)
Elected chiefs of the five Tsimshian Nations of northwestern B-C are fuming about a declaration signed last weekend demanding permanent protection of Lelu Island and the Flora Banks, south of Prince Rupert.
Environmentalists say the area is a key part of the Skeena River salmon ecosystem, but developers hope Lelu Island will be the site of the Petronas-led Pacific Northwest LNG project.
Tsimshian chiefs say the declaration of protection for the area was made without their consultation or support and they reject it — calling it an attack on the rights and title interests of the First Nation.
The Tsimshian Environmental Stewardship Authority has commissioned its own review of the L-N-G project, and promises to report the findings in the coming weeks. (CFTK)
—
—
(BC-Stoner-Court)
N-H-L defenceman and northern Vancouver Island native Clayton Stoner is expected to be in a provincial court room in Vancouver today to enter a plea linked to a grizzly bear hunt in 2013.
Stoner is accused of five offences, including two counts of knowingly making a false statement to obtain a hunting licence.
He has never denied the hunt, or shooting a bear — known as Cheeky — on the central coast near Bella Bella — but his lawyers dispute allegations that Stoner obtained hunting permits improperly.
The Conservation Service alleges Stoner failed to meet Wildlife Act regulations requiring anyone eligible for a B-C hunting licence to live in the province for six of the 12 months prior to the spring grizzly bear hunt. (The Canadian Press)
—
—
(BC-Air-India-Release)
For the first time in nearly a decade, the only person convicted in the 1985 Air India bombings will walk out of prison.
Inderjit Singh Reyat has been granted statutory release and moves to a halfway house today — although the location of the halfway facility cannot be released.
Reyat was convicted of perjury in 2010 and — after accounting for time served — was handed a nearly eight year sentence for repeatedly lying during his testimony at a trial into the bombing that downed Air India flight 182, killing 331 people, most of them Canadians.
Reyat must abide by eight conditions as part of his release, including not possessing any extremist propaganda or possessing any components used to build an explosive device. (The Canadian Press)
—
—
(BC-Kamloops-Mountie)
Just over a year after being critically injured in a Kamloops shooting, R-C-M-P Corporal Jean-Rene Michaud is returning to work.
He will be back at the Kamloops detachment and Superintendent Brad Mueller says Michaud will return in a limited capacity, working part-time on administrative duties.
Mueller notes Michaud’s return is a positive step that is good for morale.
Michaud was shot while conducting a traffic stop in Kamloops in early December 2014 — prompting a 12-hour manhunt that led to the arrest of Kenneth Knutson and the laying of an attempted murder charge. (CFJC, Kamloops This Week)
—
—
(BC-Deer-Oak-Bay)
Oak Bay council has tentatively approved 30-thousand dollars in this year’s budget for a “deer management program”
Mayor Nils Jensen says details of the management program haven’t been decided — but adding the entry in the upcoming budget is a signal that the urban deer problem is not going away.
Jensen says council and the public will get a chance to voice opinions about habituated deer during discussions next month.
He’s also hopeful that the province might be willing to consider options other than a cull — which he says was the only alternative offered to Oak Bay last year. (CFAX)
—
—
(B-C Update by The Canadian Press)
(The Canadian Press)
