British Columbia Minute: Issue 124

British Columbia Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of British Columbia politics.

📅 This Week In British Columbia: 📅

• The provincial government has announced that BC Hydro will buy the Island Generation natural gas power plant near Campbell River, the largest power generator on Vancouver Island. Energy Minister Adrian Dix said the Crown corporation is acquiring the facility to secure long-term electricity reliability on the Island, where it currently runs only about 15 days a year during peak winter demand. Dix said the purchase does not signal a move away from the province's clean energy goals, noting that 98% of BC's power comes from renewable sources and that the plant would serve only as backup, even as he warned that rising demand will require 20% more power by 2030 and 50% more by 2050. The facility is currently owned by Capital Power and already under contract to supply BC Hydro, and Dix said concerns about its long-term viability prompted the purchase. Evan Pivnick of the think-tank Clean Energy Canada called the acquisition an "unfortunate necessity", cautioning that relying on natural gas as a long-term solution is less secure than investing in clean energy. The government did not disclose a purchase price. 
  
  
• The British Columbia government spent $1.55 million this year to shoot 301 wolves from helicopters in an effort to protect struggling caribou herds, according to Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship figures obtained by The Tyee. That works out to an average of $5,150 per wolf, but the cost ran far higher in some areas: in the Kootenays, the government paid $74,900 to kill a single wolf in the Columbia North herd's range and $56,500 in the Barkerville herd's habitat, where no wolves were killed at all. The decade-old cull was set to end this year, but the ministry is now considering a five-year extension. More than 100 scientists, conservation groups and Indigenous advocates have signed an open letter to Premier David Eby calling for an end to the aerial gunning, arguing the program has no exit plan while old-growth logging continues in critical caribou habitat. The government spent about $2.5 million on habitat restoration between 2017 and 2023, compared with more than $10 million on predator reduction over a similar period. The ministry defended the cull as a necessary, science-based measure, saying 14 of the 15 herds where predator reduction has been used have stabilized or grown.
  
  
• British Columbia's housing minister says the province is in talks with Ottawa to cut the development charges builders pay, part of a push to speed up home construction. Housing Minister Christine Boyle said the two governments are discussing reductions in high-growth areas while compensating municipalities so that local governments are not, as she put it, "left holding the bag". The charges normally help fund roads, transit, water systems and parks, and municipalities have long complained they cannot afford to cover those costs on their own. Under a housing partnership announced in June, the federal and provincial governments would match funds of up to $3.2 billion over 10 years to lower development charges for multi-unit housing by as much as 50% in priority communities. Boyle could not say how much money would flow or which areas would qualify, and said final details may come in the fall. She said the fall would also bring details on a separate plan to convert more than 2,200 unsold condominiums into affordable homes, an idea that has drawn criticism as a bailout for developers.
  
  
• Two anti-logging protesters have been sentenced for defying a court injunction that barred them from blocking access to the Tsawak-qin Forestry logging site in Vancouver Island's Walbran Valley. Kenni Apt, who had chained themselves to a wooden cougar statue in the injunction area, received 12 months' probation and 75 hours of community service or a $2,250 fine, while Zoey Barak, found suspended in a sling between two trees, was given seven days in jail. The two were among 12 people arrested at the blockade, which was organized by the same activists behind the 2021 Fairy Creek protests that led to thousands of arrests. Judge Anthony Saunders found that the Walbran blockade did not reach the level of unlawfulness seen at Fairy Creek and noted that both were first-time offenders of good character, but warned that future escalation could draw harsher penalties. Cases against the remaining protesters are expected to be heard later this fall.
  
  
• The provincial government is rolling out a package of consumer protection measures, some already in force and others still to come. Attorney General Niki Sharma said that as of August 1st, British Columbians can cancel subscription renewals for services like streaming and food delivery at any time without fees or penalties, and businesses must now give notice before a subscription automatically renews. The rules also prohibit high-pressure door-to-door sales of expensive household items such as furnaces and air conditioners, and bar companies from arranging credit as part of those direct sales, a practice Sharma described as predatory financing aimed at seniors, newcomers and people on fixed incomes. Starting this month, consumers can obtain their credit report and credit score once a month for free and set up security alerts and credit freezes at no charge. A further set of requirements for credit reporting agencies and lenders, intended to make identity and credit fraud harder, will take effect in August 2027. Sharma said the changes give residents more control over their financial information and stronger tools to stop fraud before it happens.

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