City sweeps on East Hastings are a cruel, costly and counter-productive spectacle
Less than six months into their term in office Mayor Ken Sim and his ABC majority have made clear their vision for Vancouver: more police, less justice. More inequality, less compassion.
Police moved into Vancouver's Downtown Eastside on Wednesday morning as the city began carrying out its plan to remove a street encampment from the neighbourhood.
East Hastings Street, where people have been living in tents and make-shift structures, has been shut down at Main Street while the process begins.
B.C. is taking valuable steps but the new budget is full of mixed climate signals.
Last week, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that future action to curb emissions will become progressively more difficult — and undoubtedly more expensive — with every increment of warming.
This story was originally published by The Guardian and appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
The continued global rise in sales of SUVs pushed their climate-heating emissions to almost one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency.
Last July, the city of Vancouver pledged $1 per resident to bring a class-action lawsuit against the largest oil companies, but those funds are nowhere to be found in the 2023 budget.
In 1988, scientists working for the oil giant Shell wrote in an internal memo that the burning of fossil fuels, if unchecked, would lead to changes to sea level and weather “larger than any that have occurred over the past 12,000 years.”
Seattle has become the first US city to ban discrimination based on caste after a vote by the city council.
Councilwoman Kshama Sawant, who wrote the legislation, said the fight against caste bias "is deeply connected to the fight against all forms of oppression".
Important asks for the 2023 federal budget include permanent operational funding for transit systems, public intercity highway bus service, and accessibility and safety improvements.
A broad coalition of unions, environmental organizations, and rider advocates released its annual pre-budget submission with five recommendations for the 2023 federal budget.
The Keep Transit Moving Coalition published five central recommendations that would improve public transit for all Canadians:
