The Hook: Political news, freshly caught
Internet rights group predicts Tories will toughen spy bill
The Conservative government tabled legislation Monday aimed at expanding the powers of Canada's spying authorities, arguing the new law is needed to combat terrorism. Read more…
What’s Your Favourite Local Critter?
- Tell us more…
Has Meta’s news ban affected your news intake? Read the results of that poll here.
VIEW: Time to appoint a special prosecutor on healthcare firings
Call it what you want, bad damage control or poor deflection, but one thing is certain: the Ministry of Health's attempts to put those 2012 firings behind them aren't working out so well. Read more…
- Health and
- BC Politics
NDP slams BC Liberals on BC Place in Question Period
On a day when the BC Liberal government wanted to talk about the tax regime for B.C.'s nascent liquefied natural gas industry, the opposition relied on an old Question Period standby: the controversial BC Place Stadium roof. Read more…
VIEW: Are newspapers really hard up? Myths muddy media ownership debate
"Media myths increasingly surround us in today's ever more mediated world, few of which have proved more persistent than the well-worn canard about newspapers dying." Read more…
As Site C dam gets environmental approval, a local journalist's case against
Today the B.C. government gave the environmental go-ahead to the $7.9-billion Site C dam project that would flood the fertile, food-producing Peace River valley in northeastern B.C. Read more…
- Energy ,
- BC Politics and
- Environment
'Habitat banking': BC's newest buzzword?
"Habitat banking" may become the new buzzword as British Columbia’s government seeks to turn more land over to oil, gas and mining industries. Read more…
32 organizations oppose opening non-profits to 'public interest' court challenges
Nearly three dozen organizations are asking the British Columbia government to abandon a plan to allow any member of the public to challenge in court a non-profit they believe is acting against the public interest. Read more…
Incoming Public Service boss held key Health Ministry post amid controversial firings and rehirings
A senior bureaucrat from the troubled Ministry of Health will succeed Lynda Tarras as head of the Public Service Agency later this fall, The Tyee has learned. Read more…
BC Fed president Jim Sinclair will not seek re-election
Today Jim Sinclair, longtime president of the B.C. Federation of Labour, announced on Facebook that he would not run for re-election during the union’s November convention. Read more…
BC Fed president Jim Sinclair announces he will not seek re-election
VIEW: LNG isn't BC's only economic option
Monday's throne speech offered British Columbians a seemingly simple choice: either choose LNG as the path to prosperity, or choose economic decline. Without developing LNG, the Lieutenant Governor implied, we are “choosing to tell our children they should expect nothing from us but a bill to pay.” I wish I were exaggerating. Read more…
LNG a chance, not a windfall, says BC throne speech
In today's speech from the throne the British Columbia government dialed down the expectations of the benefits from exporting liquefied natural gas. Read more…
Postmedia could soon own almost every English newspaper in Canada. What could possibly go wrong?
Postmedia has struck a $316 million deal to buy 175 of Quebecor’s English-language newspapers, specialty publications and digital properties, including the Sun chain of papers, according to a report in the Globe and Mail this morning. Read more…
VIEW: Voting for your principles is 'strategic voting'
Members of the House of Commons returned to Ottawa last week, and as many observers have noted, this marks the beginning of the run up to the 2015 federal election. This also marks the beginning of a discussion among Canadian progressives about how to defeat Stephen Harper and elect a government that will implement progressive change. Read more…
Petition opposes BC's 'potential muzzling' of non-profits
A Lower Mainland man has launched a petition asking British Columbia Finance Minister Michael de Jong to abandon a proposal that would open non-profit societies to attack. Read more…
More troubles for BC's big LNG plans
Malaysia's state-owned oil corporation Petronas may pull the plug on its $10-billion proposed liquefied natural gas project in Prince Rupert. Read more…
- Energy and
- BC Politics
Tirade at Tyee by immigration minister's top aide analyzed tweet by tweet
Scarcely had new Tyee reader-funded Parliament Hill reporter Jeremy Nuttall unpacked his bags in Ottawa when he became the focus of a multi-tweet blast from Chris Day, the chief of staff to Canada's Immigration Minister Chris Alexander. Read more…
Government slow to respond to FOIs? No need to tell Bob Mackin
Information and Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham's latest report finds Premier Christy Clark's administration is having a tough time responding to freedom of information requests on time. It comes as no surprise to regular requesters like yours truly. Read more…
- BC Politics and
- Media
Converting ferries to LNG will save money, reduce fares: CEO
Converting two Spirit Class vessels to run on liquefied natural gas will pay for itself fairly quickly, then reduce fares across the ferry system, said BC Ferries CEO Mike Corrigan. Read more…
BC gov't takes 'step backwards' on information requests, report title hints
The Information and Privacy Commissioner's report card on the British Columbia government's responses to access to information requests won't be out until tomorrow, but it's already clear from the title what she found: "A Step Backwards." Read more…
