Summer drought possible for parts of B.C., environment minister warns -- Vancouver Sun

Environment Minister Barry Penner warned Friday of possible drought for parts of British Columbia this summer.

Penner said below average snowpacks across the province could mean streams will be running much lower than normal by the summer months.

"With the exception of high-elevation areas on Vancouver Island and the South Coast, snowpacks across B.C. are all below normal," said a statement released by the government Friday.

"The low snowpack and smaller-than-normal snowmelt run-off are likely to be reflected in lower-than-normal lake and reservoir levels, lower-than-normal recharge of groundwater aquifers and lower-than-normal river levels during summer," it added.

The statement said that much of the Southern Interior is classified at drought level three, meaning low stream flows and water supply shortages are "highly probable" unless significant rainfall occurs during May and June.

The statement said local governments in these areas should consider water restrictions and review drought management plans.

Much of the Central and Northern Interior are classified at drought level two, the statement said.

These areas have early indications of summer water supply shortages, it said, adding that the province is only calling for voluntary water conservation in these areas.

In an interview, Penner said southwest areas of the province like the Lower Mainland and Whistler are not facing such dramatic shortages.

He added that the province is developing a drought response plan for the coming summer.

"We are running what I would describe as a water deficit and that has been a couple of years in the making for many parts of the province," he said.

"Our goal is to reduce any impacts on communities, residents, farmers, and fish and wildlife."

jfowlie@vancouversun.com
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

****************************************************************

B.C.'s Liberals, federal Tories ducking accountability for HST

By Barbara Yaffe,
Vancouver Sun
August 27, 2009

Regardless of the merits of a harmonized sales tax, the process whereby it has been endorsed in B.C. is politically fraudulent.

Since the new tax was announced July 22, neither the Harper nor Campbell governments has demonstrated due accountability.

Three Conservative MPs have come forward to disavow Ottawa from any role in B.C.'s HST adoption while provincial Finance Minister Colin Hansen has played dumb.

Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, instead of visiting B.C. to sell the tax, has kept a low profile.

Let's be clear. Ottawa has been actively lobbying all provinces to adopt the HST since 1996, when New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland signed on.

Reasons exist that make the HST a beneficial policy, not the least of which is that it puts more cash in the hands of business, which in turn tends to boost private-sector investment to hike productivity. Low productivity has long been one of Canada's biggest challenges.

Like his predecessors, Flaherty has been urging provinces to harmonize, offering cash inducements.

Ontario announced a buy-in in its March 26 budget.

That "changed everything for us," Hansen writes on his Facebook page.

Two weeks after the Campbell government's re-election in mid-May, the province launched its own harmonization talks with Ottawa.

Now you'd think Hansen would have told voters about the HST during the campaign.

After all, campaigns are the venue for such policy discussions. In past elections, tax changes have played a significant role, often resulting in defeat of the politicians proposing them.

Elections thereby act as a check on politicians, preventing them from riding roughshod over voters.

Canadians defeated Brian Mulroney after he introduced the GST. They cut short Joe Clark's Conservative leadership when he proposed an 18-cent-a-gallon gas tax.

They decimated Liberal leader Stephane Dion for proposing a carbon tax in last fall's election.

But Hansen, whose nose has grown considerably of late, says he didn't mention his HST proposal during the campaign because he was unaware of the Ontario budget measure.

Through all of April presumably, and into May, he was unaware.

"After the election, I was able to 're-engage' with finance ministry staff," explains Hansen. "At that time, it became obvious that some key issues had changed dramatically [including, in this context, the HST world]."

If Hansen indeed was oblivious to Ontario's actions for more than a month, campaign or no campaign, British Columbians have good reason to question his fitness as finance minister. It's a minimum responsibility of finance ministers to be up to the minute on Canadian policies that threaten to impact their own jurisdiction's competitiveness.

Hansen's claim of ignorance is not terribly credible -- but it was politically expedient; the B.C. Liberals were loath to face an almost-certain ballot-box repudiation by voters on the issue.

But that's precisely the way our democracy is designed to work. The onus on the campaigning Liberals was either to sell the policy to voters, modify it so it became minimally palatable or drop it.

The province's actions are certain to yield a loss of trust in the Campbell government, a loss that will challenge its future legitimacy.

Ottawa has been equally coy, adopting a hear-see-and-do-no-evil posture.

In a letter to a local newspaper, the Conservative MP for Nanaimo-Alberni, James Lunney, wrote that the HST decision was entirely a provincial one and concerns should be directed to local MLA Ron Cantelon.

Similarly, Dick Harris (Cariboo-Prince George) and Ontario MP Larry Miller, two other Conservatives, have disavowed Ottawa's role in convincing Ontario and B.C. to move to a harmonized sales tax.

A B.C. HST, at 12 per cent and applying to more items than are currently taxed provincially, is -- in macro-economic terms -- a good fiscal measure. But it's a hard sell to consumers already facing the highest housing costs in Canada.

The way it is being introduced in B.C. is an absolute disgrace.

****************************************************************

UFO sightings skyrocketing in Vancouver -- There have been 977 sightings over the city in the past 20 years

By Teresa Smith, Canwest News Service
August 11, 2009 7:18 PM

If UFO sightings statistics are anything to go by, the skies over Canada in 2008 must have looked like an extraterrestrial parking lot.

Canadians saw a record number of unidentified flying objects last year, according to a 20-year study of saucer sightings from coast to coast.

Chris Rutkowski, a 'Ufologist' and science writer in Manitoba, said Tuesday that in the past two decades, 15,000 Canadians have reported seeing 8,600 UFOs. These include sightings of lights in the sky and disc-shaped objects, reported to authorities ranging from the Department of National Defence to airports, police and the RCMP.

He said the number of sightings has skyrocketed since 1989 when 141 were reported. Last year, there were 1,004.

Rutkowski said the hike is probably due to a couple of things. First, it has become easier to report sightings as UFO-dedicated websites provide forms online, he said. As well, there are more satellites and aircraft in the sky — more objects to misinterpret.

And finally, Rutkowski added, there may be more genuine UFOs — airborne objects which can't be identified or explained.

About 14 per cent of the sightings are "unexplained," he said, which means they don't seem to be aircraft or stars or fireballs.

About a tenth of those are called "High Quality Unknowns" based on the wealth of knowledge about the sighting, the number of people who saw the same object, or the high credibility of such witnesses as pilots or police officers.

He said people in Ontario and B.C. report the most sightings, which makes sense based on population. But Albertans and British Columbians see the most UFOs per capita.

Rutkowski said those provinces both have very active data collection websites.

Rutkowski has never seen a UFO himself, but he wants to know why the reports keep coming in.

"People persist in reporting objects that shouldn't be there, so either there's a real phenomenon that needs further study or there's something in the nature of humanity to make them believe they're seeing something," he said. "Either way, it's worth studying."

Rutkowski has no proof that these sightings are aliens buzzing the locals — but he believes the possibility exists.

"It would be nice to think that we're not alone in the universe," he said. "And, if there's a civilization out there that is more advanced than ours, it's certainly possible that they're keeping an eye on us."

Metropolitan Sightings over 20 years:

Vancouver — 977

Toronto — 614

Winnipeg — 338

Ottawa — 276

Montreal — 223

***************************************************