It’s been more than seven months since Premier Clark’s Climate Leadership Team released its suite of recommendations for British Columbia’s climate action plan, yet we are still awaiting the government’s response. To provide some context, in an earlier post I noted that the BC Liberals have been inactive on the climate change file for more than three years now. As a province we can no longer claim climate leadership. Wishing it were so does not mean it is so.

On May 16, seven members of that Climate Leadership Team took the unprecedented response of writing a scathing condemnation of the government’s delay. They stated:

You initially committed to having a draft plan in advance of the Paris climate talks last December and a final plan by this March. The draft plan was cancelled and the deadline for the final plan was pushed to June.

The seven signatories further concluded that

The Climate Leadership Team recommendations, implemented in their entirety, provide the blueprint for a B.C. climate plan to put the province back on track for the 2050 and interim 2030 targets. Anything less is not climate leadership.

Well yet another deadline has passed. Nevertheless, here’s what we might expect to see in the government’s “climate leadership plan” — a plan to reach 80% greenhouse gas reductions by 2050 — that will appear in two parts.

The first part will likely be released within two weeks. It will almost certainly involve photo ops with forestry leaders, leaders in cement manufacturing and leaders in the oil and gas sector. A smiling Premier, flanked by the Minister of the Environment will beam as she announces British Columbia’s commitment to climate leadership. She’ll proceed to announce that something like 25% of our 2050 greenhouse gas targets will be met by forestry. And then, in the next breath, the government will announce a major tree planting initiative to reseed forests that were lost by the mountain pine beetle. They’ll claim that they’re creating jobs abound for British Columbians in tree seedling planting and through digging up stumps — jobs for those who were newly re-engineered for the non-existent LNG sector through BC’s skills for jobs blueprint: reengineering education and training.  Millions of dollars of taxpayers money will be committed to reforest an already active forest and then the government will claim that this qualifies them for a carbon credit. You simply can’t make this stuff up. It could only happen in British Columbia.

Sorry, but that emperor has no clothes. I might as well point this out now, before the province tries to claim that it does. The province never claimed the carbon deficit from the pine beetle destruction in the first place and so cannot claim a carbon credit for its reseeding. This was an existing forest — there is no afforestation involved. Will the province claim a negative carbon credit for the recent forest fires in British Columbia’s northeast? No. Will they claim a negative credit if there is a forest fire after the seedlings are planted? No.

Stop and think about this for a minute. The mountain pine beetle devastated vast quantities of BC’s lodgepole pine forests because of the age profile of the trees combined with multiple warm winters that led to low larvae mortality. Climate change played a role in the destruction of these forests and now the government wants to get credit for replanting them while, get this, continuing to search for the elusive LNG windfall. The irony is baffling.

But it gets worse. Desperate for a consumer of site C power, the government will hail the future electrification of the upstream natural gas industry — an industry that has essentially shut down in northeastern BC because of a glut in global supply. Where there is drilling left, it is for the liquids with the methane in many cases being pumped back underground. This electrification, of course, means more public investment in transmission lines and so forth.

And then, a couple of low hanging fruit regarding methane abatement in the natural gas sector will be announced. We can thank the Trudeau Liberals for initiating this latter small, but positive, development.

So let’s be very clear, when the BC Government announces it’s first phase of its climate leadership plan, it will be nothing short of a colossal failure, spun with photo ops, smiling politicians and glib industry leaders. British Columbians deserve better.

I cannot wait until the fall when part two of the plan is supposed to be announced. But I wouldn’t be surprised if that ends up being delayed until after the Federal Liberals have developed their plans. In the fall, we can look forward to the premier promising climate leadership — but only after the 2017 election.

British Columbians have been sold yet another bill of goods. As I mentioned last year, in my view the well meaning members of the climate leadership team were co-opted to provide the premier with a credibility panel that would allow her to have photo ops at the Paris Climate Conference last fall.

The disastrous approach that this government has taken to climate change mitigation combined with their dismantling of so many of Gordon Campbell’s prior policy initiatives truly underscores that British Columbia has moved from climate leader to climate laggard.

This is the 25^th in our series of stories celebrating the outstanding accomplishments of youth in our community. These inspirational young adults are enriching our lives with their passion and commitment to the betterment of society.

Robert Lee

I first met Robert on May 23 last year at a symbolic passing of the torch at the Old Oak Bay High School Farewell Ceremony. Oak Bay High has four pillars that capture its culture: academics, athletics, fine arts, and community leadership and philanthropy. At the event an alumnus, signifying past success in one of Oak Bay’s pillars, was asked to say a few words about the foundation we received at Oak Bay High. I had the distinct honour and privilege of representing the academics pillar and passing the torch to Robert Lee.

I met Robert a second time on October 27, 2017 at the Grand Opening of the New Oak Bay High School. Now it was Robert’s turn to say a few words about Oak Bay’s academic pillar and what it meant to him. Upon hearing him speak, I knew that this articulate young man was destined for great things.

Robert was born in New Westminster, BC and moved to Victoria with his parents at a young age. He attended Willows Elementary, Monterey & Arbutus Middle Schools and Oak Bay High School, from where he  graduated  this past June with an exceptional record of academic achievement and community involvement. Robert loves learning and told us his favourite courses are “everything I took in school”. He also loves languages (he speaks a bit of French and Mandarin) and history, but acknowledges that he is more of a “science and math type”.

Highly successful in all his courses, Robert  received Honours with Distinction (5.0 Grade Point Average) throughout high school. He has received awards in a wide range of subjects including Top Student in Science 9, Planning 10, Chemistry 11, English 11, French 11, Physics 11 and Mathematics 12. In 2014, the Greater Victoria School District Board of Education honoured him with a Recognition of Outstanding Achievement. His list of awards and achievements is long and impressive.  They include winning the national 2014 Michael Smith Science Challenge (first among 1,753 participants) and the 2016 Oak Bay High School Kiwanis Citizenship and Service Award with Ruby Tang.

In the fall of his grade 12 year, Robert took a Computer Science course at the University of Victoria (in the UVic uStart Dual Credit Program) and received the top mark in the class — that’s a first year university class!

Outside of academics, Robert has also distinguished himself as a leader through various activities at school and in the community. In 2015, with the school’s Bowker Creek Student Group, he participated in an exchange trip to the Netherlands where the students analyzed water samples and plant distribution in Holland’s saltwater marshes and later in Bowker Creek. He led fundraising and successfully secured a grant from a local organization. From his teacher Derek Schrubsole we learned that upon returning from the Netherlands, Robert volunteered his time to assist with a different group of students who would later be attending the Water is Life conference. He assisted with editing, proofreading and formatting the Bowker Creek restoration project and the creation of the project website.

What so impressed Mr. Schrubsole was that Robert was happy to help out and donate his time and effort despite the fact that he was not even attending the conference this year.

Other school involvement includes Student Council, Peer Tutoring, Project Leader for the Cops for Cancer Tour de Rock Campaign in 2015 and Leader in the Community Leadership Program since September 2015. Robert was Co-Leader of the school’s Reach for the Top Team that competed against Vancouver schools in April of 2016.

Robert was pleased to tell us about his work as Leader and Organizer of University of Victoria’s Senior’s Program, where students from his school and other local high schools volunteer their time to teach seniors computer skills. In this role, he created teaching materials, wrote news releases, recruited volunteers and seniors, solicited funding, managed Senior’s program inquiries, mentored volunteers, delegated responsibilities and delivered workshops. All this because Robert wanted to “give back” to his community and he loved working with seniors.

Since 2014, Robert has been a member of the City of Victoria Youth Council, engaging in several events each year, including Go Out and Vote (for the civic election in 2014) and the Employment Fair. In the latter he helped youth find resources to build their resume and practice interviewing skills. As a member of the Greater Victoria Public Library (GVPL) Teen Council, Robert participated in youth focus groups, was a Reading Buddy and a Tech Buddy and acted in an advisory capacity to the GVPL.

Robert has been inspired by many teachers, including his Physics teacher Mr. Simonson, Science teacher and Environment Club sponsor Mr. Shrubsole and Planning teacher Mr. Alexander, who helped him with scholarship applications. “He’s a kid who I think we will hear a lot more about in the future with his ideas and drive” says Mr. Alexander. Frankly, I suspect Robert has inspired many teachers as well!

Robert is one of only 25 recipients across Canada of the prestigious $80,000 Schulich Leader Scholarship in engineering.  He’ll be taking up this scholarship at the University of Victoria where he hopes to eventually explore his passion regarding the electrification and automation of transportation, a field he sees himself working in sometime in the next decade.

At the end of our interview I asked him if he’d ever driven an electric car before. He hadn’t so I pulled out an N to put on the back of my Nissan Leaf and let Robert drive himself home with me as a passenger. Upon exiting the car he let me know that he is determined to convince his family to buy an electric vehicle!

Mr. Shrubsole gave us a fine example of Robert’s humility: during one of the Environment Club meetings, a fellow student came in congratulating Robert for winning the Schulich Leaders Scholarship. Robert, who had not said a word about it prior to this, simply smiled and indicated he was thankful for the amazing opportunity. “Robert is one of those students I felt honoured to work with, both in the classroom and out” says Mr. Shrubsole.

This summer, Robert will spend six weeks working at TRIUMF on the University of British Columbia campus, coincidentally the exact same place I had my first undergraduate summer job.  He is a recipient of TRIUMF’s High School Fellowship Program that offers fellowships each year to graduating secondary students entering their first undergraduate year at a recognized post-secondary institution. The Fellowship includes an award of $3,000 and a six-week summer research experience at TRIUMF.

Robert is a brilliant young man who approaches life with great humility, scientific curiosity and a tremendous work ethic. He quietly goes about tackling challenges and accomplishing great things. We expect to hear much more about his accomplishments in the years to come. And while I thought that May 23, 2015 was the first time I met Robert, closer inspection of the image he provided us to the right from when he volunteered at UVic’s Science Venture shows that it obviously was not! My own son is seen sitting in the front row. And I guess that what’s we all love about Victoria, you are never more than one step of separation from any one in our community.

Media Statement: July 5th, 2016
Weaver responds to government inaction on campsite booking system
For immediate release

Victoria B.C. – Andrew Weaver, Leader of the B.C. Green Party and MLA for Oak Bay – Gordon Head, today responded to the provincial government’s encouragement of a campground booking system that excludes British Columbians from accessing public campgrounds and allows private for-profit companies to compete with B.C. families.
“In a new practice welcomed by the B.C. Liberals, B.C. residents are being told they have to pay more to compete with companies who book provincial campsites in bulk and resell them at double the price,” says Andrew Weaver.

“It seems like the B.C. government has lost sight of the public purpose of our parks and campgrounds. Our provincial campsites are not products to be sold, they belong to the people of B.C.

Government agencies have been entrusted by the public to manage our parks as a collective good so they can be preserved and maintained into the future. Instead they are managing them as if they were a nothing more than a commodity.

The public is the owner, not the customer, and the current system is excluding B.C. families from accessing their parks.

The reservation system should give British Columbians priority, either by allocating enough resident – specific sites to meet local demand or by staggering booking openings so British Columbians have first shot at reserving a spot.”

 
Media contact:
Mat Wright
Press Secretary – Andrew Weaver MLA
Cell: 250 216 3382
Mat.wright@leg.bc.ca
Twitter: @MatVic

Parliament Buildings
Room 027C
Victoria BC V8V 1X4

On Saturday June 25, Squamish became Canada’s 5^th solar city. Initiated by the Canadian Solar Cities Project, Squamish joins four other British Columbia communities in meeting the ten criteria required for this designation. These ten criteria are:

1. The municipality has a climate change plan with short-term and long-term targets and time-frames in place
2. The municipality has a community energy plan in place
3. The municipality has an energy plan in place for its own facilities
4. The municipality has adopted targets for a proportion of total community energy demand to be met by renewable energy
5. The municipality has established policies and incentives for solar electricity and solar thermal utilization for residential homeowners
6. The municipality has established policies and incentives for solar electricity and solar thermal utilization for commercial ratepayers
7. The municipality has a communication plan in place to build awareness of its renewable energy projects and policies
8. The municipality has established policies for land use planning to promote and encourage energy efficiency
9. Community renewable energy, energy efficiency technologies and green living demonstration projects are developed, supported and encouraged by the city to demonstrate these concepts to the public
10. The municipality has policies in place to encourage district energy projects within its jurisdiction

Canada’s first solar city was Dawson Creek which received its designation in June 2012. It was followed by Colwood (in March 2013), the T’Sou-ke Nation (in September 2013) and North Vancouver (in March 2014).

Squamish resident Matt Blackmon spearheaded the initial drive to Solar City status which was supported by numerous local residents, environmental groups and Squamish Council. The award was also made possible by the generous support of local realtor Andrew Laurie, seen to the right shaking hands with Bob Haugen, Executive Director of the Canadian Solar Cities project, and Matt Blackmon at the microphone on his left.

Accepting the award — a stunningly crafted bronze sundial — on behalf of the District of Squamish was Mayor Patricia Heintzman. Councillor Karen Elliott was also in attendance as were numerous other local area residents and civic leaders.

I had the distinct honour of speaking at the event and took the opportunity to congratulate District of Squamish for their leadership.

A lot of lot exciting things are going on in Squamish these days. Carbon Engineering, a Canadian company that has developed innovative technology to create liquid fuels from atmospheric carbon dioxide, recently set up shop in Squamish. This potentially revolutionary technology also has the ability to capture and sequester human produced carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere. I had the pleasure of touring the Squamish facility back in April of this year.

In addition, UBC’s Clean Energy Research Centre, the District of Squamish, the Squamish Nation, Newport Beach Developments Limited Partnership, and Carbon Engineering recently signed an agreement to explore ways in which a centre for clean energy research and education could be established on the waterfront brownfield industrial site located at the head of Howe Sound. This exciting opportunity would mean the creation of a satellite campus of UBC in Squamish focused exclusively on Cleantech education, research, and development. It’s precisely this type of investment in innovation that I have been advocating for since the time I got elected as it is critical in terms of positioning British Columbia at the forefront of tomorrow’s economy.

Ironically, as Squamish takes bold steps to lead British Columbia through innovation towards a 21st century economy, it is having to deal with the unwanted Woodfibre LNG proposal that would be located a stone throw away from the town. The fact that the Squamish Council voted against this project; the fact that West Vancouver and Lion’s Bay Councils voted against it;  the fact that it goes against their district’s branding as Hardwired for Adventure; the fact that it undermines Squamish’s efforts to become a leader in cleantech seems utterly lost on the BC Liberals. For in their desperate and reckless quest to land an LNG plant to fulfill their irresponsible election promises all that matters is “getting to yes”. But at some point, you need to ask what the question is.

Let’s get to yes on Squamish becoming a centre for Cleantech education, research and development while saying no to doubling down on chasing the losing proposition of LNG.

Myrna Boyle has been working at Godfrey’s Luggage & Leather Repairs & Sales for 50 years. She can fix about 15 bags (and wallets, brief cases, golf bags) a day and, to the delight of her customers, doesn’t plan on stopping any time soon.

I brought a broken suitcase with me to our meeting, as I have done many times before, and got a ticket instructing me to pick it up in a week’s time. “Unless there is a rush?” she checked, “Any travel plans?” Mrs. Boyle’s work is very reasonably priced, for her to fix the zipper on this bag it will run me about $16. Other repairs are more extensive, of course, but luggage that would otherwise be thrown out can be made good as new in Mrs. Boyle’s capable hands. “Some take a long time, you have to do it right.” The odd item is too far gone, she says, and she doesn’t hesitate let people know if it is. “For other things I’ll say ‘no, I don’t think you should spend the money on that.’”

Mrs. Boyle also has a contract with West Jet and helps them repair items damaged in transit, as bags often drop into the luggage carousal in a different state than when their owner last saw them at the airport baggage drop-off. She also repairs luggage for other airlines as well.

Richard Godfrey started the business in the mid ‘40s and Mrs. Boyle started working as his assistant 20 years later in the mid ‘60s. When Mr. Godfrey died suddenly in 1976 Mrs. Boyle took over. “Mr. Godfrey also used to make leather badges for the police and fire departments. He hadn’t taught me how to do it, but when he died I took over and had to learn quickly so I could support his family.”

Police badges aside, the business hasn’t changed much in the last 70 years. They moved from central downtown to their current location in 1988 and recently bumped their opening hour from 8:30 to 9:30am – “I thought I might like to sleep in” –  other than that it has been business as usual.

An assistant comes in for two hours a week to help tidy up and manage merchandise, but Mrs. Boyle manages the shop and does all the work herself. “I just love her, she’s excellent,” she said of her assistant.

Mrs. Boyle has dedicated clients who have been coming to her for years. “I have such lovely older clients. They bring me cookies and say ‘I hope you never close.’ I’m as old as they are!”

Thinking back to the time I lost track of the engagement ring I was hiding from my soon to be wife in our luggage, I asked Mrs. Boyle if she has every found anything interesting in the bags people bring in to be fixed. Without missing a beat she laughed and described the rather intimate toy she once found in a bag brought in by a rather “demure” lady. “Oh, I didn’t say anything. I just discretely put it in one of the pockets,” she explained with a chuckle.

Mrs. Boyle doesn’t have a website, or computer for that matter, but the landline in her shop works just fine and she’s happy to accommodate clients who drop by with repair jobs. She has some luggage (new and consignment) for sale in store, and said she used to sell other Canadian leather goods but stopped when her supplier went out of business.  “If I can’t get the good Canadian ones I don’t want any at all.” I know there are a lot of talented people in Victoria who make leather goods so I asked if she would be willing to restock if a local designer wanted to display some items. “I would be most interested!” she said.

“It breaks my heart to see those little businesses close,” Mrs. Boyle said as we chatted about all the local businesses we have seen come and go in Victoria. Godfrey’s Luggage & Leather Repairs & Sales speaks to a historic value of repairing, reusing, and caring for ones belongings. Though society’s buying habits have become increasingly disposable, Godfrey’s endurance when many other small businesses have closed over the last 70 years shows that value has not been lost.

Godfrey’s is open Tuesday to Saturday from 9:30am to 5:00pm. If you have any purses, wallets, luggage, or golf bags that need repairing give Mrs. Boyle a call at 250-388-5262 or pop in to see her at 2508 Douglas Street, Victoria, V8T 4M1.