All oil and gas permits in B.C. waters are relinquished, feds say
![Jonathan Wilkinson Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson takes part in a press conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. The federal government says the final offshore oil and gas permits for Canada's West Coast region have been relinquished. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick](/content/dam/ctvnews/en/images/2024/2/21/jonathan-wilkinson-1-6777777-1708542058223.jpg)
The federal government says the final offshore oil and gas permits for Canada's West Coast have been relinquished.
A news release from the office of Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson says the relinquishment came from Chevron Canada, which has given up its 23 offshore permits along the coast of British Columbia as of Feb. 9.
A spokeswoman from Wilkinson's office says that represents the last of the 227 offshore oil and gas permits for British Columbia's coastal waters.
The release says giving up the oil and gas permits in Pacific waters fulfils a condition in the federal government's commitment to an Indigenous-led conservation initiative that received a pledge of $800 million in support from Ottawa two years ago.
In April 2023, Chevron Canada said it was voluntarily relinquishing 19 offshore oil and gas permits within protected wildlife areas on B.C.'s West Coast.
The permitting area given up by Chevron at that time was estimated at 5,700 square kilometres and overlapped parts of federal marine protection areas off B.C.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 21, 2024.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6976926.1721883767!/httpImage/image.png_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.png)
DEVELOPING Alberta's request for federal assistance approved after fast-moving wildfire hit Jasper National Park: Trudeau
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on social media that Ottawa has approved Alberta's request for federal assistance after a fast-moving wildfire hit Jasper National Park and its townsite late Wednesday.
BREAKING Loblaw, George Weston to settle class action over bread price-fixing for $500 million
Loblaw Cos. Ltd. and its parent company George Weston Ltd. say they have agreed to pay $500-million to settle a class-action lawsuit regarding their involvement in an alleged bread price-fixing scheme.
EXCLUSIVE One address, 76 foreign currency dealers: Inside Canada's money service business 'clusters'
An IJF and CTV News investigation has found dozens of cases across Canada where multiple money services businesses (MSBs) are incorporated at the same address, sometimes without the knowledge or consent of the location's actual occupant. One money laundering expert calls it an 'abuse of the system.'
U.K. police officer suspended after video appears to show a man being kicked in head
A British police officer was suspended from all duties Thursday after a video was posted on social media that appeared to show an officer kicking and stamping on the head of a man lying on the floor of a terminal at Manchester Airport.
Barrie-Innisfil MPP 'blacked-out' and crashed car into window of child care centre
Staff at a Barrie child care centre say they are frustrated by what they call a local MPP's inadequate response after a car crashed through a window in one of the toddler rooms.
Norad intercepts Russian and Chinese bombers operating together near Alaska in apparent first
The North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) intercepted two Russian and two Chinese bombers flying near Alaska Wednesday in what appears to be the first time the two countries have been intercepted while operating together.
Biden explains why he ended re-election bid in Oval Office address
U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday delivered a solemn call to voters to defend the country's democracy as he laid out in an Oval Office address his decision to drop his bid for reelection and throw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
Jasper mayor says alert system to be reviewed after message 'glitch'
More than 25,000 people have been displaced from Jasper National Park since wildfires started to threaten the picturesque corner of Alberta Rockies on Monday, but the mayor of its namesake municipality says not everyone received an evacuation alert when it was sent out.
Unclaimed bodies are piling up in Newfoundland. A funeral director blames the government
A funeral director in St. John's says the bodies piling up in freezers at Newfoundland and Labrador's largest hospital likely belong to people whose loved ones couldn't get enough government help to pay for a funeral.