Millions toward climate resiliency, parks and forest management in B.C. budget
While health care, housing, public safety and affordability concerns dominated the 2023 provincial budget, B.C.'s government has dedicated hundreds of millions of dollars towards natural disasters, forest management and provincial park maintenance.
Some $1.1 billion is dedicated to fighting climate change over the next three years, including $300 million to support replacement or repair of provincial infrastructure damaged by climate emergencies; this is in addition to $750 million to help communities affected by wildfires and the November 2021 floods announced in last year’s budget.
This year’s budget dedicates $85 million over three years to increase emergency-management capacity, which includes funding for First Nations and local governments.
As part of a $250 million investment in natural resources over three years, there will be:
- $101 million in operating and capital funding to preserve and expand BC Parks properties
- $21 million in partnerships with First Nations to protect old growth and determine where sustainable harvesting can take place
- $77 million to fast track and modernize the resource permitting process
- $6 million for what’s described as a “new critical minerals strategy”
- $49 million to maintain and upgrade forest service roads, for economic and recreational users alike
Over five years, $64 million will go toward the BC Wildfire Service as part of a federal-provincial cost-sharing arrangement geared toward staffing the agency year-round.
REDUCING EMMISSIONS, BETTER PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
The province is touting what it describes as an unprecedented three-year investment of $100 million into transportation networks, including walking, cycling and transit.
“Research shows that behaviours will change when options for cleaner transportation are safe and convenient,” notes the 170-page budget document.
Another $40 million will continue a project to subsidize businesses, non-profits and public entities making the switch to electric vehicles through the CleanBC Go Electric Commercial Vehicle Pilot Program.
A new carbon pricing system will be announced in the spring, but a planned $15 increase to the carbon tax will go ahead on April 1, with the goal of making it $170 per tonne by 2030. Many British Columbians will qualify for an expanded offset credit also announced in the budget.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Legendary hockey broadcaster Bob Cole dies at 90: CBC
Bob Cole, a welcome voice for Canadian hockey fans for a half-century, has died at the age of 90. Cole died Wednesday night in St. John's, N.L., surrounded by his family, his daughter, Megan Cole, told the CBC.
Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction overturned by N.Y. appeals court
New York's highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction, reversing a landmark ruling of the #MeToo era in determining the trial judge improperly allowed women to testify about allegations against the ex-movie mogul that weren't part of the case.
2 teens charged in Halifax homicide: police
Two teenagers have been charged with second-degree murder in connection to an alleged homicide near the Halifax Shopping Centre earlier this week.
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that is banned at Queen’s Park.
12-year-old hippo in Japan raised as a male discovered to be a female
When Gen-chan arrived at a zoo in Japan in 2017, no one questioned whether the then-five-year-old hippopotamus was a boy. Seven years later, zoo staff made a surprising discovery: Gen-chan, now 12, was female.
Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
'Deep ignorance': Calls for Manitoba trustee to resign sparked after comments about Indigenous people and reconciliation
A rural Manitoba school trustee is facing calls to resign over comments he made about Indigenous people and residential schools earlier this week.
CTE: Researchers believe widespread brain injury may contribute to veteran suicide rate
Researchers are working to better understand if some Canadian military veterans may be suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE -- a disorder previously found in the brains of professional football and hockey players after their death.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.