Although not everyone cares for it, we all know snow is good. We need it, but why do we need below zero weather except for killing bugs? I remember -40C temperatures, but back then no one counted wind chill. I really don’t remember much wind when it was that cold anyway, but I truly prefer warmer weather.
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B.C.’s current challenge to the federal government over marine rights isn’t a first. According to Victoria historian Jason Colby, as reported in a recent Times Colonist, in 1975 the Dave Barrett government objected to the federally approved transfer of an Orca to the Marineland amusement park in Niagara Falls.
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The whale was captured off the West Coast and Mr. Barrett believed the province had first say over marine resources. B.C. lost the argument, the Orca went to Ontario, but it was the end of killer whale capture in the region and the beginning B.C. ‘s advocacy for its coastal ecosystems.
Now the fuss about who has control over the marine environment is with the feds and Alberta over the future of Kinder Morgan’s pipeline. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May has waded into the fray, taking issue with Prime Minister Trudeau’s argument that the pipeline is in the “national interest.” She points out the National Energy Board said its mandate didn’t include energy security, jobs, climate, upstream or downstream impacts — nothing much except getting the pipeline approved.
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My favourite Olympic winter sport is figure skating. I’m sorry Patrick Chan didn’t skate as he’d hoped to. He’s a beautiful skater, but it was nerve-wracking watching him, fearing he would fall.
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When he did, I was too disappointed to enjoy the good parts that followed. It would have been nice if he’d ended his career with an Olympic gold.
Diana French is a freelance columnist for the Tribune. She is a former Tribune editor, retired teacher, historian and book author.
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