Editor’s note: We added three “made-in-Canada” Proportional Representation methods below: rural-urban, local, and dual member. Because of the Trudeau administration’s promise to move off of first-past-the-post voting, and BC’s impending referendum on electoral reform, Canada has been a hot bed of thinking around how to customize the benefits of Proportional Representation to the specifics of … Read more
Take a moment to recall your last hike through a Pacific Northwest forest. Maybe close your eyes, listen for the quiet of such lush flora around you, and breathe in the evergreen scent. If you’re really imaginative, and if your hike was recent, you might also recall the rain. Perhaps you see drops suspended from … Read more
BC residents took to the polls Tuesday to elect a new Parliament—and for fossil fuel exports a lot rode on the electoral outcome. A win by the right-of-center BC Liberal Party could have spelled doom for BC coal exports, particularly from US companies shipping their wares through southern BC. Liberal leader Christy Clark had taken … Read more
Representative democracy gives people the power to put their values into action. People can elect leaders who care about the things they care about and then hold them accountable for taking action on those issues. In the United States and Canada, people care about climate change. In Cascadia, people care about protecting their communities from … Read more
In the wake of the 2016 US Presidential election, many Americans are wondering if there is a better way to elect political leaders. During the 2015 Canadian election, voters supported the Liberal party’s claim that 2015 would be the last time Canada would use archaic “first-past-the-post” voting. What other options do we have for electing … Read more
Financial turmoil! Political opposition! Environmental intrigue! By any measure it’s been a momentous week for Northwest coal exports. Here’s the rundown: A political game-changer in British Columbia In the midst of a tight election battle, BC Premier Christy Clark radically changed the debate over coal exports in the province last Wednesday by asking Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin … Read more
It only takes a few minutes talking to transport honchos in Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver, BC, to get a sense of the intense, if friendly, competition among their cities to be king of the cycling hill. But in many ways the three largest urban centers of Cascadia form one big, soggy petri dish of experimentation … Read more
Northwest fossil fuel export schemes have brought a flood of coal and oil proposals to the region’s shores. But the fossil export tsunami has a third wave as well: fracked fuels, including the massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) export proposals in British Columbia, as well as several projects that would export liquid petroleum gases (LPGs) … Read more
In contrast with Europe and Canada, the Pacific Northwest faces an epidemic of surprise pregnancy. Northwest women say that almost half of their pregnancies are mistimed or unwanted. This causes hardship in the lives of the region’s families and makes it difficult to give children the best possible start in life. With unintended pregnancy so common … Read more
If energy giant Kinder Morgan gets its way, British Columbia will soon be home to a new $7.4 billion oil pipeline carrying 590,000 barrels of Alberta oil per day to an export terminal near Vancouver, BC, on the Salish Sea. The Canadian federal government recently approved the proposal, and it is now likely the single … Read more