In this episode of Coastal Front, we sit down with Ms. Lavell, head of York House School, and Ms. Harrop, head of Crofton House School, to discuss what it means to educate and raise girls in 2026.

From social media and emerging technology, including AI, to confidence, resilience and the pressures facing young women today, they explore how education is evolving and what all-girls schools can offer that a coeducational environment may not.

The conversation also tackles parenting, screen time, school uniforms, career choices, financial aid, politics in schools and the importance of preparing girls to think independently and confidently navigate a rapidly changing world.

An effort to repeal British Columbia’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act is set to proceed after Elections BC granted in-principle approval to an initiative petition application.

The initiative is being led by Harman Bhangu, the BC Conservative MLA for Langley–Abbotsford and the party’s transportation critic.

To succeed, the campaign must obtain signatures from at least one in ten registered voters in every one of BC’s 93 electoral districts.

Elections BC said in its August 27 announcement that the petition will be issued to Bhangu on October 26 and that completed signature sheets must be submitted by January 25, 2027.

Reaching the signature threshold would not itself repeal DRIPA.

A successful petition would be referred to a legislative committee, which would review the proposed legislation and either recommend that the draft bill be introduced or refer the petition and bill for a province-wide initiative vote.

The initiative process is non-binding, meaning repeal would still ultimately require the proposed legislation to move through the legislative process.

Chief Electoral Officer Shipra Verma approved the application after determining that its subject matter falls within the jurisdiction of the legislature and that the proposed repeal bill is clear and unambiguous.

The proposed bill is two sentences long and states that DRIPA would be repealed upon royal assent.

Bhangu has framed the petition as an opportunity for British Columbians to challenge the legislation directly after months of uncertainty over the government’s plans for DRIPA.

BC Conservative Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay has also endorsed the campaign, urging British Columbians concerned about property, fairness, jobs and the province’s future to sign the petition.

The provincial government has strongly opposed the repeal effort.

Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Minister Spencer Chandra-Herbert said respecting the rights of First Nations is important to maintaining unity and argued that repealing DRIPA would result in job losses and broader economic disruption.

The petition follows months of political and legal controversy surrounding legislation that received unanimous support in the BC legislature when it passed in 2019.

DRIPA established a provincial framework for implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and bringing BC laws into alignment with the declaration.

When the legislation was introduced, the provincial government argued that reconciliation and economic certainty could advance together, saying the new framework would create greater certainty for investment.

Business and public opposition to DRIPA has grown

That promise has since become a major focus of criticism from parts of the business community.

A Business Council of British Columbia member survey released in May found 98 percent of respondents did not believe DRIPA was living up to its original promise of creating investment certainty.

Among those surveyed, 74 percent reported decreasing investment plans in BC, while 73 percent cited increased time, cost, complexity or uncertainty in permitting.

The results contrasted with the optimism BCBC expressed when the legislation was introduced in 2019, when the organization said its members saw long-term potential in the province’s UNDRIP legislation while stressing the need for clarity and certainty during implementation.

Polling earlier this year also suggested substantial public support for repeal.

An Angus Reid Institute poll released May 5 found 47 percent of British Columbians surveyed supported repealing DRIPA.

The same poll found 51 percent believed BC’s economy would be worse off under DRIPA in the future, while 10 percent believed it would be better off.

Gitxaala ruling intensified the political fight

The political dispute intensified following a December 2025 BC Court of Appeal decision involving the province’s mineral claim system.

In the Gitxaala decision, the court found the mineral claim regime inconsistent with UNDRIP, escalating debate over the legal effect of DRIPA and how the province’s laws must interact with the UN declaration.

Premier David Eby subsequently argued that the ruling exposed the province to significant legal risk. According to Eby, more than 20 lawsuits involving the province had been launched or amended following the decision.

His government initially pursued changes to DRIPA and later proposed suspending parts of the legislation for up to three years while the province sought to take the legal dispute to the Supreme Court of Canada.

The proposal drew strong opposition from First Nations leaders.

The First Nations Leadership Council rejected Eby’s characterization of the legal situation, calling his arguments misleading and wrong and arguing that attempts to unilaterally weaken DRIPA were themselves contributing to uncertainty.

After opposition from First Nations leaders and a failure to secure full support within his caucus, Eby abandoned the proposed spring changes and said the government would continue working with First Nations toward a possible solution.

The repeal petition now creates a separate route through BC’s initiative process for opponents of the legislation.

That process has proven difficult to complete successfully.

Elections BC says 14 initiative petition applications have been approved since the Recall and Initiative Act came into force in 1995. Only one—the 2010 initiative opposing the harmonized sales tax—ultimately succeeded.

Bhangu’s campaign will therefore need to clear a demanding threshold: obtaining the required level of support not simply across the province as a whole, but separately in every electoral district.

If it does, the petition and proposed repeal bill will move to the next stage of the legislative initiative process, bringing the future of DRIPA back before provincial decision-makers after months of unresolved debate over the law’s legal, economic and political consequences.

Abbotsford South MLA Bruce Banman has left the BC Conservative caucus and will continue serving in the legislature as an Independent, becoming the latest in a series of MLAs to break with the Official Opposition.

Banman announced his decision on Thursday, August 27, saying conversations with constituents following the party’s leadership race contributed to his decision.

He said he had become concerned that the Conservatives were narrowing, rather than expanding, the coalition of voters they would need to defeat Premier David Eby’s BC NDP. Banman also said constituents had repeatedly raised doubts with him about the party’s electoral prospects under leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay.

Banman is the sixth Conservative MLA since August 14 to leave the caucus and continue sitting as an Independent.

Kamloops Centre MLA Peter Milobar, who ran against Findlay in the Conservative leadership contest, left the caucus on August 14. Delta South MLA Ian Paton followed on August 24, Prince George-Valemount MLA Rosalyn Bird on August 25, and Richmond-Bridgeport MLA Teresa Wat and Courtenay-Comox MLA Brennan Day both announced their departures on August 26.

Milobar and Paton have said they intend to establish a new provincial political party and seek registration with Elections BC before the legislature resumes for its fall sitting.

The caucus departures have coincided with a series of personnel and executive changes within the Conservative organization since Findlay won the party leadership on May 30.

Executive director Angelo Isidorou left the organization at the end of July. Aisha Estey was replaced as party president in August, while vice-president Sharon White left the party board. Findlay also directed her chief of staff to terminate caucus director of operations Apollo Chung on August 26.

Reann Gasper resigned as MLA for Abbotsford-Mission on August 22, creating an opportunity for Findlay to seek election to the legislature.

Gasper was subsequently appointed Findlay’s deputy chief of staff. Findlay is preparing to seek the Conservative nomination in Abbotsford-Mission ahead of an anticipated byelection. A byelection date has not yet been set.

Findlay, a former federal Conservative MP and cabinet minister, currently leads the provincial party without holding a seat in the BC legislature.

Banman is the sixth BC Conservative MLA since August 14 to leave the caucus and continue sitting as an Independent. Reann Gasper also left the Conservative ranks during that period, but resigned her Abbotsford-Mission seat rather than remaining in the legislature as an Independent.

As British Columbia battles another severe wildfire season, the province’s forest industry is already struggling with a problem the BC NDP promised to address nearly two years ago: getting enough economically viable timber to mills.

The province has not yet published an assessment of how much merchantable timber has been affected by the 2026 fires. But previous major fire seasons have prompted salvage efforts and special Ministry of Forests assessments of their effects on future timber supply—this time as major pulp operations are closing or going idle.

Domtar announced Thursday that it will indefinitely idle its Howe Sound pulp mill and Bayview Fibre chipping facility in Port Mellon, affecting approximately 400 employees. The company cited reduced Asian demand, persistently poor global pulp prices and a decline in affordable domestic fibre.

That follows Canfor’s July decision to permanently close its Northwood pulp mill in Prince George late in the fourth quarter of 2026, directly affecting approximately 300 employees. Canfor also cited persistent challenges accessing fibre alongside oversupply and downward pressure in global pulp markets.

BC continues to be in a state of provincial emergency declared August 8 because of regional wildfires, with wildfire evacuation information active for communities across several parts of the province.

The severity of the season was not entirely unexpected. In its June seasonal outlook, the BC Wildfire Service warned that long-term precipitation deficits, low snowpack in parts of the province and above-average spring temperatures had contributed to elevated drought conditions. BCWS forecast vigorous and difficult-to-control fires through the Central and Southern Interior during the July-August peak.

The Ministry of Forests has produced special assessments examining the effects of the 2017, 2018, 2021, 2023 and 2024 wildfire seasons on forests and timber supply. Its most recent assessment examined both 2024 losses and the cumulative effects of major fires since 2017. No comparable assessment of the 2026 season has yet been published.

The underlying fibre problem predates this summer.

When Coastal Front examined forestry policy during the 2024 provincial election, mill closures and declining timber availability were already prominent concerns. The BC NDP promised to increase fibre security, review BC Timber Sales and the stumpage system, and work toward an annual harvest of 45 million cubic metres.

That objective survived the election. Forests Minister Ravi Parmar told the legislature last year that his mandate included enabling a sustainable timber-harvesting land base capable of supporting a 45-million-cubic-metre harvest.

Budget 2026, however, projects Crown-land harvest volumes averaging roughly 29 million cubic metres annually over its three-year fiscal plan. Because that figure specifically covers Crown-land harvesting while the 45-million objective is expressed more generally, they are not necessarily identical accounting measures.

Still, the BC Council of Forest Industries criticized the 29-million-cubic-metre forecast in February, saying the sector’s immediate survival depended on increasing harvest levels through predictable and economic access to wood. The organization has called for the province to work toward the 45-million-cubic-metre annual objective.

Criticism has also come from the independent Provincial Forestry Advisory Council.

In its February final report, the council concluded that BC’s forest-management system is failing to meet a range of needs, including those of communities, First Nations, businesses and the environment. It said small, incremental reforms were not enough, pointing to outdated systems, limited access to trusted public data and decades of layered rules and centralized decision-making that have left the system without the predictability and flexibility required by current economic and ecological conditions.

The provincial government acknowledges the fibre problem. Budget 2026 identifies reduced economic fibre supply and sustained international tariffs as significant challenges for the sector.

The province has responded with measures it says will increase fibre supply, though their full impact has yet to be demonstrated.

In March, the government introduced legislative amendments expanding activities available through BC Timber Sales. It estimates the changes could increase fibre supply by as much as 800,000 cubic metres.

That includes new streamlined salvage licences intended to speed harvesting of trees damaged by wildfire and other natural disturbances. The province estimates those licences could deliver up to an additional 500,000 cubic metres of fibre to market.

Wildfire can create short-term salvage opportunities because some burned timber remains commercially usable. But severe fires can also damage merchantable timber that would otherwise contribute to future harvests, with wildfire losses considered in provincial timber-supply assessments. The 2024 assessment, for example, found tens of millions of cubic metres of timber within the timber harvesting land base inside that year’s fire perimeters, including both burned and surviving volume.

How much the 2026 fires have added to those pressures has not yet been publicly assessed.

What is already established is that BC entered this fire season with one of the major forestry challenges identified during the last election unresolved: securing enough economically viable wood to support mills and forestry communities.

Now two major pulp operations have announced closures or indefinite idling within little more than a month, with both companies citing fibre availability among the factors behind their decisions. At the same time, another severe fire season is burning through a timber base the province has repeatedly had to reassess following previous wildfire years.

In another display of the double standards that shape Canadian foreign policy, Ottawa has sanctioned a defence manufacturer whose armoured vehicles have been used by Russia’s National Guard while simultaneously working to increase Canadian defence exports to Saudi Arabia.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand announced sanctions against Streit Group on August 10. Global Affairs Canada said armoured vehicles manufactured by the company had been used by the Russian National Guard, or Rosgvardia, in the war on Ukraine.

The department said Streit had a history of supplying Russian entities with defence products and accused the company of continuing to “feed Russia’s war machine.” The sanctions, it said, would help reduce Russia’s military capabilities by disrupting Streit’s ability to supply military technology and equipment to Russia.

Just one month earlier, Prime Minister Mark Carney was in Saudi Arabia promising deeper defence cooperation and increased Canadian defence exports.

Carney travelled to Jeddah on July 9 for the first visit to Saudi Arabia by a Canadian prime minister in 26 years. He met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and announced a broad expansion of relations covering trade, energy, technology, critical minerals and defence.

Canada and Saudi Arabia signed 13 commercial agreements and memorandums of understanding worth more than $1 billion. The two governments also committed to finalizing an MOU on defence cooperation.

Canada will establish a resident Defence Attaché in Riyadh to increase the frequency and depth of bilateral engagement and, according to the Prime Minister’s Office, “increase exports from Canada’s defence sector.”

Ottawa also plans to have a national pavilion at the World Defence Show in Riyadh in January 2028.

The military relationship is already substantial.

Saudi Arabia received more than $1.15 billion in controlled Canadian military goods in 2024, making it Canada’s largest non-U.S. military export destination. Canadian military exports to the kingdom were worth approximately $403 million in 2025.

A substantial portion of those exports is believed to consist of Canadian-made light armoured vehicles.

Those exports continued during Saudi Arabia’s role in the war on Yemen and years of criticism over the kingdom’s repression at home. They also continued during the diplomatic rupture that began in 2018 after Canada called for the release of imprisoned Saudi activists.

Ottawa has long defended the relationship on strategic and economic grounds. A 2020 Global Affairs Canada export review described Saudi Arabia as a key player in global energy security and a valued partner in maintaining regional stability.

The government has separately defended the arms relationship on employment grounds. In 2020, then-foreign minister François-Philippe Champagne warned that cancelling the light armoured vehicle deal could jeopardize thousands of Canadian jobs. Yet critics argue that this logic prioritizes short-term economics over ethical consistency. Civil society groups, including the Canadian Labour Congress, have called for an economic conversion strategy to support diversification into sectors less reliant on international arms sales.

Under Carney, expanding the Saudi relationship has become a clear objective.

Later in July, Bombardier signed a letter of intent with The Helicopter Company for 12 business jets, with options for another 48. The company is owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, whose board is chaired by Mohammed bin Salman.

Minister Anand celebrated the agreement.

“Bombardier’s agreement with Saudi Arabia’s The Helicopter Company for up to 60 business jets is another global win for Canadian aerospace,” she wrote on X.

International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu similarly praised the deal and linked it to approximately $600 million in commercial agreements reached during his own trade mission to Saudi Arabia earlier this year.

The initial 12-aircraft portion of the proposed Bombardier deal carried a US$568 million value at list prices.

The timing is notable.

The Iran factor

During Carney’s July 9 visit, Anand described the deepening relationship with Saudi Arabia as a “new chapter” and cited, among other things, “solidarity in the face of Iranian aggression over the past months.”

Later that month, Saudi Arabia joined the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, with Saudi and U.S. fighter aircraft striking logistics and weapons sites in eastern Iraq linked to militias Washington said were backed by Iran.

U.S. Central Command said the strikes followed more than 30 drone attacks it described as directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

An Iraqi paramilitary group said at least 20 of its members were killed.

The next day, on July 29, Anand separately praised the Bombardier agreement with the Saudi sovereign wealth fund-owned company.

Twelve days later, on August 10, she announced the Streit sanctions.

In the Streit case, Ottawa pointed to the use of the company’s armoured vehicles by Rosgvardia, accused it of helping “feed Russia’s war machine” and imposed sanctions intended to disrupt its ability to supply military equipment to Russia.

Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, has received billions of dollars in Canadian military goods over the years, intervened militarily in Yemen and has now joined the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

Ottawa’s response has been to deepen the relationship.

Carney travelled to Saudi Arabia, signed more than $1 billion in commercial agreements and MOUs, committed Canada to greater defence cooperation and announced a Defence Attaché whose mandate includes increasing Canadian defence exports. Anand then celebrated a major Bombardier deal with a company owned by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.

Canada, as usual, is not applying a consistent principle against supplying states involved in war. It is sanctioning a company for contributing to Russia’s military capacity while actively seeking more defence business with Saudi Arabia.

Ken Sim leads the Vancouver mayoral race with 30 percent support among decided voters, while 26 percent of likely voters have yet to choose a candidate, a new Research Co. poll suggests.

The Research Co. survey placed Sim, the A Better City candidate, at 30 percent among decided voters.

Kareem Allam of the Vancouver Liberals and Green Party of Vancouver Councillor Pete Fry were tied for second at 19 percent. Allam previously served as Sim’s chief of staff.

Former councillor Colleen Hardwick of TEAM for a Livable Vancouver followed with 14 percent. Vote Vancouver Councillor Rebecca Bligh had seven percent, OneCity Vancouver candidate William Azaroff had five percent and the Coalition of Progressive Electors’ Stephanie Allen had four percent. Other candidates received a combined three percent.

The results indicate about one-third of the vote could be sufficient to win the mayor’s office if support remains divided among several candidates.

Research Co. president Mario Canseco said the presence of numerous credible candidates has made it difficult for likely voters to settle on a choice.

Twenty-six percent remained undecided, including 36 percent of respondents aged 55 and older.

When asked which candidate was best positioned to defeat Sim, 20 percent of likely voters selected Allam, 14 percent chose Fry and 11 percent named Hardwick. Thirty-nine percent could not identify a particular candidate as the favourite to defeat the incumbent.

For comparison, a separate Pallas Data poll conducted in July placed Fry at 18 percent, Sim at 14 percent, Allam at 12 percent and Hardwick at 11 percent. Allen received six percent, Azaroff four percent and Bligh three percent, while 34 percent were undecided.

Sim won the 2022 mayoral election with 51 percent of the vote. Kennedy Stewart won the 2018 contest with 29 percent.

Research Co. found 39 percent of likely voters held a favourable view of Sim. Fry’s favourability rating was 45 percent, compared with 40 percent for Stewart, 36 percent for Hardwick and 33 percent for Allam.

The Green Party received the highest positive rating among the municipal parties measured, at 51 percent. The Liberals followed at 48 percent, OneCity at 44 percent and ABC at 42 percent.

In the council election, 42 percent of likely voters said they would definitely or probably cast a ballot that included Green candidates. ABC followed at 40 percent, while TEAM and the Liberals each received 35 percent.

The survey also measured attitudes toward the Villages Plan, the housing proposal introduced by Sim in October 2023 and rejected by city council in a 10-1 vote on July 28.

Only 40 percent of likely voters said they had seen, read or heard anything about the plan over the previous year. Based on what respondents already knew or had experienced, 18 percent viewed it positively, 47 percent negatively and 35 percent were unsure.

After respondents read an overview of the plan, positive assessments rose to 26 percent and negative assessments increased to 57 percent.

The Research Co. online survey was conducted from July 30 to August 1.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand used a July 23 visit to Manila to announce roughly $10.8 million in new Canadian spending across Southeast Asia, the wider Asia-Pacific region, and Africa, as the Carney government continues expanding Ottawa’s financial and strategic presence abroad.

The funding was announced while Anand attended meetings with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, better known as ASEAN, and the ASEAN Regional Forum. It will supposedly support programs involving money laundering, terrorist financing, child exploitation, biological weapons, migrant workers and gender equality.

The announcement was framed as part of Canada’s deepening relationship with ASEAN, which Global Affairs Canada says was the country’s fifth-largest merchandise trading partner in 2025.

However, Ottawa did not offer information about what measurable economic or strategic return Canadians should expect.

Where the money is going

The largest portion of the funding is a $4.5-million project intended to address what Global Affairs called “significant biological proliferation vulnerabilities” in the Asia-Pacific region and Africa.

The project will support implementation of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention and expand biosecurity capacity across ASEAN. Global Affairs did not identify the countries that will receive the funding, provide a country-by-country breakdown, or explain how much will be spent in Africa rather than Asia.

Another $3.6 million will go toward three initiatives involving money laundering and terrorist financing.

That includes $217,000 for the Lao People’s Democratic Republic to help it fulfill an action plan developed by the Financial Action Task Force. The funding will be provided through the Institute for Legal Support and Technical Assistance.

A further $2.4 million will be provided to the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering to expand political engagement, regional coordination and the capacity of member countries to implement anti-money-laundering policies.

The World Bank will receive another $1-million top-up to support similar work through the same organization.

Anand also announced $1.7 million for a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime initiative in the Philippines. The program is intended to protect children from sexual exploitation and recruitment by criminal, armed, and terrorist groups.

Another $455,000 will be distributed through the ASEAN-Canada Plan of Action Trust Fund to promote what the government calls the fair and ethical recruitment of migrant workers. The project will involve the Philippines’ Department of Migrant Workers and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

Almost $500,000 will go toward gender equality and women’s empowerment initiatives, including support for the fourth ASEAN Women Leaders’ Summit.

Together, the commitments amount to approximately $10.8 million.

The release does not set out measurable performance targets, projected Canadian economic benefits or a timeline for publicly reporting the results.

More spending in the Philippines

The package follows a separate $2-million commitment announced earlier in July, when Prime Minister Mark Carney hosted Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Vancouver.

That funding will support technical assistance and efforts to attract investment into the Luzon Economic Corridor, an infrastructure initiative involving transportation, clean energy, semiconductor supply chains, and agribusiness in the Philippines.

Carney and Marcos also elevated relations between the two countries to a strategic partnership and highlighted growing cooperation in defence, energy, mining, infrastructure and migration. The two governments are also negotiating a bilateral free-trade agreement.

The latest spending therefore comes as Ottawa is attempting to position the Philippines as both an economic and security partner.

Global Affairs noted that Canada-Philippines merchandise trade reached $3.4 billion in 2025. Canadian exports accounted for $1.1 billion, while imports from the Philippines totalled $2.3 billion.

The government also highlighted the broader Canada-ASEAN trading relationship, which reached $52.4 billion in 2025.

These figures demonstrate the region’s economic importance, but the government did not directly connect the newly announced funding to Canadian contracts, export commitments, or improved market access.

Continuity behind the reset

The spending also reveals the degree of continuity behind Carney’s shifting approach to the Indo-Pacific.

Last October, Carney met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and promised to “rebuild ties” after years of deteriorating relations. His government described the meeting as a turning point.

The change marked a departure from the confrontational language of Canada’s 2022 Indo-Pacific Strategy, which described China as an “increasingly disruptive global power.”

But while Ottawa has softened its rhetoric toward Beijing, it has not abandoned the broader structure of the strategy.

The 2022 plan committed $2.3 billion to an expanded Canadian presence in the Indo-Pacific, including military deployments, cyber security, trade promotion, development assistance, climate programs and support for regional institutions. It also promised increased diplomatic, economic, military and technical support for countries across the region.

Anand’s visit continued that approach.

Canada will extend its co-chairship of an ASEAN Regional Forum working group on cyber security alongside India and Indonesia. Anand also discussed expanded defence cooperation and announced that Canada will host a meeting of regional defence universities, colleges, and institutions in Victoria this October.

The result is a dual approach. Carney is attempting to repair economic relations with China while continuing to build the diplomatic, financial, and security architecture created partly in response to China’s regional influence.

Rather than replacing the 2022 strategy, the government appears to be adjusting its language while preserving most of its spending and institutional commitments.

The question of priorities

The individual issues identified by the government are not insignificant.

Money laundering, child exploitation, human trafficking, terrorism, and biological weapons are legitimate international concerns. The question is how far Canadian taxpayers’ responsibility extends, how funding decisions are prioritized and what evidence of success the public should expect.

Several of the new projects will be administered through international organizations, regional bodies, and trust funds. Their goals are broadly defined, while the direct benefits to Canadians are less apparent.

Global Affairs provided the names of the recipients and descriptions of the programs. It did not provide a detailed explanation of why these initiatives represent the best use of Canadian funds, what outcomes would constitute success or what happens if those outcomes are not achieved.

That omission is particularly notable because the spending is being presented as part of a strategy intended to strengthen Canadian prosperity and economic security.

Carney’s government says it is pursuing a pragmatic Indo-Pacific policy focused on trade, investment, and diversification. But in the latest announcement, the spending commitments are concrete while the benefits to Canadians remain largely theoretical.

The government’s diplomatic language toward the region may be changing. The flow of Canadian public money abroad is not.

In the provincial riding of Vancouver-Quilchena, a movement has been brewing against the sole MLA elected there, Dallas Brodie. The Recall Dallas Brodie campaign is a grassroots movement dedicated to using the provincial Recall and Initiative Act to remove Brodie from power and trigger a by-election to choose a replacement MLA.

“Having people in power who behave in that way, I feel, is quite dangerous for our democracy in general,” said Zoé Kruchten, a volunteer in the campaign. “Regardless of where on the spectrum politically they are, I think that when you’re using fear to gain power, stoke resentment and create divisions in society, it’s bad for all of us in general,” she continued.

On July 20, it was announced that the Recall Dallas Brodie campaign had failed to meet the 15,000-signature threshold from registered voters to trigger a recall and subsequent by-election. The campaign reportedly submitted a little over 3,600 signatures on the petition in total.

While the campaign has concluded for now, many are still unaware of what is happening in Vancouver-Quilchena. What spurred this campaign? What did MLA Brodie do to incur this sort of movement against her? Coastal Front took a look inside the Recall Dallas Brodie campaign to find out more.

Who is Dallas Brodie?

Brodie is a former BC Conservative MLA, ousted from the party in 2025 by then-leader John Rustad, only half a year after the 2024 provincial election. In that election, she became the MLA for Vancouver-Quilchena. Brodie had been removed from the Conservatives because of her mocking the testimonies of residential school survivors in an appearance on a YouTube podcast.

Since then, she and Tara Armstrong—another MLA who left the Conservatives, partnered together to create a new party: OneBC. OneBC’s politics are publicly associated with right-wing populism and social conservatism. They have proposed bills such as the Land Acknowledgement Prohibition Act or the Protecting Minors from Gender Transition Act. None of their proposed bills have passed and have been voted down in legislation.

After a period of internal strife in December of last year, Brodie was internally removed from OneBC by the board of directors. In the end, Brodie was reinstated after eight days, and Armstrong, along with some senior members of the board, left the party in the aftermath.

Dr. Susan Burgess, a volunteer within the movement, told Coastal Front how after Rustad kicked Brodie out, “she was unleashed.”

“Elected, then kicked out, kicked out again, still continuing,” she added.

During this time, the Musqueam Council and Chief Wayne Sparrow (whose lands overlap with Vancouver-Quilchena) openly called for Brodie’s resignation and reflection on her words and actions over her residential school denialism.

“Our leaders carry themselves and the business of our people in an honourable and respectful manner,” the collective statement read. “We expect the same from all public officials. Denialism and anti-Indigenous rhetoric have no place in the Legislature.”

Since being elected in October 2024, Brodie has neither opened a constituency office in her riding nor has she barely even answered email inquiries relating to local issues in Vancouver-Quilchena, according to some of her constituents.

Burgess noted how Brodie had previously failed to address the concerns of citizens in the riding. In the Vancouver-Quilchena riding, she pointed out how many senior citizens live in the area who have needs to be addressed.

Burgess also pointed to a shortage of family doctors in the area and the crucial need for Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in children’s elementary schools for emergencies. These material needs have not been addressed by Brodie, she pointed out.

“I might not need help, but my neighbours might. That’s the point of being a representative for your constituents,” summarized Burgess.

Through OneBC’s provincial party status, almost $650,000 in taxpayer funding has been granted to the party of one— two at the time of its inception. Although the full scope of what these funds have been used for hasn’t been disclosed by OneBC yet, it has been speculated that Brodie used the funding for her documentary “Making a Killing.”

Brodie’s documentary uses residential school denialism rhetoric and claims to uncover a “massive scandal behind the taking of wealth, land, and power from the Canadian public to benefit indigenous tribes.”

While some residential school sites have yet to provide evidence of bodies, a child’s remains were discovered at the former Blue Quills residential school site in Alberta, and a child’s jawbone fragment was verified at the Lebret residential school in Saskatchewan.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has identified 3,200 deaths of named students at these schools and estimates that just under one-third of total deaths didn’t even have their names recorded.

While Brodie hasn’t opened a constituency office, she has been “touring” the province to other ridings, speculatively on the taxpayers’ dime as well. Most recently, she went to town halls in other municipalities like Kamloops and Prince George for OneBC’s “Backbone of BC Tour.”

In an email response to a concerned constituent, Brodie’s staff did not disclose how much was spent on the documentary and claimed that it presented “diverse views” and encouraged “respectful dialogue.”

Those in the Recall campaign emphasize that this is a blatant misuse of taxpayer dollars and political effort. “If you ask the residents of Vancouver-Quilchena, would they rather see a documentary or would they rather see AEDs in elementary schools?” inquired Erin, a Recall volunteer.

Mike Farnworth, NDP House Leader, spoke on the matter of public funds being used for Brodie’s political commentary and career to CHEK News.

“Right now, they are able to do that as elected MLAs, in terms of how they use their caucus funds, but certainly it’s something we could be taking a look at,” he said. “Because quite frankly that’s never really what the caucus funds have been intended for.”

The Campaign

The Recall campaign is entirely volunteer-led, with many of the participants donating their time outside of their own personal jobs. The financial agent for the movement is the only “employee” on the payroll who previously worked for the BC NDP, a fact that Burgess transparently disclosed to Coastal Front.

The movement was organized by Dorothy Cumming, a retired nurse and instructor at BCIT, as well as a resident of Vancouver-Quilchena for 45 years. In a public statement, she said, “Residents have raised concerns that they don’t see an engaged MLA on meaningful engagement or advocacy on everyday issues facing families, seniors, renters and businesses. We have not seen an MLA working to support healthy, vibrant schools for all school children.”

The movement stresses itself as being bipartisan, made up of NDP, Conservative, and Green Party voters altogether. Multiple volunteers who spoke to Coastal Front all confirmed this, some even voted for Brodie in 2024.

Instead of Brodie representing her constituents, said Erin, “she’s doubling down, promoting branding and marketing for her own party, her own ideological values, and has since abandoned any of the campaign promises that she platformed on and the promises she made to the residents.” This has brought community members and even volunteers outside of the riding, like Erin herself, from all different backgrounds into this movement.

“I myself am a member of Syilx Nation,” she said, “so her really harmful comments and rhetoric around mocking residential school survivors became immediately of interest and a huge concern for me.”

During the time since the campaign announcement in May, volunteers have been canvassing, engaging unaware constituents, and setting up petition signings in various neighbourhoods around the riding. At these sites were enthusiastic volunteers holding up signs to grab the attention of passersby.

In the past two months or so of organizing, you could see many “Recall” signs in the front yards of residents in Vancouver-Quilchena.

However, Brodie also has many loyal supporters in her riding as well. Many volunteers in the Recall campaign have reported they face harassment from plainclothes OneBC staffers or supporters. Typically, they did not identify as either and instead told volunteers they were “just asking questions.”

Kruchten said they often yell at volunteers for being on public property and described them as being “very hostile people.”

She even described how, on a few occasions, some of these people disingenuously filled out forms related to mobility issues, so that canvassers could show up at their homes for petition-signing. They would then start “asking questions” with the canvassers rather than signing the petition. This made volunteers within the campaign quite uncomfortable, according to Kruchten.

“I’ve been yelled at, frankly, a lot on shift, including hurtful comments about residential schools and disparaging comments about the Kamloops Residential School, which is where my family went to residential school,” said Erin.

Masha Kleiner, an identified member of Brodie’s staff, was allegedly subjecting volunteers to “abusive and hostile behaviour, including unethical conduct,” according to a statement from the campaign.

Brodie herself was publicly called out by a then-Conservative MLA, Amelia Boultbee, for being harassed and filmed by her in a public space, back in October 2025.

Issues with the system

Before the results of the petition signing were announced, volunteers like Kruchten expressed frustration with the whole system of recalling MLAs in BC in general.

“There’s been a lot of attempts, but it’s never been successful, and I’m kind of like, ‘Well, maybe we should question why it’s never been successful,” she said.

Kruchten acknowledged that it shouldn’t be too easy to get an MLA recalled, but there needs to be a balance in comparison to the current system, which is difficult for several reasons.

Under the Recall and Initiative Act in BC, a campaign only has 60 days to get the signatures of at least 40 percent of constituents who were eligible to vote in the 2024 provincial election. Absolutely no advertising for the campaign can be done before it is approved for those 60 days. As mentioned earlier, for Vancouver-Quilchena, this 40 percent was 15,000 signatures from voting constituents.

Kruchten also pointed out how the Act can prevent volunteers from reaching certain populations. In retirement homes, for example, the building’s staff can refuse entry to volunteers without consulting any of the elderly people living inside the building and constituency.

She also discussed how vulnerable populations could be barred from participating in the petition, as it does not allow mail-in signatures, and the system of signing from home can be abused, as previously mentioned.

Kruchten wanted to make it clear that Elections BC, as an institution, has been helpful in answering questions and providing information to the Recall campaign. It’s the legal framework for MLA recalls outlined in the Act that was the true difficulty for them.

What’s Next?

With the petition’s signatures not being able to meet the threshold, it is uncertain where the campaign will go next. The next provincial election is slated for October 2028.

In a statement to Coastal Front responding to the final petition signature count, Brodie said: “I didn’t lift a finger or spend a penny opposing the recall and they still failed miserably.”

She continued, “I have to thank them for making more British Columbians aware of my record of standing up for property rights and against the Reconciliation Industry that is dividing our province socially and geographically.”

The aforementioned Masha Kleiner said OneBC’s future election strategy will be targeting ridings “hardest hit by the BC NDP.” She said they have apparently identified “thousands of supporters” in several ridings, which they will be utilizing in future elections.

While the Recall supporters and volunteers aren’t thrilled by the results, there was a lot of communal optimism

A statement from the Recall campaign reads that “this campaign mobilized and connected residents who are now more engaged than ever in the democratic process”. It continued, “members of the team will provide feedback and suggestions to update the Recall and Initiative Act to Elections BC and to legislators to be more in line with the Election Act.”

Erin said no matter the outcome, “it’s important to reflect that so many thousands of her [constituents] already don’t agree she’s effective at her job.” She continued, “I hope that that sentiment, even if the recall doesn’t succeed, will carry on to the next election to make sure that she can’t be reelected.”

No matter the outcome, one thing was objectively clear. The community of Vancouver-Quilchena has never seen an MLA like Dallas Brodie, and a movement like the Recall campaign organized against her.

The BC NDP provincial government has released a statement emphasizing water conservation practices amid concerns about potential scarcity and drought risks.

Much of BC is expected to face elevated drought conditions this summer, with extreme summer heat conditions. This is amid news of 77 emerging fires as of July 18, due to a barrage of thunderstorms hitting the province. These fires all started within 24 hours of the thunderstorm, bringing the total to a staggering 115 fires burning overnight.

“Protecting BC’s water resources is a shared responsibility, and the actions we take today will help communities, farmers and businesses manage increasing drought pressures,” said Randene Neill, Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship. “We are working closely with First Nations, local governments, industry and the agricultural sector to support water conservation and long-term water security.”

The provincial government additionally announced other “key actions” to combat water scarcity in BC. This includes updating the province’s Drought and Water Scarcity Response Plan. The new Disaster Resilience and Innovation Funding has also been launched, its function is to help local communities prepare for climate disasters and emergencies.

Other funding includes a $100 million investment into the Watershed Security Fund and $100 million (since 2023) into the Agriculture Water Infrastructure Program, which supports nearly 700 projects to build or improve water storage and supply systems.

$50 million has also been given to install water meters for 19 rural First Nations communities in the province.

Through these actions, the government seeks to emphasize protecting watersheds and aquatic ecosystems throughout BC. The lack of rainfall and heat conditions put key watersheds like the Koksilah River, Salmon River, and Bessette Creek.

Water is essential to BC’s agricultural sector so farmers can continue to grow crops, produce forage and care for livestock that help feed British Columbians,” said Lana Popham, Minister of Agriculture and Food. She emphasized the importance of this for BC’s food security and local wildlife.

Conflicting actions

This statement comes as the BC Energy Regulator, a government body, approved a request from FortisBC to increase the discharge volume of copper and aluminum in its wastewater. This wastewater runs from the Eagle Mountain pipeline project into Howe Sound.

This allows FortisBC to increase the volume of wastewater discharge to four times the original amount.

Environmental groups like the Sunshine Coast Conservation Association have expressed concerns over how this could affect the region’s biosphere in the future.

BC Green MLA for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky, Jeremy Valeriote, said that regulators bending the industry rules is quite concerning.

“Imagine a driver going 100 kilometres an hour through a school zone, and instead of getting a ticket, the government simply raises the speed limit,” he said. “That’s effectively what happened here. Laws should apply equally to everyone, and British Columbians expect their government to hold companies accountable when they break the law—not change the rules.”

Valeriote also pointed out how the BC NDP have repeatedly “shown a soft spot” for the LNG industry in the province through taxpayer subsidization and the recent weakening of environmental protection policies.

Mayor Ken Sim and the Vancouver city council recently greenlighted an extension to the pedestrian zone on Granville Street until September 7, after the Labour Day Weekend. This will preserve the ongoing pedestrian zone, keeping it car and transit-free in continuation, and will cost the city almost $5 million to uphold until September.

The closure of Granville originally began on June 11 for the FIFA World Cup tournament in anticipation of tourists flocking to the city. The original closure and the newer extension are done in partnership with the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association (Downtown Van).

Sim and the ABC party voted in favour of extending the pedestrian zone after the FIFA tournament concludes on July 19. This is part of an initiative called the Granville Street Plan, which was approved last year and is a 20-year process to develop a pedestrian-oriented Granville Street in the centre of downtown Vancouver.

Costs

In a statement to Coastal Front, the City of Vancouver confirmed an estimate of $4.75 million in costs for this extension. The engineering costs will be around $2.1 million in total estimates.

Weekly, “enhanced sanitation” will cost $150,000, traffic management around $100,000, and other costs, including washrooms, will be $50,000 per week. This is a total of $300,000 a week to keep Granville Street a pedestrian zone.

The total costs for the Vancouver Police Department are $1.4 million, with $200,000 a week required for law enforcement in the zone. The city has also given Downtown Van a grant of up to $1.25 million for “activation and programming.” All of the above costs total to $4.75 million for a seven-week extension.

In a post on Instagram, the ABC party said that the “extension gives businesses the opportunity to continue building on that momentum while giving Vancouver families and visitors even more time to enjoy an affordable day out and experience the city at its best.”

The post also noted “disappointing opposition from Councillors Pete Fry and Rebecca Bligh,” with their vote against the extension in the council.

Fry told CBC News, “Yes, [the] Granville pedestrian zone has been awesome. It’s been a fantastic experience.” He added, “But $5 million to keep it going for another month and a half without the benefit of the World Cup excitement … is a different matter altogether.”

Fry believes that Sim and ABC are “playing fast and loose” with taxpayer money, noting how many organizations have been defunded due to a freeze on property taxes passed by the city, but now they are asking for almost $5 million from the “public purse.”

Further details

A Translink spokesperson told Coastal Front that moving buses off Granville Street would increase walking distances and lead to more inconvenient transfers for customers. “The corridor currently features significant bus priority measures,” they said. “Without permanent comparable infrastructure on alternate streets, transit speed and reliability would be reduced.”

TransLink noted downtown Granville Street as the second-busiest bus corridor in Vancouver, surpassed only by Broadway.

In a public document, Sim and ABC propose that city staff look at a temporary reactivation of the pedestrian zone in November 2026 for a “Christmas Market,” which presumably would extend into December and is part of the Granville Street Plan approved last year.

The City of Vancouver said, “We have no details at this time on a Christmas Market,” in the statement to us.

Ottawa is committing up to $3 billion to British Columbia’s Fraser River Tunnel Project after the cost of replacing the George Massey Tunnel more than doubled to $8.5 billion.

The federal money, announced under the Canada-BC Cooperative Prosperity Agreement, still does not cover the project’s $4.35-billion increase from the earlier $4.15-billion figure.

The province says the new budget reflects market conditions, inflation, project scope and the delivery schedule required for a build of this size and complexity. It also says the estimate has been validated by an “independent third party.”

But the numbers are punishing for taxpayers: the project is now about 105 percent over the previous $4.15-billion figure, while the province says the tunnel’s design remains unchanged from the 2023 concept, including its anticipated depth, ramp lengths and location.

A previous BC Liberal plan for a 10-lane bridge was estimated at $3.5 billion and expected to be complete in 2022. After John Horgan’s New Democrats took power in 2017, that project was cancelled. The current eight-lane tunnel was later priced at $4.15 billion and is now budgeted at $8.5 billion, with completion shifted to September 2031.

The procurement process has also been sent back to market.

BC had been working with Cross Fraser Partnership since September 2024 under a design and early works agreement. But the province failed to reach final commercial terms for construction of the tunnel and terminated the agreement, choosing instead to divide the remaining work into several smaller bidding packages.

The government says the revised approach will increase competition, create more opportunities for Canadian and BC-based contractors and seek better value for taxpayers.

In other words, a project previously taken to market as one large procurement in 2023 is now being broken apart and retendered after terms could not be finalized.

Requests for qualifications for the first two work packages were posted June 16. Requests for proposals are expected in early August, with successful companies to be selected by early 2027. Procurement for three more work packages is expected in 2027.

Major construction is still not expected to begin until 2027. The province says the environmental review is expected to conclude before the end of 2026.

The timeline has moved as well. The province says the original estimated completion date was December 2030. The new estimated completion timeline is September 2031.

Early construction work began in January 2026 and includes tree clearing, utility relocations and preparation for a casting basin. Temporary work is also underway on three jetties, a trestle bridge to Deas Island, access roads and retaining walls, creating approximately 200 jobs in 2026 alone, according to the province.

The Fraser River Tunnel Project is meant to replace the aging George Massey Tunnel with a toll-free, eight-lane immersed-tube tunnel to improve safety, transit, goods movement and connections to the Port of Vancouver, border crossings and major trade corridors.

For now, it is also a case study in infrastructure mismanagement: a project with a doubled price tag, a blown timeline, an unfinished environmental review, and a procurement process being rebuilt after the province failed to reach final terms with the consortium it had been working with.

Ottawa’s $3-billion contribution will reduce BC’s share of the bill. It will not explain how a tunnel the province says has not changed in design became more than twice as expensive before major construction is expected to begin.

Last Thursday, the federal Liberal government and the BC provincial NDP government announced the Canada-British Columbia Cooperative Prosperity Agreement. This agreement is a multi-billion-dollar one that has major investment from the federal government into the province’s infrastructure, according to the press release.

The agreement covered many sectors and projects in BC, but chief amongst them were several environmental policy agreements. The partnership will seek to establish that the provincial government will be compensated for environmental risk for any future pipeline projects imposed on the province. It also ensures that the BC NDP can reject any pipeline proposal from the neighbouring province of Alberta.

Under the agreement as well, the North Shore oil tanker ban will be fully maintained without further modification, which will also prevent any pipeline from being built out to there.

“This deal will deliver faster commutes as we build critical infrastructure, less pollution as we power growth with clean electricity, and the kind of shared prosperity that funds strong public services,” said BC Premier David Eby. “I want to thank the Prime Minister for recognizing the key role B.C. is playing in building a stronger, more independent Canada.”

However, the news about the partnership comes at the same time that Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith stood together to announce a new proposed pipeline that would follow the path of the Trans Mountain pipeline to the Roberts Bank terminal in Delta, BC.

Professor Kathryn Harrison, from the UBC Department of Political Science, told Coastal Front that this reflects an approach from Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government that is known as “cooperative federalism.” “Basically, instead of telling the provinces, ‘this is what we’re going to do unless you do it first,’” she said, the federal government has instead opted to negotiate deals, province by province. “In many ways, it’s brokerage politics.”

Harrison pointed out that Carney’s government is more committed to a federal-provincial consensus than the previous Trudeau administration, whose environmental policies were unfavoured by provinces like Alberta.

Criticism

The federal government’s Major Projects Office received a submission from Alberta’s government saying that the project would cost between $35.2 billion and $43.7 billion, including contingency plans. This does not include escalation and allowance for funds used during construction. That same construction would start as early as 2027 and finish by 2034.

Smith and the project submission were vague on how much taxpayers would need to pay for this project. The Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission, the federally-owned Trans Mountain Corporation, and the Alberta-based Pembina Pipeline Corporation are in partnership for this project.

“It’s noteworthy that at the press conference, Danielle Smith and Mark Carney didn’t seem to know which [dollar amounts] they said they were going to contribute equally, but no dollar figures were discussed,” remarked Harrison.

Carney stated that up to $10 billion in funding could be provided for Robert’s Bank Terminal 2— a superport where the pipeline would end, which is far above the projected cost for the superport in the submission.

Harrison noted that Carney’s government wants “to expand oil and gas production for export, which will increase Canada’s emissions at the same time that the policies to reduce those emissions are being weakened.” The government has weakened the reach of environmental protections like the Impact Assessment Act, Navigable Waters Protection Act, and the Species at Risk Act, under the Building Canada Act introduced by the government.

Ironically, this announcement came on the same day, hours after Carney stood next to Eby to announce the Canada--British Columbia Cooperative Prosperity Agreement. The premier conceded that BC will not challenge the federally approved pipeline in court.

“Don’t expect me or members of my government caucus to say we like this project,” he told CBC News.

The move has sparked criticism from environmental groups like the Wilderness Committee, which expresses concern about how this will affect the ecosystem and pollution levels of the Salish Sea, adjacent to where the pipeline would deliver oil to tankers. The organization claims it would push the regional subspecies of orca closer to extinction.

“Premier David Eby said he will ensure British Columbians are compensated for the environmental damage of another pipeline, but there is no compensation for the extinction of the southern resident orcas,” said Conservation and Policy Campaigner Lucero González.

“At a time when people across the country are suffering in extreme heat, wildfire evacuations and devastating floods, pursuing the expansion of Canada’s most polluting industry is utterly despicable,” said Associate Director Torrance Coste. “In the fight against climate change, Prime Minister Carney and Premier Eby are issuing their surrender, and resigning us to a future of ecological and economic decline.”

Harrison points out that over the past decade, we’ve seen a “really precipitous decline in the cost of producing renewable electricity with wind and solar. Complementing that, a rapid decline in the cost of energy storage with batteries. That’s important given the intermittency of renewable electricity and the increasing availability globally of low-cost Chinese EVs.”

She poses this question of why we aren’t adopting these models at a time when the global price of oil is in extreme fluctuation due to the ongoing hostilities between the US and Iran in the Strait of Hormuz.

Harrison believes that the government is doing this to diversify our national exports in addition to maintaining federal-provincial regulations. This diversification is due to the recent unreliability in trade with the United States, which has historically been a dominant partner in that area.

In a video titled “Forward Guidance: Canada’s Energy Future,” Carney announces that Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions are expected to go up in the remaining decade. In it, he admits that increasing oil and gas production is a “short-term goal.”

As for Eby and the NDP, Harrison points out how the province has shifted from meeting its 2030 climate goal plans, in a change of direction for the party, including amending the Zero Emission Vehicles Act.

Further details

Other infrastructure projects have also been highlighted through this partnership between governments.

The agreement includes figures of up to $3 billion toward the cost of the Fraser River Tunnel Project, as well as commitments to the Red Chris mine expansion and the North Coast Transmission Line (NCTL), infrastructure for the critical minerals sector. Support for NCTL will result in a $3.9 billion net benefit to ratepayers, according to the provincial government.

The agreement will also see more than $88 million in proposed major projects reaching a final investment decision in the next three years, with these estimates coming from both governments.

The federal government has also promised to commit a maximum of $3 billion to the capital costs of the George Massey Tunnel Replacement Project. It has been recently announced that the project costs have ballooned to $8.5 billion by the provincial government, doubled from $4.15 billion previously.

While there isn’t a timeline of how these changes will be implemented, Harrison points out how a Memorandum of Understanding between the federal government and Alberta’s government has an October 1, 2026, deadline for the federal government to advance the pipeline. She notes that this deadline is before the controversial October 19 referendum on whether Alberta should separate from Canada, amongst other issues.

The British Columbia government says it has retained legal counsel in British Columbia and California to explore legal action against OpenAI over allegations the company failed to alert law enforcement after violent threats were flagged on its ChatGPT platform before the mass shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary school.

In a statement released Tuesday, the province said it has retained Vancouver-based CFM Lawyers and California law firm Stranch, Jennings & Garvey to explore all legal avenues to hold OpenAI and its decision-makers accountable. It said retaining California-based counsel will allow it to assess potential legal remedies in the state where OpenAI is headquartered.

The announcement follows the February 10 shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary school that claimed the lives of eight people, including an educator and five children between the ages of 11 and 13, and left 27 others wounded.

The province alleges internal OpenAI reports indicate the company’s safety teams flagged the perpetrator’s violent prompts on ChatGPT months before the attack, but that the company’s leadership did not notify police or other authorities.

“Our thoughts remain with the families who lost loved ones, the people who were injured and the entire Tumbler Ridge community,” Attorney General Niki Sharma said in the statement.

“As the community continues to heal, our government remains focused on supporting those affected and pursuing accountability. When there are serious concerns that opportunities to prevent harm were missed, we have a responsibility to act. We owe that to the victims, their families and everyone whose life was changed by this tragedy.”

The province said it will work with legal counsel in British Columbia and California to pursue what it described as appropriate legal avenues while seeking accountability and support for community rebuilding efforts, including construction of a new school in Tumbler Ridge.

“We are taking this step because there are serious concerns about OpenAI’s failure to notify law enforcement after threats were flagged on its platform,” Sharma said.

“We will pursue every available avenue to hold OpenAI and its decision-makers accountable because no company or corporate leader should be beyond scrutiny when public safety is at stake.”

The province said several victims’ families have already launched legal proceedings against OpenAI in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. It said any legal action pursued by British Columbia would be separate from those lawsuits and would proceed independently.

New data from the Angus Reid Institute suggests Canadians overwhelmingly support stronger oversight of artificial intelligence, even as many question whether governments can effectively regulate the rapidly evolving technology. The survey found that 68 percent of respondents believe governments should heavily regulate artificial intelligence and technology companies, even if it slows development, while 74 percent said they do not believe any government is equipped to keep pace with advances in the field.

The British Columbia government’s announcement comes as OpenAI faces a separate lawsuit filed by a Canadian family.

According to a lawsuit filed last month by New Brunswick resident Kristie Carrier, her 24-year-old daughter, Alice Carrier, told ChatGPT she had to die to stop the pain she was feeling. The statement of claim alleges the chatbot appeared to agree, responding: “If someone else told me everything you just did ... I’d probably feel the same thing you’re feeling now: maybe this is just the end.”

Alice Carrier was dead the following day, according to the lawsuit.

The statement of claim alleges ChatGPT initially encouraged Carrier to seek help but later reinforced her suicidal thinking, discouraged the use of crisis helplines and failed to escalate repeated conversations about suicide for human review. Carrier alleges OpenAI failed to implement adequate safeguards for users experiencing mental health crises and instead designed its chatbot to be sycophantic while lacking effective protections for vulnerable users.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney publicly stated that Canada’s overall greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) will be “higher in the next few years” than previously projected under the prior Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government. This statement came from a 17 minute long video released on the prime minister’s social media platforms titled “Forward Guidance: Canada’s Energy Future.”

This news comes as a severe heatwave hits eastern Canadian provinces like Ontario and Quebec, leading to advisory warnings and cancellations of Canada Day festivities. Quebec itself is facing over 100 wildfires, with the northern region having the densest amount in an unnatural turn of events. Meanwhile, in Europe, a record-breaking heatwave has killed more than 2,000 people in both Spain and France.

Locally, the Metro Vancouver area is facing Stage 3 water restrictions, the strongest seen in over a decade.

In the video, Carney states that “The climate crisis is still with us, and our commitment to fighting it is absolute, but the certainties of the world of 2015 are long gone. Our neighbourhood hasn’t been this hostile since Canada was founded.”

He continues by saying that Canada will need these high emissions to provide trading partners with “new sources” of energy and to foster further economic independence from the United States.

The prime minister envisions this through an intense “electrification” of the country’s energy sources, through a huge investment in doubling our power grid. Carney cites projections that seven in ten Canadian households will pay less for their total energy by 2050 and put $15 billion “back into the pockets of Canadians,” but no sources were given for these figures.

He also discusses maintaining versatility in our power sources through sources like hydro, gas, and nuclear (emphasizing this one through the government’s Nuclear Energy Strategy).

Further details

Carney discusses that Canada faces an energy crisis “on three levels.” He discusses the current situation as a combination of an affordability, security, and a climate crisis. The “security crisis” refers to the US-Israeli war on Iran, which Carney has previously supported “with regret.”

As for the affordability factor, Carney believes that the previous emission targets set by his predecessor, Trudeau, would put too much economic pressure on the average Canadian.

In the previous Liberal government under Trudeau, Ottawa committed to reducing GHG emissions in 2030 at 35 to 38 percent below 2019 levels, while providing flexibility with compliance to emit up to a level about 20 to 23 percent below 2019 levels.

The previous emissions cap was set with the intention of reaching net zero by 2050, as adopted from the international, legally binding 2015 Paris Agreement. The press statement released in 2024 cited the impacts of the climate crisis, including increased flooding, heatwaves, and wildfires, resulting in severe economic losses and health impacts on everyday Canadians.

With Carney confirming that emissions are now set to rise in the latter part of the 2020s, it is unclear if Canada can still reach net zero by then.

Criticism

Coastal Front received comments from Thomas Green, a senior manager in climate solutions at the David Suzuki Foundation, a large environmental NGO in Canada.

Green cited how, in May, Canada voted in favour of the United Nations General Assembly resolution welcoming the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion on climate change. This advisory opinion clarified that states have internationally binding legal obligations to protect the climate.

“By doing this, the Carney government endorsed that states have legal obligations to protect the climate and prevent activities that cause climate harm,” said Green.

He continued, “Our message to Carney is this: why make that declaration on the world stage, when at home your government just struck a deal to fast-track a new pipeline and weaken the very environmental protections that uphold those obligations? Why endorse that finding internationally when you know Canada is already off track to meet its own emissions targets?”

Green mentioned that Carney is bankrolling fossil expansion and gutting key Canadian environmental protections in the name of “economic prosperity.” As Carney said himself in the video, “we can’t afford to restrain the growth of an important part of our energy mix, oil and gas, to meet a short-term goal.”

Before this announcement, Carney’s government had previously received criticism for being vague on climate goals inherited from the Trudeau era. Critics cite capitulations by him to the oil lobby and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on the issues of pipelines. Recent lobbying from the company Capital Power led to Carney allowing gas-powered AI data centres to be built in Alberta, with the company lobbying the government a total of 37 times.

Climate damages cost Canadians billions of dollars. Climate-induced damage projected to slow Canada’s economic growth by $25 billion, equivalent to half of our projected growth last year, according to a report from the Canadian Climate Institute.

Green summarized his criticism of Carney by saying, “True prosperity depends on planetary health and a stable climate. That’s the planet you just told the world you’d protect.”

Want more from Gavin? Subscribe to The DEW Line for his takes on BC jobs, economics, and ideas.

Gavin Dew - The DEW Line

Jobs, Economics, and Ideas from MLA Gavin Dew

In this episode, Gavin Dew, MLA for Kelowna-Mission and BC Conservative Critic for Jobs, Economic Development, Innovation & Artificial Intelligence, joins Coastal Front to discuss the state of BC politics, the provincial economy, and the growing Conservative movement.

We explore party dynamics, the history of BC politics, and the key challenges facing the province today.

Watch the full Talk Show here:

Canadians with investments are pulling further ahead while those struggling to afford groceries, fuel, and housing are increasingly pessimistic about their future, according to new polling that points to a widening divide in household financial security.

A new Angus Reid Institute survey found seven in 10 Canadians describe their household finances as good or very good, while more than one-quarter say they are in poor or very poor shape.

The gap is especially clear when it comes to investments. Nearly all Canadians who consider themselves in very good financial shape hold some form of investment, while more than half of those in very poor financial circumstances do not.

As investment values have climbed, many households with assets have been better positioned to absorb years of higher prices. Angus Reid noted that $100 invested in the TSX in early 2020 would be worth roughly $261 by the second quarter of 2026, compared with about $122 needed to keep pace with inflation over the same period.

For those without investments, the picture is much bleaker.

Canadians who describe their finances as poor are three times as likely to say they expect to be worse off a year from now as they are to expect improvement. Among those in very poor financial circumstances, two-thirds expect further decline.

Cost of living remains the country’s dominant concern, chosen by 61 percent of Canadians as the issue they care about most. The concern grows more acute among those already under financial strain.

The pressure is changing household behaviour. More than half of Canadians say they are cutting back on dining out, takeout or coffee shops, while others report reducing spending on entertainment, travel and savings. More than one-third say they are trying to spend less on food at home.

For households in poor or very poor financial condition, groceries, housing payments, fuel and the inability to save rank among the most significant sources of stress.

The survey arrives as federal leaders continue to point to easing inflation and improving labour market conditions as signs of economic resilience. Yet the findings suggest many Canadians remain unconvinced that those gains are reaching them.

While headline economic indicators have stabilized, the poll points to a growing divide between Canadians building wealth through investments and those still struggling to keep up with everyday costs — a gap that appears to be shaping both economic confidence and political sentiment.

Editor’s note: On June 25, Carney held a press conference where he estimated that the condo conversion costs around $1.4 billion, claiming that developers did not approach him “directly” for this idea. He also said, “I don't think we've done, self included, a particularly good job of rolling this out and explaining exactly what it is.”

Prime Minister Mark Carney and BC Premier David Eby made a joint announcement on June 18 on the launch of the new Canada-British Columbia Partnership on Condo Conversion. This partnership between governments seeks to “leverage innovative financing tools to convert more than 2,200 vacant condo units in priority growth areas into affordable homes.”

During a press conference announcing the initiative, Carney said, “With higher interest rates, weaker investment demand, developers are stuck. They don’t want to sell at a loss. They can’t afford to hold those empty units indefinitely.”

He continued, “And the problem is that those empty homes don’t just sit idle. They also disincentivize new construction. Unsettled lenders and investors create a housing market that, in effect, feels frozen. The result: too many British Columbians still can’t find the homes that they can afford.”

Premier Eby backed up Carney’s remarks, stating that “this is a commitment of the federal government, $5 billion over 10 years, [as well as] a commitment from the provincial government on matching funding.”

The federal and provincial governments have also separately agreed to launch the new Canada-British Columbia Partnership on Condo Conversion. This is planned to convert more than 2,200 vacant condo units from private developers into “affordable housing,” which is vaguely defined by both of the government’s press releases.

Build Canada Homes is upholding this initiative, a federal agency under the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure, and the former mayor of Vancouver, Gregor Robertson. They are doing so in collaboration with BC Housing, which is overseen by the provincial Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs, Christine Boyle.

Eby’s comment about the $5 billion is for the overall commitment of the federal government to BC’s local infrastructure, which is through their Build Communites Strong Fund. Committed by the federal government for housing is $1.6 billion over 10 years. The provincial government will match this, potentially resulting in a total of up to $3.2 billion. By both governments’ estimation, the development charges for multi-unit housing would be lowered by up to 50 percent in priority communities, saving up to $40,000 per unit.

This is separate from the Condo Conversion partnership, which does not have public information on the amount used to buy the empty units from developers by either government.

The Government of Canada has also introduced legislation that would provide a one-time transfer of $284 million to British Columbia to reduce barriers to new construction. Other infrastructure projects that are being approached by the partnership include a possible total of $1.2 billion to health infrastructure, up to $50 million over five years to support community infrastructure projects in coastal communities, and $2.5 billion over 10 years to build new transit projects.

Criticism

While there have been some in the housing and development sector who have praised this collaborative effort from the governments, others have been highly critical of the move. The common thread amongst many critics is that this Condo Conversion is “bailing out” private developers after years of failure to accommodate the market demand for affordable housing.

“Carney and Eby are handing developers $3.2 billion to bail them out for building luxury shoeboxes nobody wants,” said former BC Conservative leader and MLA, John Rustad, in a post.

“This is subsidizing incompetence, pure and simple,” he continued. “‘Too big to fail’ corporate welfare while families get crushed out of the market. The NDP-Liberals won’t let the market fix their mess.”

Emily Lowan, leader of the BC Greens, also made her own post criticizing the move. “The BC NDP axed their $3 billion affordable housing program & left thousands of low-income units half-built,” she said. “Then they announce a $3 billion handout to the corporations who profit off the housing crisis. We need social housing that working families can afford, not this corporate bait-and-switch.”

Jill Atkey, CEO of the BC Non-Profit Housing Association, stated that “purchasing these units for affordable housing may create some immediate opportunities for a lucky few, but it also raises legitimate questions about whether governments are stepping in to absorb market risk rather than addressing the underlying affordability challenge.”

She summarized this by asking the question: “Are we privatizing profit while socializing risk, and is that what British Columbians expect of public investment?”

Some are more pleased with this move than others. The British Columbia Construction Association released a statement saying that “These investments will help support the infrastructure needed to enable new housing and strengthen communities across the province. Continued investment is critical to supporting a growing population and ensuring that communities have the services and facilities they need.”

As of this writing, no further benchmarks for what is defined as “affordable” or the overall cost for purchasing the vacant condos have been released by either government.

Federal personnel expenses are projected to increase by more than $10 billion this fiscal year, according to new projections from the Parliamentary Budget Officer, despite government commitments to exercise greater fiscal restraint.

The PBO’s latest economic and fiscal outlook projects personnel expenses will rise to $79.4 billion in 2026-27 from $69.2 billion the previous year, an increase of approximately $10.2 billion. The watchdog projects those costs will continue growing, reaching $86 billion by 2030-31.

The same report projects the federal deficit will climb to $72 billion in 2025-26, up from $36.3 billion the previous year.

The figures come as Ottawa continues expanding administrative programs, including plans to broaden automatic tax filing for lower-income Canadians with simple tax situations. Finance Canada says the initiative will begin with approximately one million people for the 2026 tax year before expanding to roughly 5.5 million people by 2028.

The government says the measure is intended to ensure more Canadians receive benefits and tax credits for which they qualify.

The projected increase in personnel expenses has renewed scrutiny of federal spending at a time when Canadians continue to face affordability pressures and the government is running large deficits.

At the same time, Ottawa continues to make significant spending commitments overseas. In May, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced an additional $270 million in military assistance for Ukraine during a European Political Community summit in Armenia.

The funding, intended to help Ukraine acquire military equipment identified through NATO priorities, brought Canada’s total monetary support for Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion to approximately $25.8 billion.

Carney has defended the support as part of Canada’s commitment to Ukraine and the broader international security framework.

As Ottawa expands programs at home and commits billions abroad, the latest PBO projections indicate the federal payroll is moving in one direction: up.