In 1997, facing mounting health-care costs from cigarette-related death and illness, B.C. did something unexpected. It became the first Canadian province to enact a Tobacco Damages Recovery Act, setting the rules for lawsuits against Big Tobacco to recover health-care dollars. Instead of continuing to pass on cigarette-related, health-care costs to taxpayers, the provincial government took action to hold international tobacco companies accountable.
Environmental Law Alert Blog
Through our Environmental Law Alert blog, West Coast keeps you up to date on the latest developments and issues in environmental law. This includes:
- proposed changes to the law that will weaken, or strengthen, environmental protection;
- stories and situations where existing environmental laws are failing to protect the environment; and
- emerging legal strategies that could be used to protect our environment.
If you have an environmental story that we should hear about, please e-mail Andrew Gage. We welcome your comments on any of the posts to this blog – but please keep in mind our policies on comments.
Seawater temperatures rise. Ocean pollution intensifies. New pollution sources multiply. Underwater noise escalates. Plastics accumulate in the deep seas and on beaches everywhere. Coastal development sprawls. Overfishing is rampant. New ocean uses proliferate.
It’s unfortunate that many British Columbians’ eyes glaze over when they hear the term “professional reliance.” Because behind this harmless (or even beneficial) sounding term is the fact that important aspects of regulatory decision-making and oversight in public health and environmental matters is increasingly left to professionals hired by in
Offshore oil and gas activity – Tales from three coasts
Last week the BC government launched a public engagement period for reform of the province’s environmental assessment process.
It has been a few weeks since the Canadian government’s stunning announcement that it would buy the embattled Trans Mountain pipeline and expansion project from Kinder Morgan for C$4.5 billion.
We are St’át’imc. We speak St’át’imcets (also referred to as Ucwalmícwts or the language of the people). Created by the Transformers, our home is situated at an intersection of deep gorges in the lee of the Northwest Coast Mountains, now referred to as British Columbia.
West Coast Environmental Law was thrilled when the BC government tabled Bill 32, the Protection of Public Participation Act on May 15th, and nobody was happier than those of us in the
Last month, we wrote about actions you could take to cut plastic pollution in BC.
On a long weekend trip, my family drove through Merritt, one of the communities hit by recent flooding in BC.