The News Rundown
- The BC NDP are making changes to BC's laws in the name of First Nations reconciliation, with the rewriting of B.C. 's heritage conservation legislation to broaden what must be protected and increase Indigenous oversight of the permitting process for development of public, and in some cases private, land. The government says the changes are being undertaken to streamline and modernize the existing Heritage Conservation Act, which dates back to the 1990s NDP government.
- Forests Minister Ravi Parmar, the cabinet member in charge of the Heritage Conservation Act transformation, said “The Act is how we protect important cultural and archeological sites in B.C., but the current system doesn’t work well for people, and it doesn’t fully reflect our shared values or commitments. I am committed to ensuring our collective work will lead to a system that will support faster permitting, better planning and more meaningful discussions with people, communities, industry and First Nations.”
- Though the government has lately offered briefings to local government officials and other interested parties, they are late arrivals to a process that began in 2021 as a joint exercise among the province and First Nations. This is par for the course for the BC NDP, who oftentimes start things in secret, and then when they're about to cross the finish line, then open up from public feedback.
- The Union of B.C. Municipalities noted the lag after the government announced a so-called “engagement opportunity” over the summer: “The specific and detailed legislative amendments now being proposed were co-developed by the provincial government and First Nations representatives with no local government involvement. It is unclear how much room there is for changes in these proposed amendments.”
- The municipal officials who’ve participated in the engagement process have been required to sign non-disclosure agreements. One unnamed mayor says that because of the NDA, his municipal manager could only hint at what was coming. Still, he managed to convey that if the legislation goes ahead as intended next year, it will have a sweeping impact on the development of public and private land.
- One provision would “require local governments to see proof of an archeological data check before issuing development and building-related permits and authorizations.
- Another would “require subdivision approval authorities to see proof of an archeological data check prior to subdivision approvals.”
- A third would “create a regulation-making authority to require mandatory archeological data checks for prescribed circumstances (e.g. sale of property) and/or entities (e.g. Crown corporations, critical infrastructure operators).”
- According to government: “The objective is to provide greater protection of First Nations’ values, rather than just scientific values, and enhance the clarity on the range of heritage values protected under the Act and the pathways for seeking protections, including for intangible heritage.”
- Examples would include “cultural landscapes, mortuary landscapes, intangible cultural heritage including oral histories, place names, language, knowledge, objects and places within Indigenous world view” plus “recognition of fossils.”’
- Intangible means “cannot be touched or grasped mentally.”
- The government also says that joint agreements are “not being considered for private land,” which sounds reassuring at first.
- However, a little further on in the discussion paper, one discovers that the government is prepared to bring in “operational agreements … to cover more operational matters related to First Nations’ heritage.” Those would apply to “Crown land and/or private land.” Unlike joint and consent-based agreements, operational agreements can be imposed without cabinet approval, solely on the say-so of the minister in charge.
- So, as with the promise of streamlining, we will have to wait for the actual text of the legislation before taking the NDP’s word on the extent to which it will affect private land.
- The NDP’s goal is to wrap up the engagement process before the house sits in October, then get on with drafting the revised Act for introduction in the spring 2026 legislature session. They say public input is welcome and to that end there’s a somewhat meagre survey posted on the website for the transformation project.
- From past practice, like with the proposed Lands Act changes two years that were cancelled after public outcry, we should expect the NDP and their First Nations partners already know what they want and hope to get it enacted with minimal public scrutiny and backlash.
- Critic for Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Scott McInnis, is warning that the NDP’s proposed overhaul of the Heritage Conservation Act is the latest attempt to push through sweeping land changes under the cover of technical amendments.
- McInnis said: “British Columbians stopped the Land Act amendments once, but the government is determined to sneak them in through the back door. We are now seeing the same approach resurface piece by piece, through the Mineral Tenure Act, secretive land use planning agreements, and now through the Heritage Conservation Act. It’s the same agenda, just repackaged.”
- McInnis noted the government is trying to sell the Heritage Act changes as a way to speed up permitting, but industry experts are already warning the opposite will happen. The Independent Contractors and Businesses Association (ICBA) has cautioned that the Heritage Branch will “make that goal impossible,” with archaeological assessments and permitting “already at a breaking point.”
- McInnis said the Heritage Act overhaul threatens both public and private lands while undermining the very spirit of reconciliation.
- “In the name of virtue signalling, not meaningful reconciliation, the NDP is creating conflict instead of trust. True reconciliation cannot be built on rushed decisions, undefined powers, and the exclusion of municipalities, industry, and property owners. That is a recipe for division, not unity. Once again, this government chooses to make decisions behind closed doors rather than ensure all British Columbians are consulted on major changes to B.C.’s regulations. The government is moving too fast, with too little consultation, and too little thought about the consequences.”
- That's the essence of the BC NDP under David Eby. Too fast, too much money, little consultation, and no thought of consequences.
- Supplementals:
- We begin again this week talking about education and where the province is at in their relationship with teachers.
- The week started off with a revamped order to remove books containing images of graphic sexual acts. Written descriptions of the same will be permitted in school.
- The need for the revamp came after last week's story where just Edmonton Public put together 226 books to be removed.
- Now with the clarification in place the teachers have continued to dominate the provincial news cycle again.
- The teachers through their union have set an October 6 deadline for a deal to avoid a province wide strike.
- The province has said that the teachers can either have bigger pay raise or the province can hire more teachers, not both.
- The current deal is a 12% wage increase over 4 years with a promise to hire 3000 more teachers over 3 years.
- The Alberta Teachers Association initially walked away from bargaining and looking for a deal when the province initially said that they would add teacher hiring to the agreement.
- It was the agreement of 3000 teachers and the 12% pay increase that initially caused the teachers union to walk away.
- Late Friday it was reported that there was potential movement and the two sides would be headed back to the bargaining table.
- The Alberta Teachers Association has invited TEBA (the Teachers’ Employer Bargaining Association) to engage in talks with another 1-2 sessions possibly happening in September.
- Unions in particular the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees has said that attacking one union means an attack on all. The idea behind this is that unions like the AUPE and Alberta Federation of Labour could also go on strike if the teachers union is treated unfairly.
- The last teachers strike in 2002 lasted for about 3 weeks and there has been relative stability since then between the province and the Alberta Teachers Association.
- The province, through Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides, has said that the goal is to have students in the classroom over any lockouts.
- Alberta is unique as it is the only province in Canada to offer charter schools. Charter schools are publicly funded schools which are non profit institutions offering innovative or specialized programs while adhering to the provincial curriculum.
- There are 22 charter school authorities representing 38 schools for a total enrollment of about 12,000 students.
- These schools don’t have to fall under the public system of having their teachers be ATA union members.
- Depending on the outcome of this negotiation and potential teachers strike it is entirely feasible that the province could lean more into school choice.
- School choice is simply having a set amount of funding follow an individual student.
- If the unions are not going to play nicely the province could use school choice to lessen the power of the ATA union.
- The province could do this by highlighting school choice, bringing light to the existing charter schools, and advocating for more unique schooling opportunities around special programs like the arts, engineering and math, and First Nations opportunities.
- The province could then lower the barriers to charter schools starting up including expanding their reach into Edmonton and Calgary, fund a handful of new charters every year, and tailor charters to Alberta’s economic needs.
- The reason charter schools are even in the news is that one this past year just opened in Drayton Valley focusing on Indigenous-led initiatives.
- The Roots of Resilience Charter School was founded by Charlene Bearhead who aims to provide both Indigenous and non–Indigenous students with the ability to attend classes that blend First Nation and Métis culture and language with Alberta's public school curriculum.
- Half of the school’s personnel are Indigenous.
- In an interview with CBC Charlene Bearhead said, "The answer is not always 'Go to the principal's office.' Often the answer is 'would you like to talk to an Elder? Would you like to visit with the Knowledge Keeper? There's an auntie here today.'"
- Many people believe that Charter Schools are private schools but Roots of Resilience is publicly funded only because Alberta has that provision for charter schools. The school is also run by a non-profit board.
- This is a big hypothetical but it does provide a path for the province to take if the union is seen as being unreasonable.
- The silo of media coverage on this story will have people believe that it’s either fund the schools and teachers or strike action. There is no creative thinking.
- There is no consideration of other options. Other educational options that are already happening in the province but don’t happen en-masse in Edmonton and Calgary.
- It is within the unions’, teachers’ and students' best interest that this is resolved or as the Smith government has done they may start looking at creative solutions.
- Supplementals:
- Canada's response to asylum claimants coming into the country, mostly over the border with the US, has been an ongoing theme of Western Context going back over 8 years to when we first started. With a new Prime Minister in charge, we were wondering if a policy shift on the topic would either reduce costs on taxpayers, or at the very least speed up hearings so that the system could move along faster. What we're actually getting is more of the same.
- A small story in CTV out of London, Ontario shows that asylum claimants are being moved out of homeless shelters and into apartments, leading many to question why non-Canadians get prioritized housing over Canadians.
- The London city council is being asked to ratify an agreement with the federal government that would provide London with $7,345,000 from the Interim Housing Assistance Program (IHAP) to cover costs stemming from the increasing number of asylum claimants accessing local support agencies, including homeless shelters.
- The funding would provide asylum claimants with supports such as housing navigation, orientation and basic needs assistance until March 31, 2027. In addition, 11 apartments will be dedicated specifically for asylum claimants in a building at 763-773 Dundas Street led by the London Cross Cultural Learner Centre (CCLC). The yet-to-be constructed building is anticipated to begin occupancy in 2026.
- Councillor Corrine Rahman told colleagues during a meeting of the Community and Protective Services Committee that: “This program in some way puts certain groups of people coming into the city ahead of the line. I’m trying to wrap my head around that.”
- Rahman pointed to the long waitlists faced by many Londoners in need of public housing: “There are people that have been struggling a long time in our community trying to get housing, and these new units that are being created would be life changing for them as well.”
- As of June 30, there were 7,628 active applications on the waitlist for rent-geared-to-income housing. According to the most recent municipal data, there were 678 emergency shelter bed nights used by asylum claimants between April and June, 2.6 per cent of the total occupancy.
- Coun. Susan Stevenson wanted to make sure that the city’s financial contribution to the agreement wouldn’t result in another program being de-funded: “When we are advantaging (a) particular portion of our population over others, it gets to be a difficult conversation. Yes we’re getting $7.3 million, but we’re also committing to using $3.3 million of our own money at a time when we’ve had difficulty the last two years finding enough money for indoor shelter during the winter,” she added.
- It's certainly an interesting question to ask, as usually money from the federal government to cities arrives with strings attached. And while this Liberal government past and present has had a history of just throwing money at a problem to try and fix it, homelessness and asylum claims are not just something you can get rid of by tossing a couple million at it. It's something that requires structural support.
- This is something that the Liberals are also failing at. Three government agencies, CBSA, IRCC and IRB, that partnered on a $68-million project to revamp Canada's asylum system failed to complete mandatory privacy safeguard tests for years while the project was being implemented.
- This project was dubbed the "asylum interoperability project," which would transform the asylum system into a more efficient digital one and address the ever-growing backlog of pending asylum applications, currently sitting at more than 290,000. Earlier this year, CBC reported that the project, which launched in 2019, had been prematurely shut down in 2024 in what CBSA called an "unexpected" move.
- Reports about the cancelled projects showed that the 3 government agencies, under Liberal direction, had trouble working together on the asylum project. Documents reveal there was an initial expectation for one large privacy assessment led by IRCC.
- But three years later in late 2022, IRCC notified both CBSA and IRB that they were no longer doing one PIA "for the whole project and that each partner would be responsible for their own." Then, CBSA said IRCC changed the approach "and broadened the scope to a program-level" assessment, documents show. When the project unexpectedly shut down last year, CBSA said the PIAs were "an outstanding matter" and IRCC still expected the other partners to still complete their privacy plans. This means that all the info related to the project, including claimant personal details could be easily leaked.
- To this date, there's still no overarching plan to deal with asylum claimants, and in the meantime they're still clogging homeless shelters, using resources and services, all on Canadian taxpayer's dollars. Being a compassionate country is one thing, but prioritizing non citizens over our own people is another thing entirely, and Mark Carney's government is going to have to decide what they want to do on this file quickly.
- Supplementals:
Firing Line
- This past week the first of the major nation building projects that the Carney government wants to see move forward were unveiled.
- The government calls them nation building projects but we’ll dive into whether or not they tick that box as we look at them.
- The projects are LNG Canada Phase 2 in Kitimat BC.
- The Darlington New Nuclear Project in Bowmanville Ontario that would build a small modular reactor.
- The Contrecœur Terminal Container Project in Contrecœur that would expand the Port of Montreal’s capacity by 60%.
- The McIlvenna Bay Foran Copper Mine Project in east-central Saskatchewan.
- The Red Chris Mine expansion in northwest British Columbia.
- Looking at each of these projects, starting with LNG Canada Phase 2 we see something very interesting.
- The five co-owners of LNG Canada were already considering the proposed Phase 2 expansion and the expansion would double the export capacity from 14 million tonnes a year to 28 million.
- Overall with the first part of the project underway, this is an easy one.
- The Darlington New Nuclear Project would see a 300MW reactor built but it’s not clear what the “Major Projects Office” would provide for this first reactor since it’s already been in development for several years.
- Recent drone footage of the site, supplied to The Globe and Mail by Ontario Power Generation, shows cranes and other heavy equipment already on site. Excavation of a large shaft for the reactor, which will be built partly underground, is in progress.
- For the Port of Montreal expansion, talks of expanding the port located 40km downstream from Montreal would boost container handling by 60%. The project has been in the planning phases for years and environmental approvals have not yet been completed.
- The McIlvenna Bay Foran Copper Mine Project in Saskatchewan is a project that is more than 50% complete and is due to startup in 2026, when complete it will export 4,900 tonnes a day of copper and zinc.
- The Red Chris Mine expansion in northwest B.C. will see this already existing mine move from an open pit to an underground block cave operation and add a decade of life to the mine, so again it already exists.
- The reality behind these 5 major projects is that they’re already on the fast track and in many cases construction has already begun.
- This begs the question, what will a stamp from the Major Projects Office do and why have we waited almost 6 months since the election for this to happen?
- Now many eagle-eyed folks will notice there’s no pipelines on this list. No pipeline to the west coast that would be controversial in parts of BC and no pipeline for fuel and gas eastward that would be way less controversial.
- This news that there would be no pipeline on the list of already existing projects was oddly broken in French by Radio-Canada courtesy of a leak.
- Normally with this kind of news we’d expect Premier Danielle Smith in Alberta to be highlighting just another case of the federal government not listening to the province.
- But this time, Smith says she feels that Carney is demonstrating “a real shift”.
- She said, “I found more common ground with the prime minister when I met with him yesterday than I have in any meeting with a prime minister… I would encourage Albertans to not lose faith in the process. Let’s work together on it because we’re all stronger together.”
- On social media Smith posted, “Although we still have some details to work out over the coming weeks, I am more optimistic than ever that the concerns of Albertans are FINALLY BEING HEARD and I look forward to reaching an agreement that will profoundly benefit the Canadian and Alberta economies.”
- She alluded to the fact that there are some issues that need to be worked through at the federal level.
- Smith said she’s hopeful for the second wave of projects to be announced in mid-November.
- Smith likely has a few things on her mind, the first two involve a project called “Pathways Plus”. This is a carbon capture and storage project proposed by Alberta's biggest oilsands companies.
- Pathways Plus could be one of the projects announced in November.
- Carney said, “We are going to accelerate work on Pathways. We see this as a potentially viable project. That creates the opportunity for the ‘plus.” The ‘plus’ is potential pipelines to a variety of potential markets.”
- Now the third and most interesting thing that Danielle Smith could be alluding to has not been covered by Canadian media.
- On Friday reported exclusively to Reuters, it has been said that the federal government is in discussions with energy companies and Alberta to eliminate the federal cap on emissions if the province can reduce the carbon footprint in other ways.
- The link to our previous stories on the matter comes that two of the sources speaking with Reuters said that the Pathways Plus project could be included as part of the emission reduction strategy.
- The emissions cap is a de facto production cap, a legacy of Trudeau, Guilbault, and Wilkinson.
- Carney also said that he understands the frustrations of pro-independence Albertans specifically related to the development of resources and realizing the full potential of the province.
- This week marks a huge shift in tone for both Smith and Carney but we have to question why the media is not bookending this story with the news of the emissions cap potentially being scrapped.
- Do they have a political agenda that agrees with keeping the cap? Have they not been able to verify Reuters reporting? Or were they simply not aware?
- That story was broken by Reuters on Thursday and should definitely have been part of the major projects news this week but it was not.
- Supplementals:
Quote of the Week
“Although we still have some details to work out over the coming weeks, I am more optimistic than ever that the concerns of Albertans are FINALLY BEING HEARD and I look forward to reaching an agreement that will profoundly benefit the Canadian and Alberta economies.” - Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on recent federal government project developments.
Word of the Week
Intangible - unable to be touched or grasped; not having physical presence.
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Show Data
- Episode Title: More Questions Than Answers
- Teaser: The BC NDP is changing the Heritage Act for reconciliation, Alberta teachers are looking at striking, and the federal government is moving asylum claimants from shelters to apartments. Also, Carney’s nation building projects were already being completed.
- Production Code: WC-435-2025-09-13
- Recorded Date: September 13, 2025
- Release Date: September 14, 2025
- Duration: 1:03:41
- Edit Notes: Drayton valley and Montreal port pause
Podcast Summary Notes
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