NEWS
Emissions rise in �rst two full years of B.C. NDP rule
CONTENTS
December 23-30 / 2021
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COVER
With great films like The Souvenir: Part II, Judas and the Black Messiah, and the new West Side Story, it almost felt like a normal year for moviegoers.
by Charlie Smith
By Norman Wilner Cover photo by Josh Barrett
10 FOOD
North Van’s retro Douce Diner’s vintage décor, which includes funky wallpaper and a chequered floor, takes patrons back to simpler times. By Rachel Moore
11
ARTS
The disappearance of Helen Walkley’s older brother John led her to create a deep and touching dance/theatre piece named after him. By Steve Newton
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The Climate Change Accountability Report shows gross B.C. greenhouse-gas emissions rose by one percent in 2019, which wasn’t as bad as the previous year. Photo by Margarita-Young/Getty.
.C.’s overall greenhouse-gas emissions rose in the first two full years under NDP rule in 2018 and 2019. The province’s recently released 32-page Climate Change Accountability Report indicates that gross emissions reached 68.6 million tonnes in 2019, up from 67.9 million tonnes of carbon-dioxide equivalents in the previous year. Gross emissions of carbon-dioxide equivalents rose 2.2 million tonnes in the NDP’s first full year in power in 2018, amounting to a three-percent hike over 2017 emissions. “B.C. applies emissions reductions from validated forest management offset projects to our official emissions total every year,” the new report points out. As a result, net emissions of carbon-dioxide equivalents were 67.2 million tonnes in 2019, up slightly from the net figure of 66.9 million tonnes in 2018. In 2019, transportation accounted for the greatest share of emissions in B.C., reaching 26.8 million tonnes of carbondioxide equivalents. That was down 0.2 million tonnes from the previous year but was up 22 percent since 2007. That’s “largely due to increases from heavy-duty vehicles (+29%) and to a lesser extent from passenger vehicles (+14%)”, the report states. In 2019, emissions from industry ranked second, at 14.3 million tonnes, followed by buildings and communities (14.1 million tonnes) and the oil and gas sector (13.4 million tonnes). B.C.’s rate of increase in 2019 exceeded the national rate. That year, Canada’s emissions were about 730 million tonnes, up 0.2 percent from 2018, according to the federal government website. From 2010 to 2019, gross greenhousegas emissions in B.C. rose eight million 4
THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT
tonnes—or 12.8 percent—which went unmentioned in the 2021 report. B.C.’s Climate Change Accountability Report echoes the approach of Stephen Harper’s former Conservative government by highlighting greenhouse-gas-emission “intensity”. The report points out that net greenhousegas emissions rose by only two percent from 2007 to 2019. Over the same period, the overall economy grew by 30 percent. “In last year’s report, the data showed the GHG intensity of our economy was down 16%, meaning GHG intensity continues to fall and is expected to decline significantly more as we reduce emissions towards our targets,” the report states. Even though the 2019 reporting period covered the startup period of the government’s CleanBC program, overall emissions still increased. But the report states that the government expects those numbers to fall as “the full suite of policies take effect in the years to come”. Those policies include mandating that 100 percent of new cars sold by 2040 be zero-emission vehicles, achieving a target of producing 650 million litres of low-carbon renewable fuel annually in B.C. by 2030, and continuing to increase the number of electric-vehicle charging stations. New upstream methane-emission regulations took effect on January 1, 2020. “It’s clear that more needs to be done for B.C. to meet its legislated targets,” the Climate Change Accountability Report concedes. “New emissions projections show that existing actions in CleanBC are expected to get us approximately 40% to our 2030 target. “To fill this gap, the Province’s new CleanBC Roadmap to 2030 outlines a range of expanded and accelerated actions to fully meet our target by cutting more pollution and
DECEMBER 23 – 30 / 2021
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EDITOR Charlie Smith GENERAL MANAGER (ACTING) Sandra Oswald SECTION EDITORS Mike Usinger (ESports/Liquor/Music) Steve Newton SENIOR EDITOR Martin Dunphy STAFF WRITERS Carlito Pablo (Real Estate) SOLUTIONS ARCHITECT Jeff Li ART DEPARTMENT MANAGER Janet McDonald
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