Capturing Whistler’s cannabis retail landscape, seven years after legalization. - By Brandon Barrett
06 OPENING REMARKS Seven years in, how has cannabis legalization gone in Canada? It depends who you ask, writes editor Braden Dupuis.
08 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR This week’s letter writers weigh in on the April 28 federal election, empty homes in Whistler, and wildlife at One Mile Lake.
38 RANGE ROVER The stakes are high in the federal election, in which the only outcome that really matters is the kind of Canada that emerges, writes Leslie Anthony.
62 MAXED OUT G.D. Maxwell returns to the back page to answer a crucial election question: Who will best serve the Sea to Sky’s interests?
12 UNEVEN IMPACTS It’s a buyers’ market for single-family homes in Whistler this spring thanks to lower interest rates, according to local realtors.
18 PARTY FOR THE PLANET The Association of Whistler Area Residents for the Environment has plenty on tap for Earth Week, including a high-energy fundraiser at the GLC.
44 GRIND IT OUT Skiers and snowboarders alike threw down their best at the World Ski and Snowboard Festival’s The Grind competitions last week.
48 FLASH SHMOBB One year after placing second in the World Ski and Snowboard Festival’s Intersection film contest, Shmobb earned top honours on April 9.
COVER Who knew stoners were so good at dotting i’s, crossing t’s and jumping through hoops?! - By Jon Parris // @jon.parris.art
Publisher SARAH STROTHER - sstrother@piquenewsmagazine.com
Founding Publishers KATHY & BOB BARNETT www.piquenewsmagazine.com
A decade under the influence
DON’T LOOK NOW, but we’re coming up on 10 years since former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged on the campaign trail to legalize marijuana (feeling old yet?).
If you can stretch your dusty, pot-addled
BY BRADEN DUPUIS
old brain that far back, you might even recall some of the discourse around said announcement, which made international headlines and put Canada under the spotlight in a way it’s not normally used to (as an aside, this was also around the time former Prime Minister Stephen Harper said marijuana is “infinitely worse” than tobacco, which is worth mentioning just for how laughable a statement it is).
For the politically averse—which is roughly 40 per cent of us if you’re basing it on voter turnout alone, but likely even higher than that—that policy proposal was quite possibly their first introduction to the Liberal leader. Something about the words “legal” and “weed” in the same sentence really grabs the attention, eh?
Or at least it did in 2015, when legal recreational cannabis was still very much a novelty around the globe. When Canada finally legalized in 2018, it was just the second nation to do so, following (incoming trivia question answer alert)… you guessed it, Uruguay, which legalized in 2013.
Today there are no fewer than nine countries with fully legalized cannabis, along with two dozen U.S. states, and dozens more countries that have either decriminalized or legalized for medicinal use. Marijuana has gone mainstream, and Canada was ahead of the curve.
How have things gone after seven years of legalization? It depends who you ask.
A legislative review of the Cannabis Act published in March 2024 found while Canada was able to create a commercial market via legalization, it did so at the risk of jeopardizing public health. At the same time, many small- to medium-scale cannabis producers are struggling to turn a profit in a market dominated by big business, while historically marginalized groups like First Nations face extra hurdles realizing the benefits.
Since 2018, Health Canada has also conducted an annual survey to better understand how Canadians view and use cannabis. In December 2024, the survey found 26 per cent of people reported using cannabis in the past 12 months, up from 22 per cent in 2018 but unchanged from the year prior.
About one in six reported using it in the
it can increase your chance of experiencing psychosis or schizophrenia. It can also make kids and animals sick (so best lock up those tantalizing edibles and properly dispose of those roaches).
To lower your risk, Health Canada suggests avoiding daily or near-daily use, not using until you’re 25 (while that precious little brain of yours is still developing), avoiding inhalable products, and avoiding mixing cannabis with other substances. You can find more helpful facts and info at canada.ca/cannabis.
It’s too soon to say what will define Trudeau’s legacy in the long run. On one hand, he notoriously finished his term as deeply, almost comically unpopular with Canadians (his dismal 22-per-cent approval rating in December 2024 is above just one other PM: Brian Mulroney, who somehow managed a hilarious 12-per-cent approval rating in
Poilievre’s favourite of his (seemingly endless) slogans and catchphrases is to refer to the “lost Liberal decade.” If you Google that term, you’ll see it’s also a favourite among rightwing commenters, who in the span of about two weeks in late March published no fewer than five articles with the phrase “lost Liberal decade” in the headline, weirdly all with different authors: two in the Financial Post, one in the National Post, one in the Toronto Sun, and one by Brian Lilley on a website called energynow.ca.
It’s an obvious ploy to shift the toxic Liberal record from Trudeau to new PM Mark Carney, after the latter outflanked the CPC on its “Carbon Tax Carney” attack ads by making his first official act as prime minister to cancel said carbon tax.
It’s also just a catchy slogan, sure to play well on the campaign trail with those who
When we look back at Trudeau’s legacy somewhere in the distant future, where will legal cannabis place in the discussion?
past 30 days (up two per cent from 2018), while six per cent of all people in Canada reported using cannabis daily or near daily (up just one per cent from 2018, and unchanged from the year prior).
This is only scratching the surface—you can explore a robust collection of cannabis facts and figures yourself at health-infobase. canada.ca/cannabis.
It’s not all sunshine and roses, of course. Smoking cannabis damages the lungs, and regular use impacts mental health. In severe cases, usually when there’s a family history,
Thisbrightupgradedone-bedroom townhome is aquintessential Whistlerproper ty! WithitsprimelocationinCreekside,skiersand bikerswilllove the two-minutewalktoaccess thegondola,while ashor tstrollwillput you infrontofthebustlingshopsandrestaurants Creeksidehastooffer. Thenewwindows offer plenty ofnaturallight andsouthwestmountain viewsintheopen-conceptmainlivingareas. Unlimited ownerusewithnightly rentaloption. Asking -$709,000 2-2150 Sarajevo Drive
November 1992, which begs the question: who the hell were the 12 per cent?).
On the other hand—and it’s easy to forget this given the recency bias—Trudeau actually spent much of his term in Canadians’ good books, topping out at 65 per cent approval in September 2016 (the second highest ever recorded, behind Jean Chretien’s 66-per-cent approval rating in September 1994).
When we look back at Trudeau’s legacy somewhere in the distant future, where will legal cannabis place in the discussion?
One of Conservative leader Pierre
have seen wages stagnate and home prices skyrocket while their government spent recklessly, immigrated robustly, embroiled itself in pointless scandals and virtuesignalled in all directions at once.
It remains to be seen how the “lost Liberal decade” slogan will play out at the ballot box, and who will form Canada’s next government.
But it’s entirely possible that 10 or 20 years from now, many Canadians will mostly remember Trudeau as the guy who legalized pot. n
Carney best equipped to move Canada forward
Those with a small ‘l’ liberal bent—who look toward either the Green Party or the national NDP as part of the broad coalition with the Liberal Party to stop the anti-democratic, antidata (or anti-scientific) thought that comes with much of what the Conservative Party puts forward—are crucial voters in this riding, and in this election.
If the values of the Greens and the NDP speak to you, then for this election, and in this riding in particular, note that a vote for either of these parties is a vote for values consistent with the Liberal candidate, but could strategically be a vote for the opposing values of Pierre Poilievre.
A read of Mark Carney’s 2021 book Values will help to convince you that—at this time—we need the directions he can help with, to move us forward both nationally and economically. For any voter, a read of this book will show that Carney is far better equipped to help make homes more affordable, health-care more available etc., than any other candidate.
Al Whitney // Whistler
‘Empty houses’ in Whistler still contribute
This letter is in response to Mike Zane’s letter in the April 11 Pique, “Whistler should increase tax for Non-Canadians.”
A 20-per-cent tax increase for non-Canadians. Let’s look at the other side of the coin. Mr. Zane’s letter takes the view that some neighbourhoods have been transformed into empty streets filled with non-Canadian owned houses. Non-residents “use our roads, infrastructure, and public services without contributing.”
When these “empty houses” pay their property taxes, they are paying the same taxes as Canadian-owned properties, (school, hospital, municipal finance, sewer, water). They are gladly paying a full share for services they use on a nominal basis. In other words, they underutilize all the services used by their Canadian neighbours.
These empty houses contribute to the community in other ways, not the least of which is hiring many local people (snow clearing, landscaping, chimney cleaning, window washing, contractors, plumbers, electricians, hot tub services), and purchasing from local businesses like Whistler Glass, Shaw Carpet, and the hardware stores.
- JO-ELLEN SMITH
My non-Canadian family has owned and lived part-time in a home in Whistler for almost 30 years. We gladly support this community and our Canadian neighbours through our taxes.
Jo-Ellen Smith //
Whistler
Backcountry Update
AS OF WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16
It’s been a classic week of spring-like conditions in the backcountry, with plenty of sunshine and low avalanche hazard. Warm alpine temperatures and high freezing levels have softened the snow on all southerly slopes during the heat of the day. Overnight, cooler temperatures have been forming a surface crust nearly everywhere, apart from north-facing slopes above 2,000 metres, where dry, winter-like snow remains. Lower down, the snowpack is quickly disappearing, which can make travel more difficult.
This daily pattern of melting during the day due to warm temperatures or solar input and then refreezing at night is what we call the spring diurnal cycle—and it’s in full effect. We talk about this more in a recent avalanche forecaster blog at avalanche.ca/blogs called “Spring Snowpack: Freeze… What is it Good for?” It’s an important read this time of year and talks about how to manage spring conditions in more detail.
Expect more of the same early in the weekend, with freezing levels forecast to climb to 3,000 m. As things warm up during the day, snow on all aspects will begin to lose cohesion quickly, and stability will rapidly deteriorate. Avalanche danger can spike within minutes when the sun
is strong, and temperatures are rising. Stay alert to changing snow conditions throughout the day. If you sink deeply into the snow, it’s a sign things are heating up fast and danger is going up.
Cornices also become weak in the warmth and are prone to sudden failure. Give them plenty of space—both on and below ridgelines. They can break off without warning and peel back farther than expected, and trigger avalanches on slopes below.
Looking through the long weekend, we’re expecting cooler weather and less melting. That could mean a more stable snowpack in some areas, but it might also make travel more challenging, particularly if a thick crust has formed. Mid-mountain slopes might be your best bet for enjoyable turns.
If you’re heading into the backcountry, here are a few things to keep in mind:
As warming occurs and snow softens, the likelihood of wet avalanches will increase.
Always give cornices a wide berth when travelling on or below ridge crests.
Be prepared to adjust your terrain choices and equipment when a thick melt-freeze crust is present.
Check the latest forecast at avalanche.ca and stay up to date on how the spring conditions and avalanche problems are developing. n
CONDITIONS MAY VARY AND CAN CHANGE RAPIDLY Check for the most current conditions before heading out into the backcountry. Daily updates for the areas adjacent to Whistler Blackcomb are available at 604-938-7676, or surf to www.whistlerblackcomb.com/mountain-info/ snow-report#backcountry or go to www.avalanche.ca.
In a letter to the editor in the April 11 Pique, Mr. Raine encouraged young people to dare voting Conservative: “be strong, bold, courageous and willing to blaze a new path forward open to change and ready for the adventure.”
Looking closely at Pierre Poilievre’s policy wish list I don’t see any of these ambitions reflected. In fact, under his leadership we would be going backwards to a focus on resource extraction, including building more fossil fuel infrastructure, just the way it is now done south of the border—drill, baby, drill— Canada-style.
For young people to be bold, courageous and open to change—at least in my books— would be to recognize the mistakes of the past, change course in Canada to work on a future of renewable energy and make Canada an industry and research powerhouse that could be an example to the world of how this can be done and for Canadians to prosper economically at the same time.
But how would that translate to the choices in the voting booth on April 28? And here I have a lot of sympathy not just for young voters, but for everybody who gets discouraged and maybe doesn’t want to vote at all. Our outdated first-past-the-post electoral system quite frankly sucks. Many of us are “forced” to vote against a political party, rather than the party that better reflects our personal beliefs, because we are afraid of wasting our vote.
So my wish is that young AND old will keep pushing for electoral reform, long after this election is over.
Erich Baumann // Pemberton
‘Deeply concerned’ for wildlife at One Mile Lake
I am deeply concerned for the wildlife at One Mile Lake and their ability to nest safely. I have
Despite the Village of Pemberton bylaw that all dogs must be leashed, I see many allowed to run free and into the nesting areas. A special doggy beach has been set aside to give dogs freedom to swim, however this does not appear to satisfy some dog owners.
I am 96 years old and slightly built, so felt quite threatened by a lady who, when asked to leash her dog, loudly told me to mind my own business stating that her dog would never be
“Despite the Village of Pemberton bylaw that all dogs must be leashed, I see many allowed to run free and into the nesting areas.”
- PETER TIMM
not seen any little flotillas of ducklings cruising the lake or channels behind their mother hen for a number of years, and can only assume they are being disturbed by dogs.
on a leash. As a local taxpayer I am happy to pay towards dog playgrounds, free-run parks etc. knowing that they keep most dogs and their owners satisfied.
Write to us! Letters to the editor must contain the writer’s name, address and a daytime telephone number. Maximum length is 450 words. Pique Newsmagazine reserves the right to edit, condense or refrain from publishing any contribution. Letters reflect the opinion of the writer and not that of Pique Newsmagazine. Send them to edit@ piquenewsmagazine.com before 11 a.m. on Tuesday for consideration in that week’s paper.
As the saying goes, it only takes one bad apple to ruin the whole basket. Please let’s all work together to keep these wildlife areas safe, especially in the spring.
Peter Timm // Pemberton
‘Every donation counts’ in helping Whistler volleyball team
As you may know, the SVC Whistler U18 Girls Volleyball Team is currently fundraising to represent SVC Whistler at Nationals in Edmonton this May, and I’m speaking to the whole community when I say a big thank you for helping support our team!
Every donation counts, and we are truly grateful for the generosity we’ve received, but we haven’t quite made it yet. Covering the cost of flights, accommodation, and entry fees for 12 athletes and two coaches is no small feat! We still have a ways to go.
The good news? There are lots of ways you can help! Whether it’s sharing our GoFundMe link, buying raffle tickets for our fundraising draw, making a direct donation, or coming to our barbecue at Nesters on April 26th, every little bit gets us closer to our goal.
If you’d like more information, feel free to contact Kevin Arnold, our incredible parent volunteer leading the fundraising effort, at kevin@kevinarnoldphotography.com.
Thanks again!
Stella Schwartz // Co-Captain SVC Whistler U18 Volleyball Team n
NickDavies, Whistlerlocal andexperiencedfamilylawyer practisingacrossBCandYukon. Callat 604-602-9000 or visit www.macleanlaw.ca
PRICE GAINS, WHISTLER’S LUXURY MARKET REMAINS SEGMENTED AND SLOW-MOVING, SAY LOCAL EXPERTS
AS BRITISH COLUMBIA’S recreational property market braces for modest price increases in 2025, Whistler continues to chart its own course—defined by complex market segmentation, low inventory, and cautious buyer behaviour.
Royal LePage’s Spring Recreational Property Report, released March 26, forecasts a two-per-cent increase in the median price of a single-family recreational home in B.C. this year, rising to $951,762. But local realtors say that figure doesn’t reflect Whistler’s on-theground reality.
“Royal LePage doesn’t have an office here and doesn’t have access to our [Whistler Listing System] data,” said Stefanie Hostetter, CEO of REMAX Sea to Sky Real Estate. “Whistler’s market is segmented in ways that don’t show up in provincial averages.”
Hostetter was one of two leading local realtors Pique spoke with to compare national and provincial trends with Whistler’s current conditions. According to Hostetter, Whistler’s real estate is best understood not as a single market but as three distinct ones: full-time residential, recreational investment properties, and hybrid-use homes.
“Our single-family homes are in a buyer’s market right now,” said Hostetter. “But our hotel condos and shared ownership units— like Phase 2 properties—have been in a seller’s market for the past year. Those aren’t mortgageable, so they’re less impacted by interest rates.”
The Bank of Canada has cut rates seven times since mid-2024, totalling a 225-basispoint drop. While that has increased affordability in some sectors, the impact in Whistler remains uneven.
“We’re still expecting rates to come down further, which could help,” Hostetter said. “But in Whistler, sellers of second homes often don’t need to sell, so they’re not likely to lower their prices quickly.”
INVENTORY SLOWLY RISING, BUT STILL TIGHT
According to Whistler Listing System data, Whistler had 319 active listings in early April, up slightly from previous months but still below historical norms. “A balanced market here is closer to 500 listings,” said Hostetter. “Right now, buyers have a bit more choice, but not much.”
By comparison, David Brown, a personal real estate corporation holder with Whistler Real Estate Co., said that while listings are up, they’re still far short of the 700 to 800 listings seen in 2010 and 2011.
“For buyers, it’s a better time than last year,” Brown said. “There’s more product, and interest rates for five-year mortgages are now below four per cent. But sellers still need to be
realistic on pricing—especially for chalets and single-family homes.”
SALES SLUGGISH IN HIGHEREND SECTORS
Hostetter said February’s sales data showed single-family homes averaging 239 days on the market, while Phase 2 hotel condos moved in just 22 days. “Shared ownership units and timeshares are also moving quickly—some in under a week,” she said.
While Royal LePage’s national report said the average days on market rose in 55 per cent of surveyed recreational markets, Whistler’s numbers continue to vary sharply depending on the property type.
Brown added Whistler’s market is not easily influenced by broader economic signals. “Sellers are patient,” he said. “They’re not forced sellers. If there’s volatility or tariffs coming from the U.S., they’ll just wait.”
IMPACT OF REGULATION AND TAXATION
Whistler is exempt from B.C.’s speculation and vacancy tax, but Brown warned the federal underused housing tax is dampening interest from American buyers—who historically made up eight to 10 per cent of the market, down from a peak of 16 per cent in 2003.
“These properties weren’t designed for full-time use,” he said of hotel condos and timeshares. “Applying this tax to nightly rental units is hurting the local economy and removing inventory that tourists rely on.”
Both Hostetter and Brown said shortterm rental regulations haven’t had a major impact in Whistler, where nightly rental zoning is well established. However, Hostetter said understanding usage restrictions is increasingly important for buyers.
“The market is complicated now,” she said. “Between zoning, usage rules, and taxes, you really need to talk to someone local who understands it.”
OUTLOOK: CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM FOR SUMMER
Despite economic uncertainty, both realtors remain optimistic about summer activity. Hostetter said Tourism Whistler is reporting strong conference bookings, which may drive interest in longer-stay vacation properties.
“If tariffs and political tension settle down, and rates keep falling, we could see a stronger fall market,” Brown said.
Hostetter agreed, but offered cautious advice to would-be buyers: “You don’t need to buy now, but it’s worth getting informed now,” she said. “Talk to someone, learn the segments, and be ready to move when the time is right.”
Whistler’s average sale price across all property types in Q1 2025 was just under $1.7 million. In December 2024, that figure hovered around $1.35 million as sales skewed toward shared ownership and timeshare properties. But as of March, luxury sales had pushed the median back up to roughly $1.75 million, according to Hostetter.
“The market here never moves in one direction,” she said. “It’s three markets moving at once.” n
REAL TALK It’s a buyers’ market for single-family homes in Whistler this spring, thanks to lower interest rates.
NEWS WHISTLER
Whistler speeds up review for housing that helps those in need
COUNCIL ADOPTS POLICY TO PRIORITIZE DEVELOPMENT PERMITS FOR WORKFORCE AND VULNERABLE POPULATION HOUSING
BY LIZ MCDONALD
WHISTLER COUNCIL has adopted a new policy that will fast-track development applications for employee and supportive housing, formalizing a process staff have been using already.
Council voted unanimously on April 8 to approve the new policy, which lays out how staff will prioritize building and development applications that contribute to local housing goals. The move fulfils a key commitment in the Resort Municipality of Whistler’s (RMOW) action plan under the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF), which awarded Whistler $2.55 million earlier this year.
“Applications advancing employee housing are currently prioritized for review on a case-bycase basis, with no formal prioritization policy in place,” planner Joanna Rees told council. “This is one of those initiatives that’s required to be completed by April 30.”
The new policy applies to applications submitted under the RMOW’s Building and Plumbing Regulation Bylaw and Land Use Procedures and Fees Bylaw. While it does not guarantee faster processing or permit approval, it ensures applications that meet defined criteria are reviewed more quickly.
WHO GETS PRIORITY?
Applications will be prioritized based on their contribution to community housing needs, with preference given to emergency, supportive and transitional housing, followed by Whistler Development Corp. projects, private sector applications with employee housing agreements, and finally small-scale multi-unit housing (SSMUH).
Supportive housing takes priority because it’s identified in the 2024 Vulnerable Housing Needs Assessment as urgent for Whistler. While the report to council found there was strong need for this style of housing, it stopped short of providing solutions. Whistler
has no year-round emergency housing and no transitional housing.
“All applications will be reviewed in the order they are received, except those meeting the prioritization criteria,” Rees explained. “Prioritization of application review is not a guarantee of permit issuance, and prioritized applications will be subject to the standard submittal requirements and review procedures.”
If an application qualifies, staff will notify the applicant and coordinate across departments to ensure all related applications are prioritized for review.
COUNCIL DISCUSSION
During discussion, Councillor Cathy Jewett raised a question about how supportive housing could be delivered, given that the Community Land Bank (CLB)—part of Whistler’s Olympic legacy—currently doesn’t allow for it.
“This is something that interests us in a pretty significant way,” said general manager of climate action, planning and development services Dale Mikkelsen, adding staff will ask the province if it is amenable to amending the CLB to accommodate supportive housing and other similar uses.
“Right now, certainly if an application were to come in today from a supportive housing agency … they would have to have identified a piece of land—not CLB,” Mikkelsen said.
Before the vote, Coun. Jen Ford expressed appreciation for the policy’s clarity.
“I appreciate the thought that’s going into this—that there will be priorities for housing that is most in need, and I hope that the broader building community can appreciate the need for these projects as well,” she said.
Coun. Arthur De Jong added, “I like to see a policy that kind of codifies what has benefited WDC and WHA and the provision of the homes we’ve been able to build in the last few years… It’s helped us move things fast, and we’ll continue to lean on that to move things faster.”
PICK UP THE PACE While it does not guarantee faster processing or permit approval, the policy ensures applications that meet defined criteria are reviewed more quickly. PHOTO BY ASCENTXMEDIA / ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS
WEDGEWOODS
OPENHOUSE:APRIL18th,19th,20th 12-3PM
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ASTUNNINGWHISTLER FAMILY
RETREAT
Party for the Planet returns with community-powered climate action
EARTH WEEK FINALE AIMS TO INSPIRE LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCACY AND RAISE CRITICAL FUNDS FOR AWARE
BY LIZ MCDONALD
WHISTLER’S SECOND ANNUAL Party for the Planet is set to take over the Garibaldi Lift Co. (GLC) on Sunday, April 27, capping off Earth Week with a high-energy fundraiser blending live music, silent auction prizes, and a call to protect the natural world.
outdoor gear companies.
“It shows the appetite and support within the community,” she added. “This isn’t a one-organization show. It takes all levels of community to influence change and to see this much support leading into the event shows the community’s interest.”
“We’re so excited to host Party for the Planet. This is the second official year,” said Pegah Pourkarimi, executive director of the Association of Whistler Area Residents for the Environment (AWARE). “We launched Earth Week for the first time last year, this year we’re building off of it. The purpose is to bring folks together to celebrate and honour nature, raise awareness and inspire action here in Whistler.”
The event, supported by Whistler Blackcomb’s EpicPromise program, is AWARE’s largest annual fundraiser. Last year’s launch brought in more than $30,000— and the organization hopes to exceed that in 2025 to support programs spanning regenerative food systems, circular economy projects and local conservation work.
“This event is all about celebrating connection to the natural world, empowering people,” said Pourkarimi.
Maxine Bruce, who serves as territorial stewardship manager for the Lil’wat Nation, will speak about traditional knowledge and environmental responsibility. Pique columnist Leslie Anthony, a biologist and award-winning writer, will address the realities of climate change and urge locals to act. The evening will be hosted by Feet Banks, with live entertainment and community connection under one roof.
“We’d love to sell out and be able to celebrate,” said Pourkarimi. “Thanks to WB EpicPromise, we are able to host at GLC.”
The night also includes a silent auction of sustainable gift packages and experiences valued at more than $7,000, with prizes from Nita Lake Lodge, local restaurants and
Beyond the party, AWARE will also offer community events throughout Earth Week from April 22 to 27, including a nature walk with local ecologist Bob Brett, and a presentation by forest researcher Suzanne Simard.
“I think if I were to draw on a couple pieces to draw attention to—Unlocking the Secrets of Forests with Suzanne Simard, her research has revolutionized how forests communicate,” said Pourkarimi. “Nature walk in Fitz is totally free hosted by Bob Brett. He’s talking about significant species, biodiversity and it’s interactive.”
AWARE, founded more than 30 years ago, has long depended on public input and community energy to guide its work. “It’s extremely important. The organization’s beating heart is rooted in community participation,” said Pourkarimi.
The group is encouraging locals to get involved not only by attending, but by becoming members or contributing feedback through their ongoing surveys.
“Every year, community surveys come back loud and clear that Whistlerites care about the environment,” said Heather Beresford, AWARE board vice president, in a press release. “This is everyone’s chance to help AWARE deliver that message, make a positive impact in our community, and have a great time as well!”
Added Pourkarimi: “We rely on our members to not only provide direction, but people can donate on the website. Businesses can get in touch and find out ways to host fundraisers.”
Tickets to Party for the Planet include a drink, appetizers, and access to the silent auction and speaker series. For details or to donate, visit awarewhistler.org/events. n
EARTH TO WHISTLER Celebrate Earth Week in Whistler with AWARE.
PHOTO BY ASCENTXMEDIA / GETTY IMAGES
Rhinoceros Party candidate leans into satire in Sea to Sky campaign
GORDON JEFFREY RETURNS TO THE FEDERAL BALLOT, BLENDING COMEDY WITH CRITIQUE IN HIS RUN FOR OFFICE
BY LIZ MCDONALD
GORDON JEFFREY is back on the campaign trail in the West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country, representing the Rhinoceros Party—though he’s the first to admit this campaign is more about shaking things up than winning votes.
“I guess the same things as usual, the issues I care about haven’t gone away,” said Jeffrey in a candid interview with Pique. “I feel like somebody’s got to do it. We still don’t have a ‘none of the above’ option.”
Jeffrey, a longtime Whistler local, said the Rhinos are a natural fit for his brand of tongue-in-cheek activism. “I’ve always been a fan of comedy and political satire in particular,” he said. “It’s a natural fit. It allows me to be part of a party and do what I want and voice my opinions.”
Although he jokes his party is “now unconcerned about the issues of the working class” and aims to “extend the retirement age to death,” Jeffrey insists there’s substance behind the satire. “The message is serious,” he said. “This is the only interview I’m taking where I’m being serious.”
“Four years to try and fix or address [them], but the same issues remain,” he said, adding campaign logistics are especially challenging this time. “This being a snap election makes things difficult for everyone outside the two major parties … I worked five to six days a week getting signatures at a pub.”
Jeffrey is critical of the electoral system and the dominance of Canada’s two main parties. “We’re entrenched in a two-party dichotomy that serves itself above the people,” he said. “Unless we break free of our own accord, we will be stuck that way.”
His prescription? Electoral reform. But he’s also realistic. “It doesn’t suit the party in power,” he said. “They lose if there’s electoral reform—it’s against their best interests.”
Though best known for parody platforms, Jeffrey maintains that if elected, his top priority would be tackling political corruption.
“It would have to do with what I see as legalized corruption and modifying law to decrease potential for it,” he said.
Still, his “platform” leans hard into absurdist humour. Among the highlights: a proposal to create new Canadian territories out of the United States and China to impose climate regulations on the world’s largest
Underneath the satire, Jeffrey’s concerns reflect frustrations shared by many Canadians—especially in Whistler. He points to affordability, housing, climate change, and economic pressures from U.S. trade tensions as top priorities.
emitters, and plans to fund government pensions through casino bets.
“I’d send our MPs to casinos and let it all ride on black,” he quipped. “We’ll introduce a six-day work week so citizens have the glorious
opportunity to generate sweet tax revenue.”
Yet behind the jokes is a real criticism of inequality and housing insecurity. “People can’t afford houses,” he said. “That’s a great start because we will guarantee assets of the rich and build some tiny ghettos for the working class to squabble over.”
While Jeffrey doesn’t canvas door-todoor—“I don’t believe in bothering people in their homes”—he says the humour helps him connect with voters. “Without it I’m just an angry independent shaking my fist at the sky,” he said.
He’s received messages of support and believes satire invites people to re-evaluate politics. “It makes people think—either at all or in different terms,” he said.
And what if voters do take him seriously and elect him?
“It would mean the opportunity to better serve my country and my community,” he said. Though he’s currently running under the Rhino banner, Jeffrey added he would consider sitting as an independent.
Asked what voters should know before heading to the polls, Jeffrey replied, “They can read my platform in this week’s issue of the Pique My Facebook account is the website I have.”
For those seeking an alternative to the traditional parties—or at least a laugh with their democracy—Jeffrey’s Rhinoceros candidacy offers a bit of both. n
IN THE RUNNING Longtime Whistlerite Gordon Jeffrey is once again on the ballot for the federal election April 28. PHOTO COURTESY OF GORDON JEFFREY
Respectful dialogue in front of engaged crowd at the Squamish all-candidates meeting
MP HOPEFULS HIGHLIGHTED HOUSING AFFORDABILITY, A LACK OF REGIONAL TRANSIT AND STRENGTHENING CANADA IN THE FACE OF U.S. THREATS
BY INDIGO LEMAY-CONWAY
The Squamish Chief
IT WAS A NIGHT of respectful dialogue among four candidates running to represent West Vancouver–Sunshine Coast–Sea to Sky Country on Tuesday, April 8 at an allcandidates debate at the Squamish Capilano University.
In attendance for the two-hour event were incumbent Liberal MP Patrick Weiler, Green Party of Canada candidate Lauren Greenlaw, Jäger Rosenberg of the NDP and People’s Party of Canada candidate Peyman Askari.
Conservative Party candidate Keith Roy was not in attendance, which was noted by the candidates and in a question from the audience. Moderator Megan Veck told the audience he was invited, but declined to attend.
Leading up to the federal election on April 28, the debate gave the aspiring MPs a chance to speak on Sea to Sky issues such as housing, health-care, fossil fuel projects, childcare, transit and U.S. President Donald Trump.
The event, held in front of a crowd of almost 200 people, also touched on broader issues such as the gender divide, lowering the voting age, and the Israel-Hamas war.
ON HOUSING
The youngest of the candidates, Rosenberg, 18, tackled the topic from the point of view of many Gen Z aspiring homeowners.
“Housing affordability is one of the most important issues for people across the country, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to
Askari, on the other hand, stressed the need to tackle the debt to help people own homes.
Askari, who immigrated to Canada when he was six years old, also said reducing immigration would help to “relieve pressure from the housing market.”
“Housing affordability is one of the most important issues for people across the country...”
- JÄGER ROSENBERG
afford it. That’s the simple reality for my generation,” he said.
“We need to lower housing costs … and we need to have more options for types of housing.”
Weiler said his party is proposing a plan that would “double the housing construction to 500,000 units per year” to help meet the demand across the country.
Greenlaw said Squamish needed more affordable housing, and that the public deserved more clarity on how much of the rental space FortisBC and Woodfibre LNG was taking up.
“A healthy market is about three per cent to five per cent vacancy. Prior to [FortisBC and Woodfibre] coming in, we had about 0.6 per cent [vacancy] and now it’s around zero.”
ON THE ENVIRONMENT
While Askari reassured the local audience that the PPC does care about nature as a whole—he noted it wasn’t their top priority.
“We love the environment and we believe in environmentalism. But we don’t believe in destroying the economy,” he said.
As an earth scientist, Greenlaw rebutted Askari’s concern about the economy by saying that it wouldn’t exist without the environment.
“I’d like to point out something that we are learning right now is that we are exceeding the bounds of our planet, and that is clear,” she said.
“I will point out that you cannot have a healthy economy without a healthy environment, that is backwards. All of our wealth, all of our assets, come from and ultimately return to the earth.”
Weiler, on the other hand, noted that through a number of policies introduced during his term, emissions have reduced dramatically.
“Our emissions have gone down to the lowest point that they’ve been since 1996, and it might not be the top-of-mind issue for a lot
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of people, but it is affecting us on a day-to-day basis,” he said.
ON TRANSIT AND HIGHWAY SAFETY
Regional transit along the Sea to Sky has been a hot topic for many years, and Weiler was quick to thank West Vancouver-Sea to Sky MLA Jeremy Valeriote for helping to secure an agreement with the reigning NDP to bring it to reality by the end of this year.
“That’s going to be transformational for this region. So as this goes forward, the federal government doesn’t fund operations of transit, but we can provide targeted funding for the expansion of transit,” he said.
Greenlaw, who has been a strong advocate for regional transit in Squamish as a District of Squamish councillor, said local towns are being designed around the promise of it.
“We are literally designing our towns, waiting for regional transportation. You know you’re feeling this parking crunch downtown—that’s because we’re waiting for regional transportation so that our houses don’t all need to have two cars,” she said.
Greenlaw also suggested adding reflective paint on the Sea to Sky highway could help significantly improve driver safety.
“When you’re driving that highway at night, it’s gross, especially at this time of year, it does not feel safe. And I feel like that’s a ludicrously small ask,” she said.
ON WOODFIBRE LNG
One of the more spicy topics of the evening, Weiler told the audience that his government would hold Woodfibre LNG accountable if they didn’t meet a number of conditions placed upon them.
“Woodfibre was permitted back in 2015 and there are conditions that are binding on that company and that project for what they need to meet,” he said.
“My role, if I’m re-elected, is to continue to hold the company accountable to meeting those conditions. And if they’re not there,
there are remedies that are there to ensure that they’re held to account for that.”
Unsurprisingly, Greenlaw, who has stood against the project as a local councillor, said the community was “never given an opportunity to give consent on that project.
“We have been busting our little bums to get those pieces and to hold them to account and to get financial benefits from this project, and we have basically no way to get it,” she said.
“The local government piece has almost zero power in this entire conversation, and
that right there, to me, is one of the reasons why I’m sitting in this chair.”
ON HEALTH-CARE AND CHILDCARE
One of the last topics of the night was healthcare, which all candidates agreed was not operating as well as it could.
Askari took aim at long wait times.
“I talk to several of the voters, and they have to go to the U.S. and pay out of pocket,” he said.
“I want to free up the health-care system, remove some of the bureaucracy and streamline it.”
For Squamish specifically, Greenlaw said the town needs a “much bigger hospital” and more investment in childcare.
As for how they would fund it? She suggested “defunding fossil fuels.”
IN SUMMARY
At the end of the night, Weiler summed up the evening as a whole: “While we might disagree on policy, we are not disagreeable.”
All candidates in attendance expressed their opinions on community concerns in a respectful manner, with the crowd reciprocating the same behaviour in return.
Greenlaw slightly led the way with crowd applause, followed by Weiler and then Rosenberg.
The event was put on by the Squamish Chamber of Commerce, Tourism Squamish, the Downtown Squamish BIA and The Squamish Chief Election Day is April 28. n
SPUD VALLEY NORDICS
forthePVUSgrant whichprovidedasubsidy foralltheSpud Valley Nordic Racersmembershiponthe Race Teamas wellascoveredthecostofalltheir race fees, whichallowedtheSpud Valley Racers to take part,andachieveata highlevelinmany racesbothlocallyandthroughouttheprovince.
BACK AND FORTH Peyman Askari, Lauren Greenlaw, Jäger Rosenberg and Patrick Weiler at the all-candidates meeting in Squamish on April 8.
PHOTO BY INDIGO LEMAY-CONWAY
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
ELECTORAL AREA C and D
Wednesday, April 30, 2025 at 7PM via Zoom
Public Notice is hereby given in accordance with Section 466 of the Local Government Act that a public hearing will be held electronically regarding the following bylaws:
•Squamish-Lillooet Regional District Electoral Area D Zoning Bylaw No. 1350-2016, Amendment Bylaw No. 1827-2024
•Squamish-Lillooet Regional District Electoral Area C Official Community Plan Bylaw No. 689, 1999, Amendment Bylaw No. 1902-2025
PURPOSE OF BYLAW 1827-2024
Blackcomb Snowmobile Ltd. (BSL) holds an active Crown land license of occupation for adventure tourism purposes which includes a 2491 ha tenure area in the Brandywine Creek and Callaghan Valley areas with an expiry date of December 19, 2036. The subject land is currently not zoned for uses contemplated under the Crown land license. As such, a zoning amendment application has been made as Bylaw No. 1827-2024, with the following proposed uses:
•Motorized and mechanized outdoor recreation uses including snowmobile rentals, snowmobile tours, snowmobile/snowcat transport for ski touring access, snowcat skiing, ATV/side-by-side tours and 4x4 tours.
•Non-motorized outdoor winter recreation uses including snowshoeing and dog sled tours.
•Outdoor commercial and recreational film support services.
•Trail grooming activities by mechanized machinery.
•Parking area.
•Booking Centre with café.
•Guest Warming Hut with tourist accommodations.
• Employee housing
•Accessory buildings directly associated with the permitted uses, including utility station buildings, offices, washrooms/change facilities, storage buildings, vehicle maintenance shops, machinery sheds, dog kennels and geodome shelters.
PURPOSE OF BYLAW 1902-2025
This is an internal amendment bylaw, focused on residential amendments to the Official Community Plan (OCP) for Electoral Area C. The following minor text amendments are proposed to policies under the Rural Residential section of the OCP to support a range of housing choices, align with other SLRD bylaws and policies, and create consistency:
•Revising the policy for permitted uses in Rural Residential areas to include allowances for multiunit residential and accessory dwelling units in some areas.
•Revising the minimum parcel size policies to allow for consideration of multiunit and duplex developments, subject to soil conditions, hazard conditions, and proof of water and wastewater disposal.
The bylaw applies to all Rural Residential designated lands in Electoral Area C.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
A copy of the proposed bylaws and relevant background documents may be inspected at the Regional District office, 1350 Aster Street, Pemberton, BC, during office hours 8:00 am to 4:00 pm not including weekends and statutory holidays, or by requesting an electronic copy from planning@slrd.bc.ca. All persons who believe that their interest in the property is affected by the proposed bylaw shall be afforded a reasonable opportunity to present written submissions respecting matters contained in the bylaw.
1.Submit Written Comments to the Board:
Written submissions must be addressed to “SLRD Board of Directors,” and include your name and community of residence. Until 4:00 pm on April 30, 2025, written submissions (mail or email) will be received at the following:
Email: planning@slrd.bc.ca
Hard Copy: Squamish-Lillooet Regional District Planning Department PO Box 219, Pemberton, BC V0N 2L0
Written submissions will also be accepted on April 30, 2025 between 4:00pm and the time when the motion to close the Public Hearing is made. During this timeframe, written comments regarding the bylaws must be submitted by email to: planning@slrd.bc.ca.
2.Participate via Zoom:
The Public Hearing will be conducted electronically via Zoom on April 30, 2025, at 7:00 PM. A link will be available and posted on the SLRD website three days prior to the Public Hearing. To attend or participate, please contact the Planning Department at planning@slrd.bc.ca to request the meeting link and access instructions. A response with the necessary details will be provided promptly.
Recapping week three on the federal campaign trail
TAKING STOCK OF ALL THE ELECTORAL ACTION IN WEST VAN-SUNSHINE COAST-SEA TO SKY
BY BRADEN DUPUIS
ANOTHER WEEK of campaigning is in the books, and candidates in West VancouverSunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country are approaching the home stretch.
In less than two weeks, on April 28, Sea to Sky residents will choose their next representative, and Canadians their new government.
Here are just a few notes from the campaign trail this week, presented in no particular order of importance. Be sure to follow the candidates on social media, or stay tuned to their websites for all the latest announcements—and check back next week for one last weekly roundup of all the latest rumblings from the campaign trail.
• Incumbent Liberal Patrick Weiler welcomed Prime Minister Mark Carney at a campaign stop in Vancouver on April 8, along with other Liberal candidates in the region. Weiler spent much of week three attending all-candidates debates in Squamish and on the Sunshine Coast, along with stops in other communities in the riding. On April 11, he posted an endorsement from one of Whistler’s favourite sons, freeskiing legend and filmmaker Mike Douglas. “I think in these times that we’re going through right now we
need smarts, we need experience, and we need people that come with solutions, and Patrick is one of those guys,” Douglas said in a video posted to Weiler’s socials.
• Though he didn’t attend any of the riding’s first three all-candidates debates, Conservative Keith Roy hosted a wellattended town hall in Pender Harbour on April 10, and posted CPC policy points on his social channels throughout the week. Roy shared an endorsement from Squamish Nation Chief Dale Harry on April 13. “I’ve been going to Ottawa for quite some time, and you know, I invited Pierre Poilievre over here to Squamish, and he came,” Harry said in his endorsement. “I firmly believe with the Conservatives that they’re there to help people. We had nine years of the Liberal government, what have they done? They talk the talk, but they never ever walk the talk.”
• The Green Party’s Lauren Greenlaw has no shortage of events on the calendar, whether it’s green drinks in Pemberton, green coffee on the Sunshine Coast, or green tea on Bowen Island. Along with attending all-candidates debates, the Green candidate hosted former BC Green Party leader and founder Adriane Carr at the Brackendale Art Gallery on April 13, and on the same day shared an endorsement from renowned conservationist David Suzuki. “Lauren Greenlaw is a scientist
SCREENSHOT
who has contributed her expertise to politics at the municipal level,” Suzuki wrote in his endorsement. “Canada desperately needs people like her to move us away from the destructive practices currently carried out without regard to the environment. I urge all
voters to vote for her in this crucial election.”
• Along with attending all-candidates debates throughout the riding, the People’s Party’s Peyman Askari continued his cerebral approach to the campaign in week three, posting another series of policy-focused discussions with other PPC candidates on his social channels. “Canadians deserve better. Better laws, better leadership, and a government that protects your rights,” Askari wrote on X on April 11. “Let’s bring back common sense, transparency, and accountability. It starts with standing up to the bills that don’t serve you. We can build a freer, fairer Canada—together.”
• The NDP’s Jäger Rosenberg also kept up the momentum, joining his fellow candidates at a series of all-candidates meetings. “Super busy week. Three debates in a row with three left to go,” he posted on April 13. “Let’s keep this momentum going. Volunteer and donate for a future where no one is left behind.”
• Candidates were confirmed April 9, with Whistlerite Gordon Jeffrey, representing the Rhino Party, rounding out the ballot (flip to page 20 for more on Jeffrey’s campaign). Whistler’s all-candidates meeting is April 22 at the Rainbow Theatre. Advance polling taking place across the country from April 18 to 21. Election day is Monday, April 28.
Stay up to date with all the latest election news at piquenewsmagazine.com. n
IN THE RUNNING Liberal candidate Patrick Weiler shown with Whistlerite Mike Douglas in a video posted to Facebook this week.
NOTICE
2025COMMUNITYENRICHMENTPROGRAM
The Community EnrichmentProgram(CEP)providesfunding to not-for-profitorganizationsor societies that Council considers to be contributing to the general interestand advantage of Whistler community.The categoriesincludeEnvironment,Social Services, Community Services, RecreationandSportorArtsandCulture.
TheRMOW awarded$174,504 throughtheCEP to the followingorganizations: Organizationname
AxemenRugby Club
BCLugeAssociation
$2 ,400WhistlerMatureAction Community$3,500
$1,000WhistlerMinorHockey Association$4,000
Myrtle Philip CommunitySchool PAC$560WhistlerMulticultural Society$10,000
Whistler Blackcomb shifts to spring skiing April 22
LAST DAY OF OPERATIONS FOR WHISTLER MOUNTAIN, PEAK 2 PEAK IS APRIL 21
BY BRADEN DUPUIS
WITH ANOTHER instalment of the World Ski and Snowboard Festival in the books, the writing is on the wall: another winter season is coming to an end at Whistler Blackcomb.
The last day for operations on Whistler Mountain, and for the Peak 2 Peak Gondola, is April 21.
As of April 22, spring skiing is available on Blackcomb Mountain only.
“Please note that there are variable
snow conditions at all elevations,” Whistler Blackcomb said in its April 10 operations update. “Due to changing temperatures, expect freeze-thaw conditions varying from the alpine to the valley. A reminder to always stay present and in tune with the situation and conditions.”
The last day for skiing at Whistler Blackcomb for the season is May 19.
Opening Day in the Whistler Mountain Bike Park is scheduled for May 16, with sightseeing on Whistler Mountain set to open the following day, May 17, along with the Peak 2 Peak. n
Cheakamus Community Forest hosting wildfire workshop
WHISTLER RESIDENTS can learn more about wildfire resiliency in the resort through an upcoming two-day workshop hosted by the Cheakamus Community Forest and UBC Okanagan.
workshop will reflect on questions such as:
• What is uncertain in terms of how we manage landscapes that burn?
Titled Wildfire Resilience in Times of Uncertainty, the May 6 and 7 workshop features a keynote address by longtime park warden, resource manager and co-originator of the FireSmart Canada program Alan Westhaver, as well as talks by local professionals involved in wildfire management and UBC academics breaking new ground in wildfire research.
The workshop will kick off at 8:30 a.m. each day at the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre (SLCC) and wrap in the early afternoon.
The event will also include a panel discussion on May 6 at the SLCC’s Long House with Whistler fire practitioners discussing the past, present and future of wildfire risk reduction in Whistler and the CCF.
Presentations and discussions at the
• What are the social, economic and political uncertainties surrounding wildfire management, and how do these intersect with the diverse and shifting expectations of different stakeholders and First Nations?
• What are some gaps in our knowledge of wildfires, and what sort of research and collaborations are needed to address these gaps?
• How might interdisciplinary and crosscultural collaborations help us grapple with uncertainty?
The public is encouraged to attend the daytime sessions as well as the panel discussion, and lunch is included. Admission is free but registration is required.
Register online at whistlerinstitute. com/event/wildfire-resilience-in-times-ofuncertainty.
- By Braden Dupuis n
Whistler Transit service expansion coming this spring
SEASONAL SERVICE REDUCTIONS TAKE EFFECT APRIL 22
AS ANOTHER WINTER in Whistler gives way to spring, transit schedules in the resort are set to shift—along with an expansion to services.
As of April 22, service will be seasonally reduced on five routes: 5 Upper Village/ Benchlands; 7 Staff Housing; 20X Cheakamus; 31 Alpine; and 32 Emerald.
Three routes will also be seasonally discontinued: 4 Marketplace Free Shuttle; 25 Whistler Creek; and 33 Alpine/Village via Spruce Grove.
BC Transit also announced a service expansion for the resort on April 10, with year-round improvements and additional trips on routes 21 Spring Creek, 31 Alpine and 32 Emerald.
“This service expansion in the Whistler
Transit System has been made possible by an increase in local government and provincial funding,” BC Transit said in a release. “The operating grant provided in the 202526 provincial budget will allow BC Transit and the Resort Municipality of Whistler to continue to provide safe and reliable service and demonstrate that public transit remains a priority in our communities.”
BC Transit encourages customers to use Umo, Google Transit or any other app of their choice for real-time bus tracking and tripplanning.
For more information about trip planning and to sign up for customer alerts, head to bctransit.com/Whistler.
Thebylawisassociated with an applicationtoamend thezoningofa portionDL2247toenable thefuturesubdivisionofthelandsandconstructionof 6duplexbuildings,or12dwellingunits. Eightoftheduplexunitsareproposedtobemarkethousing,whilefourunitsareproposedto benon-markethousingwithresalerestrictions.Commonfacilitiesincluding amailandwaste disposalbuilding,visitorparking,anda playareaareproposed.Siteservicingwillbebyway ofgroundwaterwellsandsepticdisposalfields.
ThebylawproposestorezonetheportionoftheexistingparcelshownonSchedule1 from CD-1ComprehensiveDevelopment1-WedgeWoodsEstatestoCD2 -Comprehensive Development2, anewsite-specificzonetoenableduplexresidentialdevelopmentasdetailed inthisnotice.
AstheproposedzoningamendmentisconsistentwiththeOfficialCommunityPlanandthe purposeistopermita residentialdevelopment,theSLRDmustnotholda publichearing ontheproposedbylaw. TheareacoveredbyBylawNo.1879-2025is aportionofPID 015-912-337,DISTRICTLOT2247GROUP1 NEWWESTMINSTERDISTRICT,EXCEPT: FIRSTLY; PART INPLAN VAP23216ANDSECONDLY; PART INPLANBCP39086 asoutlinedonthemapincludedinthisnotice:
INFORMATION& SUBMISSIONS
Acopyoftheproposed bylawand relevant backgrounddocumentsmay beinspectedatthe Regional Districtoffice,1350 AsterStreet, Pemberton,BC,duringofficehours 8:00am to 4:00pmfrom April 11 to April22,2025notincluding weekendsandstatutory holidaysorontheSLRD website. Writtensubmissions(mail or email)must be received at theSLRDofficenolaterthan4:00pm TuesdayApril22,2025.
TheSLRDBoard willbe consideringfirstreadingof AmendmentBylaw 1879-2025 at theApril23, 2025SLRDBoardmeeting. Allpersonswhobelieve that theirinterestinthepropertyis affected by theproposedbylaw shallbeafforded areasonableopportunity to presentwrittensubmissions respectingmatterscontained inthebylaw.Writtensubmissionsmustbeaddressedto“SLRDBoard ofDirectors,”andincludeyournameand communityof residence.Until4:00pmon April22,2025, written submissionswillbe received at thefollowing: Email:planning@slrd.bc.ca Hard Copy:Squamish-LillooetRegionalDistrict PlanningDepartment PO Box219, Pemberton,BCV0N2L0
Naturespeak: Roche moutonnée glacial rock mounds
A REMNANT OF THE ICE AGE, AND NATURE’S JUMP RAMPS
BY STEVE CARNEY
IT’S THAT TIME OF YEAR again—the snow is almost gone, exposing the stunning glacial landscapes around Whistler and the Sea to Sky corridor. One of my favourite viewing spots is the Tantalus look-out just north of Squamish, where you can see a spectacular selection of glacial features like jagged mountain peaks (horns), glacial ridges (arête), mountain bowls and dramatic, steep-sided U-shaped valleys. If you look closely you can also see lots of distinctive rock mounds, called roche moutonnée, with smooth, rounded, uphill slopes and steep, rough and irregular downhill surfaces.
These hummocky features come in all sizes from a few metres to hundreds of metres in length and are popular with skiers, snowboarders and bikers who enjoy the thrill of “big air” off these natural ramps.
The somewhat wacky name roche moutonnée was first used by Horace Bénédict de Saussure in the Swiss Alps, 240 years ago, when modern geology was in its infancy. Their asymmetrical shape reminded de Saussure of the fashionable fleecy wigs people were wearing at the time which (believe it or not) were smoothed over with sheep fat, hence roche (French for rock), and moutonnée,
derived from mouton (French for mutton). So roche moutonnée means “fleecy rock.”
Despite their dodgy name, roche moutonnée outcrops are full of interesting features that give us a tantalizing insight into how they were formed and even the direction of ice movement.
The gently dipping uphill surface is created by “abrasion,” where rock fragments embedded in the base of the glacier rub against the bedrock
as it passes by, wearing it away over time. Larger rocks scour and scratch the surface, leaving linear scratch marks called “striations,” and fine grit particles polish and smooth the surface similar to how sandpaper smooths wood. The steep, jagged lower cliff face is formed in areas where there are weaknesses in the rock surface. Here glacial meltwater finds its way into cracks and joints in the bedrock and freezes around chunks of rock that are forcibly “plucked” out and carried away
by the glacier as it relentlessly moves down the valley, a process geologists call “quarrying” which produces steep, lower cliff face.
There are lots of fabulous and iconic roche moutonnée outcrops around Whistler and they are pretty much everywhere. Some of my favourites are around Wedgemount Lake where the granite rocks are freshly exposed by glacial recession, and on Cougar Mountain around the 1,400- to 1,500-metre mark where they are covered in a thick carpet of moss and look otherworldly. There is also a beautiful, classic-looking roche moutonnée next to the Fitzsimmons Walk townhouses north of the village. Finally, at the Malamute pullin just south of Squamish, there are some superb roche moutonnée which geologists have called “whalebacks” because the outcrop surfaces look like a pod of whales swimming on the surface.
So, spring has sprung, and it’s time to get out and explore the geology around Whistler and our beautiful environment, carved out by Ice Age glaciers leaving behind a whole smorgasbord of glacial features within a dramatic glacial landscape. A good place to start is the distinctive glacial hummocks weirdly called roche moutonnée.
Naturespeak is prepared by the Whistler Naturalists. To learn more about Whistler’s natural world, go to whistlernaturalists.ca n
HARD ROCK Roche moutonnée glacial rock mounds with their gently dipping, scratched and polished upper surface and abrupt, jagged lower cliff face, quarried by Ice Age glaciers.
PHOTO BY STEVE CARNEY
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Serious Highway 99 crash led to ‘catastrophic’ injuries for Whistler tourist
GOFUNDME LAUNCHED FOR VICTIMS OF MARCH COLLISION THAT CLOSED HIGHWAY 99 FOR HOURS
BY BRADEN DUPUIS
A SERIOUS CRASH on Highway 99 south of Whistler in March led to “catastrophic” injuries for one tourist to the resort, and seriously injured several others.
The March 12 incident between Callaghan Valley Road and Brew Creek Forest Service Road injured 10 in total, two critically, and closed the highway for several hours.
According to a GoFundMe campaign, Tammy and Mark Graziani face a long road to recovery.
“Tammy suffered catastrophic spinal injuries and is now in intensive rehabilitation, fighting to regain movement in her hands and legs, working tirelessly towards her goal of walking again. Mark, who also sustained serious injuries, has remained by her side every step of the way,” reads the GoFundMe, which had amassed US$79,240 as of April 16, surpassing its original goal of $64,000.
“As they face months, if not years, of recovery, medical costs, home and automative modifications, and time away from work, we are rallying around them to help ease the financial burden. Your support will provide critical funding for physical therapy, housing near the hospital, uncovered medical expenses, and daily essentials.”
According to the fundraiser page, Mark and Tammy were heading south to YVR when their sprinter van was in a head-on collision, “seriously injuring them, Mark’s parents and uncle, and their close family and friends.
“Tammy suffered the most catastrophic injuries—a broken neck and spine—and was rushed into emergency surgery and placed on
life support,” the page reads.
“In those first days, she couldn’t breathe on her own. Doctors worked to stabilize her spine, bolt her vertebrae, and manage the immense trauma. Tammy was kept heavily sedated and in critical condition. Mark, also seriously injured with a crushed leg, a broken and dislocated jaw, and a metal plate in his skull, stayed by her side every moment. It was unclear if Tammy would survive.”
Tammy is now awake and continues to improve each day—”from breathing on her own, to moving her arms, and even feeding herself,” it said.
“[D]espite the unfair hand she’s been dealt, she’s rarely ever without a smile on her face.”
- GOFUNDME
“Now stable, she was able to repatriate to Boston with Mark via air ambulance on April 1. Tammy’s road to recovery will take years of physical and occupational therapy and intensive support, but her spirit is incredibly strong, and she is determined. Her infectious personality and amazing sense of humour are intact, and despite the unfair hand she’s been dealt, she’s rarely ever without a smile on her face.”
CATASTROPHIC CRASH The aftermath of a head-on collision on Highway 99 south of Whistler on March 12.
GOFUNDME PHOTO
Pemberton mulls two-year limit on short-term vacation rental licences
THE VILLAGE IS LOOKING TO INCREASE TURNOVER ON LONG-STAGNANT WAIT LISTS AND BOOST ITS LONG-TERM RENTAL MARKET
BY LUKE FAULKS
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
THE VILLAGE of Pemberton (VOP) is looking to reduce a long-stagnant short-term vacation rental (STVR) business licence wait list to boost the number of long-term rental properties on the market. Council discussed a bylaw amendment restricting STVR business licences to two years in areas where a waitlist is already in effect during an April 15 Committee of the Whole meeting.
“We were looking for something to manage those wait lists that never changed… nobody ever gets off a wait list,” said the Village’s manager of corporate and legislative services, Gwendolyn Kennedy, during the meeting.
B.C. introduced the Short Term Rental Act in 2023. The legislation aims to return homes to the rental market by limiting short-term rentals to a host’s principal residence and, in
some case, one additional unit. The ultimate goal is to reduce the prevalence of short-term rentals and increase the availability of longterm rentals.
The Village of Pemberton opted in to the provincial legislation after council gave its assent in November 2024.
Under the Act, “short-term vacation rental” refers to renting out a furnished room, suite, home, apartment, cabin or condo for a short-term stay—a period of less than 90 days at a time. The bylaw proposed by the Village excludes home exchanges (also known as home swaps).
Pemberton’s current bylaw governing STVR mandates that the number of shortterm vacation rental licenses available in a calendar year cannot exceed five per cent of the total number of single-family dwelling units located in each of Pemberton’s neighbourhoods, resulting in a wait list for select neighbourhoods.
While a Pemberton business license is only valid for a year, businesses can renew it annually. This new bylaw would amend the Village’s business licence bylaw to implement a two-year limit on STVRs—or single licence renewal—before owners would be placed back
on their neighbourhood’s wait list.
As of Jan. 21, there were 29 homeowners on the Village’s STVR wait-list.
The new bylaw presented to council also includes a stipulation that says an STVR can apply to be placed back on the wait list three months prior to the licence’s expiry.
INCREASING TURNOVER
The wait list isn’t public, but residents can call and ask where they sit on it. Kennedy noted “for the first couple years [the public] did call us quite frequently and asked where they were on the list.
“But because the lists have become stale with no turnover, people haven’t even been bothering to put themselves on the wait list,” she added.
Councillor Katrina Nightingale asked whether residents had to take a break from STVR licence if their community had no wait list. Kennedy said no, they can just renew, citing the Sunstone neighbourhood’s lack of wait list as an example.
Nightingale expressed concern that, with a higher turnover on the wait lists all but guaranteed, some potential STVR licences
might just wait for their turn rather than enter the long-term market.
“I thought ... proposing two years was a good choice, because maybe one year, people would be more likely to wait it out,” responded Kennedy. “But with two years, I think there’s plenty of time to find a renter, sign a year lease, [and] let them know that you’re hoping that it’ll only be one and a half years or two years before you get back into [the market].”
Once finalized, the bylaw will take effect on Jan. 1, 2026. Existing businesses will be permitted to renew their licences in 2026 and 2027.
Mayor Mike Richman proposed bringing the amended business licence bylaw back to council for consideration a year from adoption to consider the degree to which it helped boost long-term rentals.
The bylaw also includes a note that properties that opt-in must prominently display a decal on their property noting the business’ status as an STVR.
Council motioned to direct staff to prepare a revised bylaw considering the feedback from the day, bring it back to council for passage at a future meeting, and that staff advertise the future consideration to the public. n
Pemberton residents sound off on policing, sidewalks and development
COUNCIL RECEIVED AND DISCUSSED SEVERAL LETTERS FROM THE COMMUNITY ON APRIL 15
BY LUKE FAULKS
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
THE VILLAGE of Pemberton’s (VOP) April 15 council meeting was uncharacteristically light on bylaw updates, focusing instead on a bevy of letters submitted to council by residents.
First up, a follow-up letter from outgoing Pemberton & District Chamber of Commerce Adam Adams on the municipality having to assume 70 per cent of policing costs once the population reaches 5,000. Council reiterated its expectation it is unlikely to reach that threshold by the 2026 census.
Still, Adams cautioned betting against Pemberton’s growth rate.
“With the rapid expansion of this community, and us being the fastest-growing community from the last census, we think erring on the side of caution is warranted and we are anticipating shorter timelines,” he wrote.
The census is the single determining factor in triggering that transition. Council has budgeted to start saving for the estimated $1.288 million needed to fund an expansion of the municipal RCMP. But arriving at 5,000 in 2026 would force a change in the Village’s budgeting process.
Adams also asked for council to share estimated tax burdens of that additional $1.288 million in spending “on $100,000
of assessment for residential and various commercial/industrial zonings.”
Mayor Mike Richman noted those exact figures aren’t yet available.
“We haven’t got all that information from the province,” he told council. “But our approach during budget was let’s just start saving and building a reserve and getting our taxation in line to be able to handle it.”
Adams echoed a concern that Richman and other councillors had articulated at previous meetings: that Pemberton’s police dispatch would be responsible for responding to calls outside of the community but not seeing funding responsibilities shared by those areas that fall under the dispatch’s purview.
To that end, Richman told council Pemberton has teamed up with the municipalities of Cumberland, Gibsons, Sparwood and Bowen Island to write to the B.C. solicitor general and attorney general on the tax burden associated with a municipal police force.
SIDEWALKS
With the ice long gone, we thought the sidewalks were safe again. Not quite so, according to a letter by resident and community health nurse Ana Trinkaus. Her letter flags issues with the state of “community mobility and sidewalk infrastructure” in the Village.
Those issues are: uneven and damaged
sidewalks, sidewalks with a lean designed to facilitate snow and water removal but provide a hurdle for those with mobility challenges, insufficient curb ramps and crosswalks, insufficient lighting, obstructions like parked cars, overgrown vegetation and a lack of connected pathways.
“These issues not only impact the safety and convenience of pedestrians but also hinder the development of a vibrant and inclusive community,” Trinkaus wrote. “Mobility limitations have been associated with increased fall risk, hospitalization, a decreased quality of life and even mortality.”
Council motioned to forward the letter to the Village’s accessibility committee.
ON PUBLIC CONSULTATION
Two separate letters expressed concern about a lack of consultation on the Parkside development. That feedback involves concerns about increased congestion in the area, a lack of new parking options, and how narrower streets and walkways could lead to cramped quarters that “create congestion and even animosity between neighbours.”
Both residents were responded to by staff, according to Richman. He also noted there was “no legislative requirement to open these conversations to the public.”
“I hear the frustration, but I also feel
that their points were discussed during our conversation,” he said.
Councillor Ted Craddock also reminded council that Richman offers a chance for attendees to ask questions towards the end of every council meeting, yet in-person meeting attendance remains low.
Council acknowledged those attending via Zoom can’t be seen by councillors.
They motioned to have a review of some of those public consultation processes on the books, while also noting many of the points raised in the letters were discussed at length when council was originally considering bylaw updates for the Parkside development.
“If people think they’re going to get a chance to weigh in before a decision’s made, then we have to manage that expectation,” said Richman.
APPROVING OFFICERS AT URDAL
The last letter discussed at length by Council involved concerns over the environmental impact of a development application for a subdivision on the Willow Drive side of 7471 Urdal—notably, the flood risk associated with filling in part of the floodplain, impacts on wildlife and the impact of construction on neighbours.
SEE PAGE 37 >>
ADVENTUR EBYD AY
Lil’wat Nation re-opens
Hitching Post Motel
‘I’M
JUST HAPPY SEEING OUR PEOPLE OPERATING OUR MOTEL ON OUR LAND.’
BY LUKE FAULKS Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
FRESH OFF purchasing the Mount Currie institution, the Lil’wat Nation has re-launched the Hitching Post Motel.
More than 60 community members joined Lil’wat Business Group (LBG) staff and elected officials to celebrate the grand re-opening of the motel with a land blessing and luncheon on April 7. The 12-unit motel, purchased earlier this year by LBG, marks the organization’s first foray into the tourism retail sector.
“I’m just happy seeing our people operating our motel on our land,” said Political Chief Skalúlmecw Dean Nelson in a speech.
Despite the business being situated within Lil’wat’s downtown core in Mount Currie, the motel was always operated by owners from outside the Nation, until it was sold in spring 2025. Business group CEO Rosemary Stager previously told Pique she couldn’t remember a time when the motel wasn’t there, going back at least 50 years.
The Nation has been buying up property and redeveloping land on Main Street, including the Spirit Circle Building and the old Blue Motel, in an effort to provide new housing and business opportunities. Case in point, in the Blue Motel’s place, a major mixeduse development is underway, following a successful re-zoning application with the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District in 2023.
Chiefs and council started considering the Hitching Post as they moved through Main Street in search of spots to redevelop, recalled Stager. The purchase was finalized in January, making LBG the largest land owner in Mount Currie.
Qaqawam Chris Wells, Sík Sík Joshua and Án’wasúlmec Brett Wallace kicked off the afternoon’s ceremony with singing and drumming, followed by speeches, a prayer from elder Priscilla Ritchie and a land-
COUNCIL BRIEFS
blessing ceremony that included smudging the motel, according to a release from the Nation. Cultural chief Gélpcal Ashley Joseph and Chief Nelson shared their joy about the new acquisition.
The motel will be managed through LBG’s Retail Operations. Retail Operations general manager Graham Turner, who led a hiring drive in early 2025 in advance of the motel’s re-opening, spoke about the opportunity the motel offers before introducing new manager Melanie Montgomery. Montgomery had previously operated a nine-bedroom B&B in Niagara on the Lake in Ontario. During her introductory speech, she spoke highly of the people she had met during her first month on the job and of the team she had assembled.
“It’s been amazing,” she told members of the Nation in attendance. “People have come up to me to introduce themselves and share their stories. I have felt so welcomed.”
Members of the Nation shared some of those stories on social media.
Wells spoke to the role the hotel played in the community and the “shenanigans” it had hosted over the years, to laughs from the audience. “We all have stories here,” he said. “Some we don’t want to tell.”
Stager previously told Pique the Nation was looking to upgrade the hotel.
“We want to eventually re-brand the name and just give it an overall facelift,” said Stager. “[We’ll] make the outside nicer, do some more landscaping, touch up the rooms, update them a bit.”
To that end, the new team behind the motel has introduced Indigenous branding elements to rooms, including Salish-designed bed throws and local art on the walls. “In the coming months, more branding elements will be added to the Hitching Post as it prepares for a busy summer season,” according to the release.
Food provided for attendees of the motel’s opening, including soup and bannock, was provided by Tsípun Supermarket Catering. n
FROM PAGE 36
The letter asked council to reconsider the development application.
Coun. Jenny Helmer singled out the environmental concerns listed in the letter.
“She brings up some very good points and concerns for somebody who lives in that neighbourhood,” said Helmer
Chief administrative officer Elizabeth Tracy noted that under the B.C. Land Title Act, a subdivision application is handled by municipal approving officers, and is therefore outside of council’s purview. The officers take into account a wide range of environmental assessments.
Helmer said that, while she had “utmost faith in the approving officer,” she had questions about how council comes into play as residents’ representatives.
“I think this is a fundamental flaw in the
system,” she told council. “We live here and we represent the voice of the community and these are exactly the issues that we should be debating and conversing about.
Richman said similar conversations about bylaws and rezonings associated with development are under council’s purview, but there is an upper limit to how granular council should get on environmental assessment.
Coun. Katrina Nightingale noted that as Pemberton develops more previously undeveloped spaces, environmental review processes have to keep pace. She singled out the Valley’s unique biodiversity as needing proper balancing with housing goals.
Council motioned to have the letter, and any future letters on the Willow Drive development, forwarded to the approving officer. n
On greed, cowardice and #Never51
GIVEN TRUMP’S sabre-rattling over Canada’s sovereignty and real threat of annexation (if you still aren’t taking this seriously, stop here), I’ll say out loud what many find themselves silently contemplating: If Canada were invaded, would I fight?
In the event, much like Ukraine, each of us would need to decide in an instant whether to take up arms or roll over. And if we fought, well… as in 1812, blood would spill between neighbours, families and (former) friends.
This is no longer the absurdity it sounds. A Second World War vet I once worked with explained how when he and his platoon mates shot at Nazis they didn’t think of them as agenten of an enemy, and the enemy was Hitler. So, they were shooting at Hitler—not young men like themselves conscripted in their prime to an imperial white-supremacist suicide mission. And you can see how easily this can happen; at this point it wouldn’t take much to see yourself in a fight-to-the-death to save Canada—and the world—from a destructive, delusional fascist, a righteous quest in which we’d automatically dehumanize any frontline vanguards.
Hopefully it doesn’t come to that and we find more-savvy ways to repel the in-creep of conservative greed and cowardice. Regardless, the stakes remain high in the current federal election, in which the only outcome that really matters is the kind of Canada that emerges from the ballot box— which, for the 60 to 70 per cent of Canadians who vote progressive, will hopefully be the nation of enduring decency and imperfect progress we know and love. The True North strong and free.
I won’t further attempt to saw through the Gordian knot of what has come to pass between Canada and the U.S., but offer some factoids to consider before marking your X. Remember: Election #Never51 is for all the marbles.
THE GOOD
Patrick Weiler, our current Liberal MP, is the best representative this riding has ever seen. Motivated, engaged in our community, and possessed of a high level of understanding about the necessary integration of economic, social and natural values, he has delivered on everything from environment (i.e., a landmark greenwashing bill) to infrastructure and housing (i.e., almost $600 million worth in the riding since 2019). A summary: https:// shorturl.at/eqmGH. Bottom line: even without the added benefit of reinstalling Mark Carney as PM, we’d want Weiler back.
Trudeau had to go. He’d become an often-ham-fisted distraction guilty of the worst of political crimes: having one of the worst comms teams imaginable. And yet… “It matters deeply that it is not criticisms of policy failures or proposals for reform that have caused Trudeau’s downfall, but rather a coordinated campaign of misinformation and personal attacks from the right,” wrote Laurie Adkin, professor emerita of political science at the University of Alberta of this “right-wing propaganda coup d’état.” Yes, the sand had run out on Trudeau’s leadership, but his government’s record (also viewable at the link above), remains impressive, with many lasting social, economic and environmental accomplishments—as well as adept stickhandling of crises like Trump 1.0, the pandemic, global post-pandemic inflation and Trump 2.0—the latter, ironically, Trudeau’s final but finest hour.
THE BAD
By contrast, author and historian Andrew Cohen calls Stephen Harper’s decade, “a failure... He created nothing lasting. Of prime ministers since 1945 who served a full term or more, his is the thinnest record… His legacy is style: small, nasty, narrow, divisive. [He] misread the country. His instincts were dark and conservative in a decent, progressive [nation].” Harper’s former lapdog Pierre Poilievre (PP) is a man 10 times as small, nasty, narrow and divisive.
Indeed, the Trump dumpster fire has showcased many other conservative leaders as horrible, greedy, cowardly people able to turn a blind eye to criminality, the most naked abuses of power, and violations of civic freedoms, landing the U.S. on international human rights and democracy watchlists. Propelled by unfocused anger, we’ve seen one-dimensional far-right voters put such things aside. We cannot allow this to happen in Canada.
According to Business Insider, Elon Musk’s DOGE fired some 216,000 federal workers, most trained specifically for specialized jobs in security, defense, foreign aid, disaster relief, science, medicine and health. In addition to stated Orwellian attempts to “root out” progressive policy and thought from U.S. institutions—the act of cowards afraid to do the hard work of equality—these unconsidered firings have created high unemployment among the highly educated, a huge hit to tax revenue, and a staggering loss to U.S. science capacity.
PP wants to do exactly this in Canada. Arno Kopecky, campaign reporter for the National Observer: “Everywhere Poilievre touches down, thousands turn out, and everyone knows his lines… ‘Axe the taxes’ and ‘stop the crime,’… It gets darker fast, as [he] waxes on about halting foreign aid, ending support for ‘woke’ research, shuttering the CBC and unleashing more oil and gas.”
The Trump administration continues gaslighting over fentanyl and manufacturing capacity, problems caused not by other nations but by American greed. Not only did corporate avarice gut the country’s manufacturing sector, but it invented and distributed, through wildly lucrative sales incentives, the fentanyl that led to the opiate crises—a crisis America then exported to the rest of the world where other criminal players decided to cash in on it.
As malign and ill-considered as Trump’s tariffs are, people forget (or never knew) that America has always been a bully when it comes to trade, and that many of their global defense commitments already come at the cost of economic concessions (i.e., build a Coca Cola plant in Togabanga and we’ll put a destroyer within a thousand miles of your unprotected island). More countries would happily pay their fair share for U.S. defense if America paid its fair share for the pollution and environmental degradation—including
climate change—caused by its global corporate hegemony.
THE TRULY UGLY
Mark Bourrie, historian and winner of the Charles Taylor Prize, is the bestselling author of Ripper: The Making of Pierre Poilievre. “[PP] is an angry teenager in the body of a grown man. He made his name on sneering, incivility, insults, over-the-top accusations and utter meanness… the nastiest leader of a major party in this country’s history.”
Conservatives steal from each other, notes Bourrie, then steal back. He frames PP’s frequent comparison to Trump (Trump Lite, Mini Trump, Maple MAGA) as iniquitous. “[Canadian Conservatives] started this stuff,” he says. “They pioneered a lot of what [Trump’s] now doing… the degrading of mainstream media, the attacking of institutions that are checks on authoritarian power, etc. All this stuff was happening in Canada before Harper lost in 2015 and Trump didn’t even run until 2016.” Which explains CPC Trump acolytes like interim leader Candice Bergen and PP’s own campaign manager, Jenni Byrne, both photographed proudly sporting MAGA hats. If it walks like a MAGA and talks like a MAGA… well.
Finally, like the closet authoritarians they are, PP’s Maple MAGA backers (hello oil and gas!) are now publicly threatening to split up Canada if we don’t vote for him. While we’re rallying to fight Trump, Alberta’s traitorous RWNJs and MAGAt lickspittles Danielle Smith and Preston Manning are publicly fighting Canada. The upside of this cowardly betrayal? If there’s an invasion, we already know who the quislings are—who will choose to roll over.
Leslie Anthony is a science/environment writer and author who holds a doctorate in reversing political spin. n
BY LESLIE ANTHONY
STRAINED TIES Remember: Election #Never51 is for all the marbles.
PHOTO BY WILDPIXEL / ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS
The end of magical thinking—Canada, let’s get real
BY GORDON CAMPBELL
DONALD TRUMP has become the most influential political figure in Canada. Is that what’s best for Canada?
The contagion that is Trump’s trolling has led to collective amnesia. We seem to have forgotten both who we are, and the damage Liberal policy has done to Canada over the last 10 years.
We should resist this form of Trump derangement in all its manifestations and focus on Canada’s priorities, act independently, and come to terms with how far Canada has gone off course, weakened as a direct result of Liberal mismanagement of immigration, health-care, education, housing, the cost of living and the economy. No one has been untouched.
Preston Manning’s warning that a Liberal victory could heighten Western alienation was made because he cares about a unified Canada. Prime Minister Mark Carney said Mr. Manning’s warning was “unhelpful.” There’s not much distance between his “unhelpful” and Trudeau’s “unacceptable.” It reflects the dismissal the West has known for too long. Carney’s reaction was far from pragmatic. He says, “I know the West” but really he left 41 years ago. Davos is not Drumheller. He’s carrying on the Liberal way.
For nine-plus years a Liberal government, that Carney advised, held Canada back. We have been made more vulnerable by policies that hurt our economy. Carney pretends he he has had a “road to Damascus” conversion on Canada’s energy and natural resources. He hasn’t. He has one priority—to retain power.
would rather pay full price for our energy than the current 70-plus-per-cent discount assured by Bill C69 and C48? Delivering Canada’s energy to international markets in Asia and Europe dramatically reduces our dependence on Trump’s America, improves the global environment, and supercharges Canada’s economy. Currently, Americans derive more economic benefit from Canada’s energy resources than Canadians do. Carney guarantees this unacceptable status quo.
We need pipelines. Building pipelines is pragmatic. Not to build them is wrong.
There can be no vetoes, either provincial or Indigenous, to nationally vital infrastructure. Pipelines are vital. The federal revenues they generate can be shared with the Indigenous people. If a province threatens to stop one, then they should be denied any equalization payments.
We need to strengthen Canada by acting as one nation where national interests take precedence over provincial or political ones.
Most troubles Canada faces were generated by the Liberals, not by Donald Trump.
An election is no time for magical thinking. It is time to get real.
Simply ask, has the last nine-plus years strengthened and advanced your interests or Canada’s? Is your family better off?
Canada’s economy is in decline, percapita GDP is at the bottom of the OECD list. The flight of capital has reduced opportunity and hopes for the young in every region. The massive Liberal debt build-up will not be paid for a generation. Health-care we had will be a distant memory for our children. Carney wants to borrow more. If this continues, we strip our children of their future.
Vote for the next generation and for a Canada ready to take on the future, independent and free to pursue Canadian dreams.
A pragmatist would never have supported, as Carney did, the Liberal energy policies that continued our reliance on the U.S. A pragmatist would not retain Bill C69 with its impossible Impact Assessment Act, a true straitjacket on Canadian prosperity. A pragmatist would repeal Bills C69 and C48, knowing they create insurmountable barriers to critical national infrastructure. Far from the “build faster than we can imagine” words that Carney says, Bill C69 sends a clear message to all: don’t invest, don’t build. Canada is not open for business in the energy sector. All Canadians should understand that.
The commitments Carney’s made since his telephone call with Trump will stop or stall nationally essential pipelines to the Pacific and the Atlantic. Does anyone really think Trump
Mr. Carney and the Liberal plan reinforces the status quo, stifles our resource sector, borrows more, spends more, taxes more, and increases the debt our children and grandchildren will have to pay. It means a rising cost of living and stagnant paychecks. It damages Canada’s economic future and divides our country. Their policies undermine Canada as one country. Policies that divide hold Canada back.
Forget Trump! Vote for Canada. Vote for its future. Vote for the next generation and for a Canada ready to take on the future, independent and free to pursue Canadian dreams.
Gordon Campbell was the premier of B.C. from 2001 to 2011 and leader of the BC Liberal party from 1993 to 2011. n
cannabis retail landscape, Capturing Whistler’s seven years after legalization Slow burn
By Brandon Barrett
Photos by Braden Dupuis
Even by the usual slow churn of local government, the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) took a decidedly cautious approach to regulating cannabis retail. Where other jurisdictions jumped into the fray not long after Ottawa legalized recreational marijuana in 2018, it would be half a decade before Whistler saw its first dispensary, A Little Bud, open in Function Junction.
It is arguably a sign of how both Whistler, once a countercultural haven for hippies and burners seeking an alternative to the 9-to-5 grind, and Canada’s prevailing weed culture, have gone mainstream.
With an extensive approval framework that set out strict criteria for prospective pot shops, the RMOW eventually landed on a total of five permitted stores in the resort, each operating under a three-year temporary-use permit. With the opening, in late 2024, of The Nest at Nesters, all five shops are now up and running.
Just in time for 4/20, the world’s unofficial weed holiday, Pique checked in with the stores to see how business has been going so far, what it’s like operating in a ski town that welcomes
the world, and the boons and barriers of an industry that hasn’t been the cash-cow some predicted it to be. (Representatives for This Is Cannabis, located by Mountain Square, did not return requests for comment.) We also toured the Sea to Sky’s only certified organic legal marijuana producer, Coast Mountain Cannabis in Pemberton, for a window into the production side of the business.
So, roll one up, burn one down, and let’s get into it.
High times
To a person, local cannabis retailers all expressed a desire to have entered the Whistler market earlier than they did, but they ultimately appreciated the thoroughness the RMOW applied to its approval process.
“Honestly, man, I found it took quite a bit longer than we hoped for,” said Spensir Sangara, founder of THC Canada on Main Street. “Overall, the experience was good, but we definitely ended up waiting a lot longer than we hoped for. At the end of the day, when we did end up opening, it was perfect timing around Christmas with the snow coming down.”
While acknowledging how rigorous the process was, Randy Tingskou, owner of A Little Bud, said he found it “very transparent, relatively easy to navigate, and there was communication with the RMOW.” Counting stores in White
Rock and Summerland, Tingskou said Whistler was “one of our more favourable cities to apply in. It did come with a lot of requirements, but they aligned with the values that we as a brand and myself as a human being really believe in.”
On top of provincial and federal requirements, cannabis retailers had to meet the RMOW’s extensive list of approval criteria, with favour given to applicants for providing a living wage and housing to staff, committing to climate leadership, and pursuing Whistler’s health and social strategy goals.
While some retailers wondered why such stringent criteria have been placed on cannabis shops when alcohol merchants don’t have to make the same commitments, for the most part, they are happy to give back to the community they’re operating in. For the stores that can afford it, that has meant crucial donations to local charities. Tingskou said A Little Bud, for instance, donated a combined $18,500 last year to groups such as the Whistler Community Services Society and PearlSpace, as well as the Lil’wat Business Group.
But for the shops that didn’t have the months-long head start A Little Bud did and have only recently turned a profit, social enterprise has been a taller order.
“We want to do more giving back to local charities, but with the store just entering profitability now, it’s been on the backburner because we’re still repaying debt,” explained Jeff Sweetnam, who co-owns Spiritleaf, which opened in Creekside in late February 2024.
One barrier to profitability for retailers was a provincial
requirement that applicants had to already own a property or have secured a lease agreement for their store before a cannabis licence could be issued. On top of the many costs already associated with launching a business, spending thousands of dollars on a storefront without any guarantee of securing a licence proved another tall mountain for retailers to climb.
“For a business, that’s a massive expense, holding onto a lease for a year and a half when you might not be able to open,” said Sweetnam, who added that he wished Victoria offered municipalities a more detailed framework to guide decision-making.
“I don’t think the problem lies with the local government, but the provincial government and their lack of ability to introduce a framework that works for everyone. They put more work on us, on council, and on the RMOW,” he said. “You want the municipalities to have their own independence because every city is different … but I think the province could have given more guidelines or a structure to play within.”
Partnering with local First Nations
Advancing Whistler’s reconciliation goals was another element of the RMOW’s merit-based approval system, with favour given to applicants who committed to partnering with the Lil’wat or Squamish First Nations.
“We met with the retailers ourselves and talked about a revenue-sharing agreement, but we also talked about ways we can potentially be allies in the industry and how we could help or even possibly further partnerships down the road,” explained Rosemary Stager, CEO of the Lil’wat Business Group. “Definitely for the first year we were building that relationship, and then I think this year we’ll see the first payments on the percentage of revenue.”
Initially, the potential for a partnership meant the Lil’wat requested 51 per cent of a store’s business, which, while increasing a shop’s chance for approval, proved to be a nonstarter for retailers. Ultimately, it was agreed that two per cent of profits would be shared with the Nations.
“We thought there could be very worthwhile partnerships to look into, which could give one of the businesses an advantage,” Stager said. “We’re just learning about it all and exploring the possibilities and learnings from other First Nations’ cannabis businesses in B.C.”
Stager sees opportunity down the line for the Lil’wat,
particularly with the province offering incentives to join or increase participation in the cannabis industry. The B.C. Indigenous Cannabis Fund, launched in 2022, covers the cost of licensing and permitting for Indigenous-owned businesses and First Nations, and also offers capital to support the launch or expansion of cannabis businesses.
“There are certainly special privileges for First Nations business in cannabis with the province now, so we’re keeping a close eye on that and looking at how we could partner or take advantage of those with any of the retailers,” Stager said.
So, how’s business?
No matter which way you look at it, it’s clear Canada’s legal cannabis industry, what with its litany of regulations, high tax rates, and tight restrictions on marketing, hasn’t turned into the moneymaker some anticipated.
It’s a reality Andrew Ellott was keenly aware of before entering the cannabis retail game. Co-owner of The Nest, Whistler’s only locally owned dispensary, with his wife Karen, the Ellots also own Nesters Liquor Store, an industry with similar margins. Given their years of experience in the local market, and with some urging from their landlord, the Ellotts decided to apply to open a dispensary in Nesters, the last of the five permitted licences available.
“I’ve been in Nesters so long, and I’ve known the landlord so long … and he contacted me, saying, ‘We’re getting all these freaking people from Ontario and all over the country trying to contact our tenants, trying to buy tenants out of their space.’ Everyone wanted that last licence,” he said. “There’s a lot of synergies with the liquor business and I thought, ‘Maybe we can do something here.’ But I’ve had a lot of people already calling trying to buy it from me, all these guys who missed out. There’s guys who’ve got 200 stores across Canada, and they want one in Canada’s party town, because they have the leverage and the buying power to squeeze much more out of it than a single store owner like I am. It helps in their marketing, because Whistler’s this iconic place.”
Several other retailers mentioned this as a key element of Whistler’s appeal: although they may not make a fortune here, there is inherent value in being associated with the Whistler brand, not to mention the opportunity to sell product to destination visitors eager to sample B.C. bud.
“For us, I think it helps make us an international brand,” said Sangara of THC Canada. “You’re getting tourists from all over: from Asia, Europe, Mexico. Every day we find we’re getting customers from around the world and we think it’s
helping us expand our brand.”
Even with that association to Whistler and the West Coast, getting the word out can be a challenge for retailers, who are seriously limited in how they can market their business. The Cannabis Act tightly restricts marijuana marketing in Canada, including the promotion of pricing or distribution; appealing to young people; using testimonials or endorsements; depicting a person, fictional or real, character, or animal; and, vaguely, associating brand elements with “a way of life such as one that includes glamour, recreation, excitement, vitality, risk or daring.”
Asked what he’d like to see changed about the legal pot industry, Sangara was quick to call for relaxed laws “that let us really market the way that any other product is, similar to alcohol. They have different rules that hold us back from marketing to the full extent we want to.”
Between those marketing restrictions and the shop’s off-the-beaten-path location in Function, A Little Bud has positioned itself first and foremost as a dispensary for locals, offering discounts to Whistlerites and an additional discount to Function residents and workers.
“Function is starting to find its stride a bit more and people are becoming more aware of what’s there, but with the marketing restrictions, and the sign restrictions in Whistler, it’s very hard to make people know we’re there,” said Tingskou, owner of A Little Bud. “We were aware there would be obstacles to overcome in Function, but it puts us in a better position to serve the locals of the community first.”
Now that the industry’s shine has worn off somewhat compared to the early days of legalization, Sangara believes the retailers that will stick around are the ones who can overcome the barriers of today.
“We’ve been in the game almost a decade now and these last couple years have been some of the more challenging years we’ve experienced,” he said. “We truly feel the ones that make it out of this time are going to be set up for a long run in the industry.”
A sidebar about Coast Mountain Cannabis, suppliers to the world
Walking the twisting, gleaming white halls of Coast Mountain Cannabis’ 17,000-square-foot Pemberton facility can feel a little like being dropped into the labyrinthine Lumon office featured in Apple TV’s hit sci-fi series, Severance—except without the same pervading sense of dread. In fact, every staff member we meet on this unseasonably warm winter day seems to beam with positivity. Maybe it’s a consequence of wanting to put their best face forward for local media, but you get the sense it’s more than that. For this crew of growers and trimmers, many of whom previously worked in the black-market cannabis sector, it’s an opportunity to earn a legit living producing a product they believe in.
“The idea that we’re in B.C. [appeals to consumers], which I think is more about the wealth of black-market knowledge here,” explained Ellott of The Nest, who is also the co-founder of Coast Mountain Cannabis. “These guys just love being around the place. They are people who are really passionate about the industry and they get paid pretty well. It’s a reasonably good, solid job. If these guys weren’t working for us, they’d probably be doing some job in the tourist industry, commuting to Whistler every day. But now they’re able to work close to home and have decent jobs. That makes you feel good as an employer, that you’re giving people good jobs they can make a living at and they’re excited to go to work and are passionate about what they do.”
Along with serving the recreational market, Coast Mountain Cannabis is also certified to produce medical marijuana, regularly shipping its award-winning organic marijuana directly to its 700 or so clients. Ellott, who said the
medical side makes up about five per cent of the company’s business, sees it as a growth opportunity.
“The biggest focus for me personally is growing the medical side, because … there is still a really, genuinely big medical market, and we sign up new medical patients every day,” he added.
Ellott, one of few organic licensed producers in Canada, has also positioned Coast Mountain Cannabis to capitalize on medical and legal marijuana markets in other countries, such as Australia, where medicinal weed is already legal and consumers are willing to shell out big bucks for B.C. pot. Aussie legislators also introduced a bill in 2023 aiming to legalize
cannabis for recreational use. (The bill is currently pending a second reading and debate in the Senate.)
“If you think about the global markets, they are only going to get bigger,” he said. “And I think because people now realize the cost of building these production facilities, Canada’s got so much weed that, if you’re in Australia, the U.K., why would you try and grow it? Because you can just source it here at prices you probably couldn’t grow it for, especially in Europe and Australia, where electricity prices are so high. I mean, it’s prohibitive. So we have a huge advantage.”
Global markets are a fast-growing part of Coast Mountain
Cannabis’ business. In 2023, Ellott said exports made up five per cent of the company’s revenue, rising to 48 per cent in 2024. This year? He estimates that ratio to reach as high as 90 per cent.
“The export numbers are going to be staggering this year compared to last year and the year before,” said Ellott.
Putting so many of his eggs in the export basket is at least partly due to how difficult it is to make money in the domestic market. (Ellott said 2025 will likely be the first year Coast Mountain Cannabis turns a profit.)
“We’ve been in the most inflationary global environment these last five years … and cannabis has gone completely the opposite direction. It’s literally gone down 60, 70 per cent in the time that everything else has doubled and tripled in price,” he said. “Cannabis has been in such a deflationary environment that we feel it’s stabilized … I mean, it can’t go any lower because nobody is making any money, really.”
Ellott has hope the market will turn a corner, particularly if the incoming federal government takes a close, hard look at the industry.
“They must know they’re the problem. If they could decrease their involvement in the industry, that would help,” he said. “There is hope that, in a post-Trudeau government, there will be some fresh eyes on the industry.”
Ellott is always looking for new ways to monetize the business. He has ambitions to launch public tours of the state-of-the-art, 17,000-square-foot facility in Pemberton’s Industrial Park, “anything we can do to squeeze out incremental revenue,” he said.
As for the future of legal cannabis production in Canada, Ellott thinks the first step will be to continue trimming the industry’s excess fat.
“In the future, there will be more consolidation,” he said. “I think the good thing is, over the last three years, we’ve seen huge amounts of excess production being taken offline as people … have shuttered million-dollar, million-square-foot facilities. That’s happening all across the country. So, the amount we’re producing is starting to come back to equilibrium.” n
Truth Smith, Jackie Carlson prevail at The Grind Whistler snowboard final
FELLOW LOCAL JULIETTE PELCHAT SECURED SILVER
BY DAVID SONG
LOCALS KNOW HIM as a World Cup slopestyle athlete, a skateboarding aficionado and a member of prolific winter sports filmmaking crew Shmobb. As of April 12, Truth Smith is also The Grind Whistler’s inaugural snowboard champ among men.
Smith locked horns with Dane Menzies in the big final and emerged with gold, forcing his Kiwi opponent to settle for silver. Bronze went to Colton Eckert.
Jackie Carlson, meanwhile, dusted off her board to win the ladies’ event over Juliette Pelchat, with Adel Talyspayeva rounding out the top three.
“I am fired up,” remarked Smith, who wowed viewers with big backflips and a plethora of technical rail work. “The game plan was just to have fun and try to feed off the Whistler crowd. Felt like I boarded really well, and I had a lot of fun with my friends.”
Carlson, for her part, said: “I just played it
as smart as I could tonight, and I guess it paid off. When I saw them building this [venue], I definitely had a pit in my stomach. My plan was to try and hit every single feature at least once, just do what I could on it, and I pulled that off in the qualifiers. That got me a spot in the finals.”
for over a decade and am looking forward to this movement growing.”
The competition featured a number of interesting plotlines.
For example: Smith got to ride with his Shmobb buddies Chomlack and Lane Weaver, both of whom got a front-row seat to witness
“The game plan was just to have fun and try to feed off the Whistler crowd. Felt like I boarded really well, and I had a lot of fun with my friends.”
- TRUTH SMITH
Best Street Trick recognition went to Caleb Chomlack and Carlson, while Bryan Bowler and Talyspayeva were awarded for Best Technical Trick.
All in all, the nascent marriage between The Grind and the World Ski and Snowboard Festival (WSSF) is off to a good start.
Series director Rich Hegarty commented in a press release: “I have envisioned The Grind in Whistler Village headlining the WSSF
him triumph. Carlson basically came out of retirement to prove her skills remain up to par—and then some.
“Shout-out to my best friend, Caleb. He was bringing the vibe and he kept it there all night,” quipped Smith. “It’s everything I’ve ever wanted, everything I’ve ever dreamed of. I’ve been growing up watching WSSF events, big airs, and competing in littler rail jams here. Now to be a part of this big one, having my home
crowd here, my family, it was unreal.”
“I’m a judge now,” Carlson said. “Honestly, I thought The Grind was going to message me to judge this event, and they ended up messaging me to compete. Every girl did something insane. Any girl hitting that closeout is insane. That is so high-consequence, so high-impact, and I think I saw two, three, maybe even four girls hitting it. Props to them. Props to everyone. People took slams and got up.”
Let’s not overlook Pelchat, who grew up alongside many of her fellow competitors— including younger sister Amalia (a.k.a. Billy).
“It was definitely a scary course to get into, but so fun to ride, and I’m stoked to put some things down,” said Pelchat. “I haven’t hit features like this before. Honestly, I just wanted to land that front three out of the plaza feature and I did.
“The feeling is incredible. It’s really sick. I was riding for myself and also for [the late] Jeff Keenan today, so it felt really nice to put some tricks down. The sense of community was so sick. Definitely touched my heart … I’m not home enough. My respect goes to every girl in snowboarding and every human in snowboarding. I think everybody’s creative, and everybody brings a different aspect to [our sport].” n
TOP OF THE CROP The men’s snowboard podium from The Grind Whistler on April 12.
PHOTO BY BEN GIRARDI
Luke Smart clinches men’s ski title at The Grind, Caoimhe Heavey victorious among ladies
ZOE
GREZE-KOZUKI EARNED SILVER DESPITE A CRASH
BY DAVID SONG
ONE YEAR AFTER HITTING the podium at The Cut Rail Jam, Luke Smart conquered a brand-new World Ski and Snowboard Festival (WSSF) event: The Grind.
Smart saved some of his best tricks for last on Friday night, April 11, besting runner-up Mat Dufresne in a high-octane final. Two-time Olympic slopestyle athlete Evan McEachran was relegated to bronze despite his strong skiing throughout the event.
“To be honest, I did not expect to even make it to the final round, and I’m just stoked to have put down the tricks when they counted,” Smart said. “Just skiing with all the boys, it’s a good time.”
Caoimhe Heavey rose up to secure gold among women. Zoe Greze-Kozuki followed up her recent overall win at Freestyle Nationals with silver, and Marion Balsamo›s consistent performance had her round out the top three.
McEachran and Greze-Kozuki were recognized for Best Street Trick in their respective categories, while Best Technical Trick went to Balsamo and Mark Hendrickson.
“I’m just stoked with all the girls and all the riding,” said Heavey. “I’m a big fan of rail jams. I love seeing them being held here. I live out here, and it’s so fun to have a rail jam at home. Can’t complain.”
Described as a street-style event, The Grind kicked off with an early February stop in Regina, Sask., where local snowboarder Keenan Demchuk prevailed.
“The Grind Series is a movement that is growing across Canada for the street-style and park rail scenes. Canada is a breeding ground for talent in one of the most mind-melting urban winter disciplines. Expect to see tricks that risk everything for glory and totally defy logic,” remarked series director Rich Hegarty in a press release.
If you missed the action and are unfamiliar with what “street-style” could mean: imagine
a competition focused solely on incorporating urban-style rails into your manoeuvres. Unlike slopestyle, there are no big jumps and judges put technicality at a premium.
It’s definitely not without risk, as GrezeKozuki learned. During the pre-final jam session, she lost her balance coming off a feature switch and the back of her helmet bounced off the snow. The Whistlerite skied off under her own power, but elected not to contest the final against Heavey.
“I took a pretty heavy crash. It was a little scary. I had a little headache, so I just wanted to play it safe because I would rather ski for the rest of this season,” Greze-Kozuki explained. “I just felt like I wouldn’t perform my best if I kept skiing under these circumstances, so I’m happy I made that decision and Caoimhe definitely deserved the win. I’m super happy for everyone.”
From her perspective, Heavey recalled:
“It’s a pretty gnarly setup, especially the bottom half with pretty steep drops, so my goal was just to come out, have fun and hit all the features. The good thing about jams is it’s a nice, fun environment. You talk to all the other riders, get a feel for what the features are like, everyone can go take a look and we’re not in a crazy rush.
“There’s so many ways that you can do difficult tricks. Swap combinations, I would argue, are as hard as spins on. Even though Zoe took a slam and she wasn’t able to compete, I wanted to try something new. I’ve never done a two-on disaster before and that was a gnarly rail to try it on, but … a couple of my homies told me I had time to do it. That’s the goal for any jam: a chance to learn in a really sick environment where everyone’s throwing down their best stuff.”
Smart was likewise complimentary of the venue and the overall contest atmosphere.
“WSSF is an awesome time of the year for Intersection, all the films and whatnot,” he said. “I found Arena Snowparks to be amazing. They did so well and it’s just a really cool, creative new setup. A bit refreshing from what we’ve seen before.” n
GROUND UP Caoimhe Heavey (left) and Luke Smart won the 2025 ski event at The Grind Whistler.
PHOTO BY JULIA THRIFT
So where on Earth are we going, exactly?
SOMETIMES A CAUTIONARY BROMIDE IS JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED
If we don’t change direction, we’ll end up where we’re going.
DUH… WHAT KIND of a no-brainer is that?, you’re probably thinking. But wait. Before ditching it totally, let’s re-consider—especially in light of one of the most important days of the year coming up just around the corner. And I don’t mean Easter, although that’s pretty special, too.
“They”—whoever the proverbial “they” is—variously attribute that little bromide,
BY GLENDA BARTOSH
above, as an old Chinese proverb, or a quote from Lao Tzu or any number of untraceable sources symbolizing all things distant, ancient and supposedly mystical that social media, and more, too often hide behind despite no factual evidence of any such provenance. Still, you can find it, and many variations thereof, posted on Facebook and more from here to Timbuktu. It’s even the epigraph in Jody Picoult’s best-seller, Nineteen Minutes, about a school shooting. (Consider it a cautionary sign.)
But let’s not quibble over this little saying’s origin story. Let’s be tolerant, as we Canadians often are, and offer it a bit
of consideration even though, or maybe especially because, it feels like a slice of mockumentary satire from the master himself, Sacha Baron Cohen—making us squirm and laugh at the same time because it’s as dumb as it is true, and something we really don’t want to realize about our confounded selves.
So hello, Earthlings! This is planet Earth speaking on the eve of yet another Earth Day coming up April 22 (as it has every April 22 since 1970, when it was started by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson to force environmental issues onto the national agenda) with a reminder that, duh… if we don’t change direction, we’ll end up right where we’re going.
And where’s that, exactly?
Well, let’s see… As reported by NASA (just one of many organizations crucial to the climate fight, and more, that are facing massive budget cuts under the current White House scythe), 2024, with its annual global surface temperature of 1.28 C degrees above average, was the 10th year in a row that was the warmest since record-keeping began in 1880. So how about 2025 will be the 11th in a row of warmest years? And 2026 the 12th, and so on—all pretty much the same no-brainer destination since we haven’t changed direction.
Note that when scientists started keeping those global temperature records back in 1880, it was right around the end of the first great big industrial revolution and the start of the second one—both of which profited great big industrialists, many of whom remain amongst the world’s superrich today. People who, as longtime activist Senator Bernie Sanders recently reminded us again at huge American rallies, are
central to the “extraordinary danger” of oligarchy festering in the U.S. and beyond. And don’t forget—those great big industrial revolutions, and the great big industrialists’ subsequent bank accounts, were largely powered by fossil fuels.
You also won’t have to wonder much about our “destination” this month, or the next, or the one after that, and so on, what with the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service reporting that, besides this past winter’s Arctic sea ice being the thinnest since record-keeping began, March was the 20th month in the past 21 months with global-average surface air temperatures higher than 1.5 C above the pre-industrial average. (Just a friendly reminder that 1.5 C was the “safe threshold” for limiting climate warming 196 parties agreed to in Paris at the 2015 UN Climate Conference. Ten long years ago.)
Of course, climate isn’t the only environmental disaster. We’ve got a biodiversity crisis. Huge extinction rates. Massive wildfires. Clean water issues, and more. But climate is arguably the biggest, baddest granddaddy of them all, and the fossil fuel train is still driving us on toward a bluntforce dead end.
It’s ironic—just when we need a new direction more than ever, climate and the environment are barely blips on Canadians’ radar. In the run-up to the April 28 federal election, with mass anxiety pervading due to Trump’s chaos, voters are mostly worried about affordability—even though a messedup environment actually costs us all more. A recent Angus Reid poll found that only 15 per cent of respondents said the environment/ climate change was their top concern—way down from 42 per cent in 2019. Carbon taxes
have been ditched after populist pushes, and long-rejected oil pipelines are touted as the latest panacea.
So how do we change the destination? The obvious no-brainer is to change direction, like our little bromide advises. But how do we do that, given the missed goals of the Paris Accord. The dwindling protests. The failed attempts at proportional representation to better represent voters—not influential billionaires. Then there are the high, but largely unfulfilled hopes for green energy sources—like solar, wind and hydrogen. (Anybody remember those hydrogen fuel cell buses that once served Whistler?)
Sure, progress has been made. But clearly not enough. Ergo in light of the upcoming federal election, 120-plus municipal officials from across the country pleasantly surprised Canadians with their “Elbows Up for Climate Action” public letter to five federal party leaders. (No Whistler signatories so far, but councillors Katrina Nightingale of Pemberton and Chris Pettingill of Squamish are there.) The letter urges leaders to steer clear of fossil fuels, like drill-baby-drill Trump is advocating, and avoid a climate disaster through jobcreating initiatives, like building a national electric grid, high-speed rail network and thousands of non-market green homes.
Sounds to me like a great roadmap for changing direction and destiny—if only we’ve got the vision and grit to do it.
So let’s go, Earthlings! Mother Earth is hangin’ on for dear life—but she can’t keep dangling much longer.
Glenda Bartosh is an award-winning journalist who knows we can do a million times better when it comes to environmental issues. n
SMALL WORLD Earth Week in Whistler runs from April 22 to 27.
PHOTO BY NITO100 / ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS
MEADOW PARK SPORTS CENTRE
NO CLASSES
Shmobb sweeps top honours at 2025 Intersection
THE RESERVES FINISH SECOND, FRIENDLY FIRE WINDS UP THIRD
BY DAVID SONG
ONE YEAR AFTER placing second in the World Ski and Snowboard Festival’s (WSSF) beloved Intersection film contest, Shmobb has won it all.
The local riders were named Best in Show on April 9 at the Whistler Conference Centre (WCC), scoring a $10,000 prize after an energetic night of action sports movies. Judges weren’t the only ones who loved Shmobb’s content, for viewers also granted them the People’s Choice Award.
A press release reads: “Known for their raw love of snowboarding, this tight-knit crew can be found chasing each other down the slopes, fuelled by friendship, loud music, cold beer, and pure rock and roll. When your first crew doesn’t answer? Call Shmobb.”
Last year’s champ, The Reserves, finished this time in runner-up position. These Whistlerites earned a $5,000 payout with their quality riding and palpable on-screen chemistry.
Friendly Fire, a gang of newcomers from Revelstoke, completed the top three and are going home with $2,500.
“Feels pretty insane,” said Caleb Chomlack, the driving force behind his brethren. “Can’t make that shit up. We knew we had it, and we made it happen. Thanks to all the boys. We’re so lucky to be here. For us to make something out of this opportunity was all we were trying to do.”
Zack Murray helped Chomlack film and edit their project, The Shmobb Show: a compilation of eyebrow-raising snowboard manoeuvres, random pranks and generalized irreverence. Other riders include Truth Smith, newly-minted winner of The Grind, as well as Finn Finestone, Lane Weaver, Sven Sandhal, Dash Klebe-McCulloch, Garret Baker, Stephen Linsey-Ross and Caleb Golls.
“Caleb told us he wanted to do a show of pranks and I was kind of like: ‘I don’t know
how that’s gonna work, man. I don’t know if this is it, but I trust you.’ And then f—ing creative mastermind Caleb Chomlack pulled through,” remarked Smith.
‘EVERY SINGLE MOMENT’
The members of Shmobb were obviously having fun on camera, but don’t discount their hard work. There were plenty of early mornings and long days to go around.
Murray had a trip to Japan on his schedule, but the filming window was established at four weeks instead of the anticipated 12 days. Shmobb filmed for more than two weeks straight upon his return, only missing a day because of a highway closure.
“We filmed every single moment we could and Caleb filmed every day before that [when I was gone], and then we got together and edited 34 hours over three nights—filming during the day, editing all night, sleeping an hour and working some nights as well,” Murray recalled.
To a man, they all felt their labour was worthwhile because they all grew up
watching Intersection. Snowboarding legends such as the Manboys have both won and judged this particular contest, and it’s no small feat to be mentioned in the same breath as that kind of outfit.
Shmobb also bears a lot of respect for their contemporaries and opponents.
“I mean, we know the struggles it takes to go through [Intersection]. Even having a month, it’s still not a lot of time,” said Chomlack. “[The other crews] all killed it too. Buck Hunters, f— ing love those guys, all of them. “
“The Reserves, they know how to make a video,” added Murray. “It’s so fun to compete against Joey Kraft, that guy’s a talented filmmaker.”
Going forward, Shmobb has a simple goal: continue to make more memories as friends, and inspire kids to try out what they feel is “the best sport in the world by far, and the best hobby in the world by far.” It’s a discipline that has given them fellowship and hardship in equal measure, but they wouldn’t have it any other way.
“We’re so lucky to have this life,” Chomlack remarked. n
Whistler Olympic Park is excited to offer a bonus weekend. Discounted tickets are available at $25 for adults, $10 for youth (18 and under) and $5 for dogs. Kids six and under ski for free. Tickets can be purchased at the gate only (not online).
> April 18 to 20, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
> Whistler Olympic Park
EASTER BRUNCH
Celebrate the flavours of the spring season with Chef Cliff Crawford’s scrumptious menu including everything you need to start the morning (or early afternoon) off right!
> April 20, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
> Wildflower Restaurant
EASTER AT NITA LAKE LODGE
Enjoy a delightful Easter brunch that’s perfect for gathering with family and friends. The buffet features a diverse selection of fresh and flavourful dishes to satisfy every palate.
> April 20, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
> Nita Lake Lodge
EASTER BRUNCH AND EGG HUNT
Four Seasons Resort Whistler welcomes guests to a festive afternoon featuring a decadent brunch complete with a glass of bubbly and live jazz music. The festivities are complemented by an Easter Egg Hunt for hotel guests from 1:30 to 2 p.m., offering an unforgettable experience for little ones.
> April 20, noon to 4 p.m.
> Braidwood Tavern
EARTH DAY PRIORITY HABITAT DISCUSSION
Celebrate Earth Day by joining in a crucial discussion on priority habitats in Whistler. This event, led by local ecological experts Bob Brett and Tina Symko, dives into the strategies needed to conserve Whistler’s most vital ecosystems, highlighting the importance of biodiversity and habitat protection in our local area. It aims to educate and inspire attendees to engage in local conservation efforts, safeguard natural habitats and promote environmental stewardship. Free to attend and for every meal or drink purchased, $1 will be donated to AWARE.
> April 22, 6:30 p.m.
> Hunter Gather Eatery
EARTH WEEK
Join AWARE to celebrate Earth Week in Whistler! April 22 marks Earth Day, which started more than 50 years ago and helped launch the modern environmental movement. Each year, AWARE hosts a week of workshops, presentations, events and fundraisers to inspire action and unite the community. Join to make an impact, take action and celebrate the place we all call home.
> April 22 to 27
> Various locations
OK, DOPE PRESENTS JON DORE LIVE IN WHISTLER!
Named one of “10 comics to watch” by Variety Magazine, Ottawa-born comedian, host, and actor, Jon Dore is renowned for his offbeat humour and unique bait-andswitch style. Dore is a favourite on the comedy club and festival circuit in Canada and the United States, enjoying sold-out runs at Just For Laughs Festivals in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver,
Before Whistler Kids
BY ALLYN PRINGLE
FOR MANY KIDS who grew up skiing on Whistler or Blackcomb Mountains in the 1980s and ’90s, attending ski school could be an important life experience that formed unforgettable childhood memories. Whether you attended Kids Kamp or Ski Scamps depended on which mountain you (or really, your parents) skied, and though it wasn’t something most students noticed, the schools were part of the competition between the two ski hills.
Ski Scamps was introduced on Whistler Mountain for the winter of 1983-84 in response to Blackcomb’s Kids Kamp, a ski school designed specifically for children. According to Mike Hurst, who began working for Whistler Mountain as a marketing consultant by 1982, Blackcomb was “a very competitive entity” from its early operations. This meant if Blackcomb had a program targeting families, Whistler had to have one, too. Whistler was able to find space and reorient some existing instructors with the help of ski school director Bob Dufour while Hurst secured sponsorship for the program from 7-Eleven.
would go skiing in Ski Scamps. According to an oral history interview in 2024, Nicoll loved Ski Scamps, though apparently her parents and babysitters might remember it a little differently. As hard as it might have been to get her there in the morning, Nicoll recalled coming home with a huge smile on her face.
Ski Scamps had different difficulty levels through which skiers would progress, but because her family did not stay for the entire season, Nicoll remembered she was “a red star forever—there was no getting rid of that bib.” She fondly recalled the structure at the learning area where they would eat lunch, often grilled cheese or hot dogs. According to her, “I remember it just smelling of sweaty gloves, but we were all in it together and it was amazing.”
One of Nicoll’s memories from her Ski Scamps days happened (as many do) on Pony Trail one Christmas Eve. She couldn’t remember exactly how it happened, but she knocked out one of her front teeth with her pole, leaving blood everywhere on the run. Luckily for her, her next door neighbour in Whistler was a dentist who told her family they had to go to the dentist in Squamish as she had knocked it back to the nerve and could feel it every time she breathed. As Nicoll
Though Whistler already had a ski school and offered lessons, Ski Scamps was a bit different. Instead of a private or small group lesson, it offered a full-day program throughout the season with different levels based on ability and special events, and included lunch. It was designed for children aged three to 12, and season-pass holders could even buy a $190 Scampers Pass that, along with their lift pass, offered unlimited access to Ski Scamps programs and lessons. Parents could drop their young skiers off in the morning and pick them up again at the end of the day after a full day on the hill.
One of those young skiers was Mercedes Nicoll, who began attending Ski Scamps in 1986 at the age of three. Though her family lived in Toronto at the time, her parents had owned a place in Whistler since the 1970s and would always come back for Christmas holidays and spring break. Whenever they came back, Nicoll
put it, “There’s little bits of the mountain where I have childhood core memories from, good or bad.”
This incident and her time spent as a red star didn’t hold Nicoll back on the mountain. After her family moved to Whistler permanently in 1995, she began snowboarding with some of her friends. She started entering local competitions and doing well, leading to a long career as a professional snowboarder and a four-time Olympian competing in the half-pipe.
After Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains merged under Intrawest in 1997, Kids Kamp and Ski Scamps came together to form Whistler Kids. Nicoll still sees some of her Ski Scamps instructors out on the mountain, and when she sees classes of kids skiing or snowboarding, can’t help thinking, “Oh, they’re living their best lives, they don’t even know it yet.” n
KID ROW Ski Scamps on Whistler Mountain in the program’s first season, 1983-84. GREG GRIFFITH COLLECTION
ASTROLOGY
Free Will Astrology
WEEK OF APRIL 18 BY
ARIES (March 21-April 19): I am always surprised when there appears yet another authoritative article or book that implies there is one specific right approach to meditation. The truth is, however, that there are many ways. Here’s teacher Christopher Bamford: “Meditation is naturally individual, uniquely our own. There are no rules. Just as every potter will elaborate their own way of making pots, so everyone who meditates will shape their own meditation.” This is excellent counsel for you right now, Aries. The planetary alignments tell me you have extra power to define and develop your unique style of meditation. Key point: Have fun as you go deeper and deeper!
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): From 1501 to 1504, the artist Michelangelo worked to create a 17-foot-tall marble sculpture of the Biblical king known as David. Today it stands in Florence’s Galleria dell’Accademia and is one of the most famous statues in the world. But the block of marble from which it was carved had a troubled beginning. Two other artists worked on it but ultimately abandoned their efforts, regarding the raw material as flawed. Michelangelo saw potential where they didn’t. He coaxed a masterpiece from what they rejected. Be like him in the coming weeks, dear Taurus! Look for treasure in situations that others deem unremarkable. Find the beauty hidden from the rest of the world.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The Judean date palm was considered extinct for more than 800 years. Then scientists germinated a 2,000-year-old seed discovered in the ancient fortress of Masada. That was 20 years ago. Today, the tree, named Methuselah, is still thriving. Let’s regard this as your metaphor of power, Gemini. You, too, are now capable of reviving a long-dormant possibility. An old dream or relationship might show unexpected signs of life. Like that old seed, something you thought was lost could flourish if you give it your love and attention.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): In more than a few ancient cultures, dolphins were regarded as playful allies that would guide lost ships and assist sailors in stress. In ancient Greek myth, dolphins were sacred companions and agents of the sea god. In Maori culture, dolphins were thought to deliver important messages that were unavailable any other way. Many modern Westerners downplay stories like these. But according to my philosophy, spirit allies like dolphins are still very much available for those who are open to them. Are you, Cancerian? I’m pleased to tell you that magical helpers and divine intermediaries will offer you mysterious and useful counsel in the coming weeks—if you are receptive to the possibility.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Do you know about the Leo liberator Simón Bolívar (1783–1830)? This Venezuelan statesman and military officer accomplished a cornucopia of good works. Through his leadership, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Panama, Bolivia, and Ecuador gained independence from the Spanish Empire. He was one of history’s greatest crusaders for liberal democracy. I propose we make him one of your inspiring symbols for the next 12 months. May he inspire you, too, to be a courageous emancipator who helps create a better world.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo conductor Leonard Bernstein was a global superstar because of his stellar musicianship, activism, philanthropy, and teaching. He transformed classical music by dissolving barriers between “high” and “low” culture, bringing elegant symphonies to popular audiences while promoting respect for jazz and pop. He wanted all kinds of music to be accessible to all kinds of listeners. I think you are currently capable of Bernstein-like synergies, Virgo. You can bridge different worlds not only for your own benefit, but also others’. You have extra power to accomplish unlikely combinations and enriching mergers. Be a unifier!
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): A rainbow is gorgeous, with its spectacular multi-hued arc sweeping across the sky. Here’s another element of its poetic appeal: It happens
ROB BREZSNY
when sunlight and rain collaborate. In a sense, it’s a symbol of the sublimity that may emerge from a synergy of brightness and darkness. Let’s make the rainbow your symbol of power in the coming weeks, Libra. May it inspire you to find harmony by dealing with contrasts and paradoxes. May it encourage you to balance logic and emotion, work and rest, light and shadow, independence and partnership. I hope you will trust your ability to mediate and inspire cooperation.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You now have more power than usual to transform ordinary things into extraordinary things. Your imagination will work at peak levels as you meditate on how to repurpose existing resources in creative ways. What other people might regard as irrelevant or inconsequential could be useful tools in your hands. I invite you to give special attention to overlooked assets. They may have hidden potentials waiting for you to unlock them.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): If you Google the term “the religion of work,” many critical references come up. They condemn the ways humans place an inordinate importance on the jobs they do, thereby sacrificing their health and soulfulness. The derogatory English term “workaholic” is a descriptor for those whose are manically devoted to “the religion of work.” But now let’s shift gears. The artist Maruja Mallo (1902–1995) conjured a different version of “the religion of work.” Her paintings celebrated, even expressed reverence for, the agricultural labourers of rural Spain. She felt their positive attitudes toward their tasks enhanced their health and soulfulness. In the coming weeks, Sagittarius, I invite you to explore Mallo’s version of the religion of work.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Astrologer Aliza Kelly likes Capricorns for their “fearless ambition, limitless resilience, and ability to keep pushing forward, even in the face of challenging adversity.” But she also praises their “secret wild side.” She writes, “Inside every earnest Capricorn is a mischievous troublemaker” that “loves to party.” I agree with her assessments and am happy to announce that the rowdier sides of your nature are due for full expression in the coming weeks. I don’t know if that will involve you “dancing on tables,” an activity Kelly ascribes to you. But I bet it will at least include interludes we can describe as “untamed.”
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): In 1922, Aquarian author James Joyce published Ulysses, a novel recognized as one of the masterworks of 20th-century world literature. Seventeen years later, he produced Finnegans Wake, an uproarious experimental novel that was universally reviled when it first emerged because of its wild wordplay, unusual plot, and frantic energy. In the ensuing years, though, it has also come to be regarded as a monument of brilliant creativity. It’s one of my favourite books, and I’m glad Joyce never wavered in his commitment to producing such an epic work of genius. Anyway, Aquarius, I’m guessing you have been toiling away at your own equivalent of Finnegans Wake. I beg you to maintain your faith! Keep going!
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Years ago, in the early days of my infatuation with a new lover, she put a blindfold on me and ushered me around the city of Columbia, South Carolina. The goal was to enhance my non-visual senses. The experiment worked. I heard, smelled, and felt things I would never have noticed unless my dominating eyesight had been muffled. Ever since, my non-visual senses have operated with more alacrity. This fun project also improved the way I use my eyes. The coming days would be an excellent time for you to try a similar adventure, Pisces. If my idea isn’t exactly engaging to you, come up with your own. You will benefit profoundly from enhancing your perceptual apparatus.
Homework: What could you do to transform one of your uncertainties into creative energy? Newsletter. FreeWillAstrology.com
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IT’S BEING called the most important, consequential, crucial, meaningful and bizarre election in modern Canadian history. It’s riding a wave of very un-Canadian-like nationalism, one that’s even seeing Bloc Québécois supporters migrate—perhaps temporarily—toward one of the two major parties. It’s got Canadians’ elbows up and, with the notable exception of Preston Manning’s perennial threat of Western secession— woefully unsupported by numbers—parading in-your-face pride of place.
BY G.D. MAXWELL
What remains to be seen is whether it’ll be enough to actually drive Canadians to vote in greater numbers than their abysmal turnout in federal elections, maybe cracking the 70-percent mark, a result not seen since 1988.
At the dawn of the new year, no one imagined this election would be touch and go. Smart money was on a truculent Trudeau clinging to power and leading the Liberal party to the bottom of the ocean on the good ship Hubris, a slaughter reminiscent to the one the Progressive Conservatives suffered at the end of the Mulroney era.
That was then. This is now.
In the final Days of Trudeau, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre enjoyed a 25-point lead in the polls. As of last weekend, that lead had not only evaporated but the new Liberal leader, Mark Carney, was outpolling PP by a consistent five to seven points.
Three things happened during that period. First, the reality of the U.S. playing its Trump card sunk in. An all-out assault against friends and allies, coupled with aggravating threats against the sovereignty of Canada and other “friendly” nations and economic war against the entire world awakened Canadians to a new world order, one far more threatening than anything faced since the end of the Second World War.
The new kid on the block, Carney, enjoyed a rep for being a calm, successful, economically savvy guy who seemed more likely to steer the ship of state through the turbulence ahead.
Finally, the unpleasantness of Poilievre, his everything-is-broken screed against the Liberals, was seen as a condemnation of Canada. His MAGA-lite populism, his high school denigration of those opposing him, his general attack dog demeanour wore thin with situational Conservatives who’d put a foot in that camp out of disgust with Trudeau. The natural governing party called them home.
This election, at least at the top of the ticket, is going to come down to an assessment of who Canadians think has the skills, the ability and the moral compass to guide Canada through the acid trip of Trump’s reality.
With the NDP sinking below 10 per cent in
polls, we have the two-party race with the Bloc close behind and the Green and Peoples parties running near the flatline of irrelevance.
But we don’t get to vote for the party leaders. We get to vote for the candidates running in our riding. Our politics are local... or should be. Voting a party line because of the leaders isn’t uncommon but it’s in our best interest to vote for the person we believe will best serve our interests, whether in government or opposition.
In Sea to Sky country, that comes down to voting to re-elect our current MP, Patrick Weiler, or voting for his Conservative
around the country tends to find its way to communities where the local MP has a strong voice. In our corridor, Pemberton, Whistler and Squamish have received more than $200 million, by way of low-cost loans and grants, through an alphabet soup of governmental programs, the vast majority of which has gone into creating supportive and below-market housing.
Millions more have been spent in other communities—Bowen Island, Gibsons, West Vancouver, communities on the Sunshine Coast. Those funds and the projects they helped build didn’t get there by gravity.
Regardless of your disdain for the many faults of the Trudeau era, it hasn’t all been doom and gloom.
opponent, Keith Roy. Hopefully at this point, few are seriously considering making their vote irrelevant by embracing the also-rans.
Patrick Weiler has served this riding for five years now. He’s been a very effective MP, an honest politician and a hard worker for this riding. In the three-plus decades I’ve lived here, we haven’t enjoyed a more productive MP.
He has shown an independent streak, being an early voice calling for Justin Trudeau to step down. He has delivered for our riding, from north to south, east to west.
The money governments scatter
They were deployed because we had a powerful voice advocating for the residents of this riding.
Regardless of your disdain for the many faults of the Trudeau era, it hasn’t all been doom and gloom. There has been major support for families. The Canada Child Benefit has directly reduced the level of poverty across the country. Many more families are paying far less for child care because of the rollout—by no means universal—of $10/day child care. Small businesses have seen tax rates reduced.
All these programs and more have left
the Liberal government open to charges of spending like drunken sailors. The reality is, deficits are the straw man of the opposition. Once in power, the concern fades. And the last government to run a balanced budget was, oh yeah, the one Jean Chrétien headed.
Patrick has been both humble and honest, unafraid to admit there are things he’d like to accomplish that just aren’t possible at this time. He has under-promised and over-delivered.
I don’t know what kind of MP Keith Roy would be. I only know what he says he supports. And, frankly, it doesn’t make sense to me. He continues to hold the party line that pretty much everything in Canada is broken... and broken by the Liberal government.
He trots out the usual Conservative nostrums—reducing personal income taxes, reducing corporate taxes, reducing capital gains tax, remove GST on new homes selling for under a certain price, getting tough on crime, returning Canada’s place in the world as hewers of wood and drawers of water, fasttracking mining and LNG projects.
He also says the Party will bring in a dollar-for-dollar spending law, requiring every new dollar spent be offset with a dollar of savings elsewhere. I’m unsure how he or his party square the billions of dollars of tax savings their promises will cost the treasury with cuts elsewhere. Or maybe it’s just new spending that counts. I believe one economist used to describe this as voodoo economics.
Even for the most cynical among us, those who believe elections always come down to voting for the lesser of two evils or voting for the devil you know versus the devil you don’t know, we know the devilish success Patrick Weiler has been as our MP. I look forward to his return to office after the 28th. n
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