New Carbon Tax for BC Addresses Climate Change, Ladner Lays out Decade Plan for Lower Mainlaind: VancouverIAM

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Well-Deserved Win for the Canucks against Wild

From Canucks Hockey blog , a relieved review of last night's 3-2 overtime win against the Minnesota Wild, making us feel a little better about the Canucks' postseason chances. “While Saturday night's win was more of a pure blood and grit kinda win,” our blogger writes in the post , “last night's had more of a playoff feel to it.” It was a very strategic game, with the Canucks controlling a lot of the play and creating more scoring chances.

The Canucks had a well-deserved win. “On even-strength, Ryan Kesler's line played well against Marion Gaborik's line. Sedin, Sedin and Naslund were clutch. Louie was clutch.” Ryan Shannon, Matt Cooke and Mason Raymond also played great and  Shannon is “beginning to look more comfortable,” more patient with the puck and more competitive without it.  Wild fans have some lingering animosity towards Mattias Ohlund for slashing Mikko Koivu, causing him to miss over 20 games, “but surely they haven't forgotten that that was a response to Koivu' dirty shot to Ohlund's head moments before that.” Ohlund had “26 minutes of ice-time, an assist on the game-winning goal and a plus-2 rating.”

Ladner Lays out Decade of Priorities for Lower Mainland

Peter Ladner takes a good look at our region’s long term plans while we sit “on the brink of approving two major land use and transportation plans.” TransLink’s 2040 transportation plan and the Metro Vancouver (MV) Strategic Growth Plan are “embedded in a host of principles,” like the Sustainable Region Initiative, and priorities, such as 33% greenhouse gas emission reductions over the next 12 years. Addressing the major inflow of hundreds of thousands of people into the valley and peninsula in the next 10 years is a major struggle for both initiatives.

Ladner discusses what he believes are out priorities in his post . One priority is “one planet living.” He sees eco-density as “just a start to realigning our looting ways so we consume only as many renewable resources as our one earth can provide.” We must also make “dramatic shifts in transportation modes” and a “massive investment in transportation infrastructure,” and he sees new capacity building to be doomed “without tapping new transportation revenues that influence behaviour.” Another priority is “the smart city,” technological advances that “improve our quality of life” and make us “more economically competitive.” Additionally, he cites affordable housing as a major priority, As “none of this will come to pass if working people can’t afford to live here.”

BC Implements Carbon Tax to Address Climate Change

Richard Littlemore over at DeSmogBlog announces that the BC government “broke ground” yesterday, “becoming the second Canadian jurisdiction to implement a carbon tax to address climate change.” The tax starts small, “amounting to 2.4 cents per litre of gasoline in its first year.”  This will triple in four years and “bring in a total of $1.8 billion Canadian over that time, according to Finance Minister Carole Taylor.” The tax is meant to be “revenue neutral,” and the government “has promised to account for the offset so people will be able to see where exactly the increased revenue is being returned to taxpayers.”

Littlemore writes in his post that ironically, the traditionally left-leaning New Democratic Party Opposition, “once closely tied to the environmental movement across Canada, found a way to attack this, probably the most decisive climate change policy initiative yet introduced in North America.” With a “left coast right-winger” leading the way, this makes “the kind of foundational policy shift that could finally begin to turn the fossil fuel supertanker around.”

Surly Bieska Sent to Moose

Over at AHL with Patrick Williams , our blogger announces that Vancouver has sent Kevin Bieksa to the Manitoba Moose “on a conditioning loan, and the 26-year-old will join the Moose in Chicago to meet the Wolves tonight.” Bieksa has suffered a string of injuries and has not played since Nov. 1, “when he suffered a lacerated right-calf muscle at GM Place against Nashville.” His return is definitely positive news for Vigneault. “Bieksa went 1-3-4 with 23 penalty minutes in 12 games with Vancouver before the injury.”

Williams states in his post that when Bieksa went full-time for the AHL in the 2004-05 season, “he was an immediate hit.” He combines “strong offensive ability with a truly surly disposition.” Last season, Bieksa became an NHL regular with the Canucks, “scoring 12 goals along the way,” as well as posting 134 penalty minutes.

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