When Fred Thiessen moved to B.C. 50 years ago, the beauty of the Kokanee Glacier took him in.
But lately, the provincial landmark isn’t looking as inspiring to the mountaineer and member of Friends of West Kootenay Parks.
“It was a different glacier then than it is now, in that there was much more ice and much more snow,” Thiessen said in an emotional interview with CBC News Network’s Hannah Thibedeau.
“In the 50 years since I’ve been here, I’ve watched the glacier retreat markedly … it’s harder to get around up there, and it makes me sad to go up there because what I used to see is not what I see now.”
WATCH | In retreat
In retreat
5 days ago
Duration 5:26
B.C.’s iconic Kokanee Glacier could be gone in 50 years. It’s not the only one. What are we losing? Mountaineer and member of Friends of West Kootenay Parks, Fred Thiessen talks about that with Hannah Thibedeau on CBC News.
Thiessen cited climate change for the disappearance of the ice, and the recession is making it more difficult for mountaineers and backcountry skiers to scale the glacier.
He said rising temperatures will also change the beautiful imagery associated with the province he calls home.
“We’re moving to a drier landscape, and those icy, shimmering mountain tops that we used to see aren’t going to be there any more,” he said.
Run-off effects
The disappearing glacier will have other detrimental effects — less cold water flow will mean warmer, drier streams.
Lower water levels in rivers is concerning to Jason Hwang of Kamloops, who’s vice president of salmon with the Pacific Salmon Foundation. That’s because it makes it harder for salmon to migrate and spawn.
“Kamloops is known as a place that’s hot and dry, but all of British Columbia has been seeing hotter, drier conditions,” he said.
“We’re starting to see some really significant effects now to our rivers and streams in the province.”
WATCH | Severe drought conditions in B.C. could threaten salmon runs
Severe drought conditions in B.C. could threaten salmon runs
9 days ago
Duration 6:52
CBC News Network’s Hannah Thibedeau speaks with Jason Hwang, vice-president, salmon, with the Pacific Salmon Foundation.
Hwang said the North Thompson River in Kamloops is about five degrees warmer than usual right now. Heat can have adverse effects on the salmon, he added, including death.
“This is what’s happening not just in this river, it’s happening in almost every river and stream in British Columbia,” he said.
A decline in salmon affects other fauna who consume them, such as killer whales, grizzly bears — and humans.
“It’s already affecting fishing opportunities. Fishing restrictions have been put into place to try to protect salmon returns,” Hwang said.
“The City of Kamloops right here has already restricted water use in public works facilities, in our parks and in our fields, and are asking citizens in the city to do the same, to voluntarily reduce water to try to leave as much as we can in the rivers and the ecosystem.”
Cattle conundrum
Though Vancouver Island is known for its wet climate, cattle rancher Brad Chappell said the region can get quite dry in the summers, and it’s increasingly parched.
Chappell, the president of the Vancouver Island Cattlemen’s Association, said ranchers are seeing only 25 to 50 per cent of the usual cattle feed yields, and wildfires have burned away many summer pastures.
“The cattle don’t have as much to eat, so you’re being forced to feed earlier with the winter feed that you’re already deficient on,” he said.
WATCH | Dealing with drought
Dealing with drought
12 days ago
Duration 7:58
Brad Chappell is a Comox, B.C., cattle rancher and the president of the Vancouver Island Cattlemen’s Association. He talks with CBC News Network’s Hannah Thibedeau about the summer so far; and how he and other ranchers are making out during a very dry season.
The situation became bad enough that Chappell’s family recently had to consider culling some of its herd, but decided against it.
“We just decided that we were going to borrow more money, and try to spend our way through this rut of production in the feed side of things,” he said.
But Chappell said others have made a different decision — auctioning off cattle they can no longer care for.
That’s concerning to Coralee Oakes, the B.C. United MLA representing Cariboo North in B.C.’s interior.
Oakes said the local cattle auction typically sees 300 to 500 cattle in July. This year, however, the number is 3,200.
“I talked to a family here, they’ve had to send their herds here because the fires impacted their fences and they had no choice,” she said.
“Already a lot of people can’t afford to fertilize. [There’s] so much increased costs, that it’s making it really, really difficult for ranching families and farming families just to make a go of it.”
WATCH | Cattle auction surge
Cattle auction surge
5 days ago
Duration 6:23
Drought conditions in B.C. have ranchers sending their cattle to auction in numbers greater than usual. How much greater? B.C. MLA Coralee Oakes was at a cattle auction in Vanderhoof when she spoke with CBC News Network’s Hannah Thibedeau about what she is seeing and hearing — at the show ring, and in the pasture.
Oakes said the issues should prompt government action, including financial aid, and a conversation about how to bring down the costs of agriculture and value agricultural workers more.
“People are making really difficult decisions, and for that next generation, how do they make a go of it when you’ve got all of these issues that communities are facing?”
Adapting to climate change
Winemaker and viticulturist Severine Pinte is trying to make a go of it in hotter and drier conditions, but it’s meant a lot of adjustments at her Oliver, B.C winery.
Though the vineyard is located in Canada’s only desert, Pinte, the managing partner of Le Vieux Pin winery, said it’s been an unusually hot and dry growing season. Temperatures have gone as high as 36 degrees.
Pinte said she’s been able to adapt with adjustments such as irrigating at night to minimize evaporation, switching from overhead irrigation to drip irrigation to conserve water, adjusting her growing season and testing the soil more rigorously.
WATCH | Climate extremes — a vintage view
Climate extremes — a vintage view
9 days ago
Duration 6:10
Winemaker & viticulturist Severine Pinte, managing partner of Le Vieux Pin winery in Oliver, B.C., talks with CBC News Network about growing grapes and making wine in Canada’s only desert; a challenge heightened by recent climate extremes.
“Trying to know what we’re working with is the key to manage the heat and the water consumption,” she said.
“There’s … a lot of different tools that we can use to manage the water and the heat.”
But between last year’s brutal heat dome and unpredictable periods of extreme cold, Pinte said climate change is having a noticeable impact on the business.
OTTAWA – The New Democrats confirmed Thursday they won’t help Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives topple the government next week, and intend to join the Bloc Québécois in blocking the Tories’ non-confidence motion.
The planned votes from the Bloc and the New Democrats eliminate the possibility of a snap election, buying the Liberals more time to govern after a raucous start to the fall sitting of Parliament.
Poilievre issued a challenge to NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh earlier this week when he announced he will put forward a motion that simply states that the House has no confidence in the government or the prime minister.
If it were to pass, it would likely mean Canadians would be heading to the polls, but Singh said Thursday he’s not going to let Poilievre tell him what to do.
Voting against the Conservative motion doesn’t mean the NDP support the Liberals, said Singh, who pulled out of his political pact with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a few weeks ago.
“I stand by my words, Trudeau has let you down,” Singh said in the foyer outside of the House of Commons Thursday.
“Trudeau has let you down and does not deserve another chance.”
Canadians will have to make that choice at the ballot box, Singh said, but he will make a decision about whether to help trigger that election on a vote-by-vote basis in the House.
The Conservatives mocked the NDP during Question Period for saying they had “ripped up” the deal to support the Liberals, despite plans to vote to keep them in power.
Poilievre accused Singh of pretending to pull out of the deal to sway voters in a federal byelection in Winnipeg, where the NDP was defending its long-held seat against the Conservatives.
“Once the votes were counted, he betrayed them again. He’s a fake, a phoney and fraud. How can anyone ever believe what the sellout NDP leader says in the future?” Poilievre said during Question Period Thursday afternoon.
At some point after those comments, Singh stepped out from behind his desk in the House and a two-minute shouting match ensued between the two leaders and their MPs before the Speaker intervened.
Outside the House, Poilievre said he plans to put forward another non-confidence motion at the next opportunity.
“We want a carbon-tax election as soon as possible, so that we can axe Trudeau’s tax before he quadruples it to 61 cents a litre,” he said.
Liberal House leader Karina Gould says there is much work the government still needs to do, and that Singh has realized the consequences of potentially bringing down the government. She refused to take questions about whether her government will negotiate with opposition parties to ensure their support in future confidence motions.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet hasn’t ruled out voting no-confidence in the government the next time a motion is tabled.
“I never support Liberals. Help me God, I go against the Conservatives on a vote that is only about Pierre Poilievre and his huge ambition for himself,” Blanchet said Thursday.
“I support the interests of Quebecers, if those interests are also good for Canadians.”
A Bloc bill to increase pension cheques for seniors aged 65 to 74 is now at “the very centre of the survival of this government,” he said.
The Bloc needs a recommendation from a government minister to OK the cost and get the bill through the House.
The Bloc also wants to see more protections for supply management in the food sector in Canada and Quebec.
If the Liberals can’t deliver on those two things, they will fall, Blanchet said.
“This is what we call power,” he said.
Treasury Board President Anita Anand wouldn’t say whether the government would be willing to swallow the financial implications of the Bloc’s demands.
“We are focused at Treasury Board on ensuring prudent fiscal management,” she said Thursday.
“And at this time, our immediate focus is implementing the measures in budget 2024 that were announced earlier this year.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
OTTAWA – Treasury Board President Anita Anand has been sworn in as federal transport minister at a ceremony at Rideau Hall, taking over a portfolio left vacant after Pablo Rodriguez resigned from cabinet and the Liberal caucus on Thursday.
Anand thanked Rodriguez for his contributions to the government and the country, saying she’s grateful for his guidance and friendship.
She sidestepped a question about the message it sends to have him leave the federal Liberal fold.
“That is a decision that he made independently, and I wish him well,” she said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was not present for the swearing-in ceremony, nor were any other members of the Liberal government.
The shakeup in cabinet comes just days after the Liberals lost a key seat in a Montreal byelection to the Bloc Québécois and amid renewed calls for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step down and make way for a new leader.
Anand said she is not actively seeking leadership of the party, saying she is focused on her roles as minister and as MP.
“My view is that we are a team, and we are a team that has to keep delivering for our country,” she said.
The minority Liberal government is in a more challenging position in the House of Commons after the NDP ended a supply-and-confidence deal that provided parliamentary stability for more than two years.
Non-confidence votes are guaranteed to come from the Opposition Conservatives, who are eager to bring the government down.
On Thursday morning, Rodriguez made a symbolic walk over the Alexandra Bridge from Parliament Hill to Gatineau, Que., where he formally announced his plans to run for the Quebec Liberal party leadership.
He said he will now sit as an Independent member of Parliament, which will allow him to focus on his own priorities.
“I was defending the priorities of the government, and I did it in a very loyal way,” he said.
“It’s normal and it’s what I had to do. But now it’s more about my vision, the vision of the team that I’m building.”
Rodriguez said he will stay on as an MP until the Quebec Liberal leadership campaign officially launches in January.
He said that will “avoid a costly byelection a few weeks, or months, before a general election.”
The next federal election must be held by October 2025.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he will try to topple the government sooner than that, beginning with a non-confidence motion that is set to be debated Sept. 24 and voted on Sept. 25.
Poilievre has called on the NDP and the Bloc Québécois to support him, but both Jagmeet Singh and Yves-François Blanchet have said they will not support the Conservatives.
Rodriguez said he doesn’t want a federal election right away and will vote against the non-confidence motion.
As for how he would vote on other matters before the House of Commons, “it would depend on the votes.”
Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos will become the government’s new Quebec lieutenant, a non-cabinet role Rodriguez held since 2019.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
— With files from Nojoud Al Mallees and Dylan Robertson
