Conversations Live with Stuart McNish Oh Boy Productions

Preparing for disasters has long been a consideration in municipal, household, and business budgeting. Earthquake prep perhaps attracted the most public focus in recent decades, before the 2020’s, while funding for some other streams fell off. 
In late 2021 disaster preparedness became an urgent public priority virtually overnight when a series of storms dumped an unprecedented amount of rain on BC at the same time as unseasonably warm weather caused a rapid winter snow melt. Both the Fraser River in BC and the Nooksack in Washington State flooded, the water overwhelming dikes and plunging thousands of farms, businesses, and homes in the Sumas Prairie under deep water. Crops and farm animals alike perished on BC’s most productive agricultural land. All three highways connecting Metro Vancouver to the rest of Canada were severed, disrupting supply chains for shipments of food and other critical goods. 
Since then, BC has weathered a series of intense wildfire seasons that have burned vast stretches of forest and many structures, droughts, heat domes, and cold snaps. The need for disaster preparedness has never been more top-of-mind – whether at a household, government, or business level. 
We have brought together a panel of experts from business, First Nations, and government for a conversation about this critical matter – 7 p.m. April 30. The panel:

Christine Trefanenko, Director and Co-Founder, CCEM StrategiesTony Geheran, TELUS Chief Operations Officer and Executive Vice-PresidentRoss Siemens, Mayor of AbbotsfordLeon Gaber, KPMG National Lead, Emergency ManagementBowinn Ma, BC Minister of Emergency Management and Climate ReadinessTim Swanson, FortisBC Director of Corporate Security and Business Continuity
We hope you can join us for the conversation.

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On April 23 we will sit down for a 90-minute conversation with Premier David Eby – live and unscripted.
When we sat down with Mr. Eby a year ago he had been premier for just over 100 days. More than a year later the honeymoon is over.
Just this week S&P downgraded the province’s credit rating, expressing concern about BC’s financial health and rising operating deficit. BC’s most recent budget forecasts a record deficit of almost $8 billion for 2024-05.
For the first time in a decade more people left BC for other provinces in 2023.
Drug decriminalization is also in the news this week as it’s come to light nurses are dealing with rampant drug use and dealing in hospitals, while workers at some Victoria supportive housing sites are being provided respirators to avoid toxic drug smoke exposure.
The economy, housing, cost of living, transportation, tent encampments, drug decriminalization and deaths, healthcare, crime, gang warfare, bail reform, policing and the Surrey police transition, school overcrowding, extreme weather due to climate change, carbon taxes, rising antisemitism and islamophobia.
A challenging time to be BC’s premier, and an election is looming.
Join us for this special edition, 3:30 p.m. April 23 by webcast. We will take your questions for the premier on Slido.

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In December the BC Utilities Commission (BCUC) quashed FortisBC’s plans to build a natural gas pipeline in the Okanagan – a $327 million project that would have seen a 30-kilometer line and two related power stations built to meet growing demand for gas in BC’s southern interior.
FortisBC is warning that without additional natural gas transport capacity the region could start experience natural gas shortages in the winter of 2026/27, less than three years from now.
The reason? The BCUC found the plan did not account for a downturn in demand for natural gas as the province moves away from generating energy from fossil fuels and adopting more clean energy. The regulator found the forecast demand “is highly unlikely to occur.”
BCUC’s chair & CEO and the President & CEO of Fortis BC are part of our panel for a conversation about Energy & The Environment April 2. The panel:

Mark Jaccard, Chair and CEO of the BC Utilities CommissionRoger Dall’Antonia, President & CEO, FortisBCKaren Tam Wu, Climate action advocate & policy advisorBarry Penner, Chair of the Energy Futures InitiativeAndras Vlaszak, Director, Energy Transition Project Development & Finance, Global Infrastructure Advisory, KPMG
There’s no question the climate is changing and urgent action is needed. But is increasing electricity use the answer for BC?
Shortly after the BCUC decision BC Hydro revealed it imported about 20 per cent of the electricity British Columbians consumed last year – due both to constrained generation as drought reduced the water available at hydro dams and increasing demand as our population grows and we drive more electric vehicles and install more heat pumps in our homes.
Most of that imported power came from Washington State, California, and Alberta. According to the California Energy Commission and the US Energy Information Administration California and Washington State produce environmentally sound power from sources including hydro, solar, nuclear, and geothermal – but also from burning natural gas, biomass, and even coal. As for Alberta, according to the Canada Energy Regulator that province generates 89 per cent of its power from burning coal and natural gas.
The Site C Dam is set to come online this year and will help increase our available supply of hydro power, but the amount BC Hydro imported in 2023 is twice that facility’s predicted annual production.
Water levels are low due to drought again this year, and a recent report is warning the combination of increasing demand and generation constraints will only get worse in coming years, even with Site C.
What’s the answer to this very complex challenge?
We hope you can join us for the conversation – on webcast 7 p.m. April 2.

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Our media partner Postmedia is taking a closer look at the troubling issues of tent cities in an in-depth investigation. Join us 11 a.m. PT March 12 for a special edition of Conversations Live with Stuart McNish where we will take on this critical matter with Postmedia and a panel of people facing this issue in their work every day.
The impacts of tent cities are intensely local and personal – for both the homeless residents struggling to get through the day and the people living in the neighbourhoods around them. Yet far being isolated local issues tent encampments have become a national crisis, a reality for far too many communities across Canada - including many small towns.
By one estimate some 235,000 people now experience homelessness in Canada every year, and about a quarter of those stayed in a tent encampment. These ad hoc communities are often miserable - densely packed, dangerous, cold, and attractive to predators targeting vulnerable residents. Residents trying to stay warm resort to open flames and propane tanks inside tents, causing very real fire risk.
Yet, what option to their residents have? Like all of us they need a warm, safe place to sleep. Municipal and provincial governments are forming teams to take on this issue, but fact is there just isn’t sufficient shelter space and safe housing, let alone critical social service supports. 
Encampments have become an issue of fundamental human rights and safety. But there is no clear way forward.
We hope you can join us for this national conversation – on webcast 11 a.m. PT March 12.

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A report issued in January predicts Metro Vancouver will hit 3 million residents this summer, 4 million in 2041 – just 17 years down the road. Overall, the province is on track to have 5.65 million residents on July 1 – up about 150,000 in just one year – and is projected to top 6 million people in 2028, 7 million just a decade later. 
Every one of those people will need a safe and comfortable home, reasonably near work and amenities. Not to mention all the infrastructure supporting that home and related quality of life – sewer and water, electrical, gas, roads, transit, parks, schools, hospitals, grocery stores . . . . 
On February 27 we will re-visit the critical issue of addressing BC’s housing crunch with an outstanding panel including both the provincial minister and an outspoken suburban mayor.
The panel:
Ravi Kahlon – BC’s Housing MinisterRichard Stewart – Mayor of CoquitlamMichael Geller – Architect, planner, developer, and real estate consultantRyan Berlin – Vice-President and Senior Economist, RennieDavid Hutniak – CEO of Landlord BC
One of our panelists, Michael Geller, put BC’s population growth in critical context in a January 20 Vancouver Sun article:
“Going from 2.9 to 3.0 million to mind is not that significant,” said Geller. “But how we accommodate the next million, that’s significant.”
The province is taking “dramatic” action with new legislation aimed at significantly increasing density and adding more housing – particularly around bus loops and transit hubs. However, questions are being raised by municipalities about the workability of the province’s approach – especially where cities have been undertaking planned densification to ensure infrastructure is enhanced to keep up with more population. 
Cities like Coquitlam are raising local concerns, while also taking steps to manage the impact of growth and related construction, working to sustain quality of life while the community rapidly adds population. 
We hope you can join us for the conversation – on webcast 7 p.m. February 27.


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Join us for a special edition about organized crime in BC - 2:30 p.m. February 6. 
The panel:

Kim Bolan – Vancouver Sun reporterCalvin Chrustie – Partner, Critical Risk TeamFiona Wilson – Deputy Chief Constable, VPDNeil Dubord – Chief Constable, Delta Police 
We hope you can join us for the conversation.


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