Environmental setback
One item in the federal budget announced by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty on March 29, with significant implications for British Columbia, is a plan to streamline environmental reviews and cap their timeframes at two years. This will apply retroactively to reviews already underway, including the controversial Northern Gateway pipeline. Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently complained that the project’s review had been “hijacked” by out-of-province environment activists.
“We need to be more efficient working with our provincial counterparts,” said John Weston, MP for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country. “We need good, clear environmental standards and we need government to regulate them. What we don’t need is unnecessary delays and duplication of effort. The mantra is ‘one project, one review.’ The most ardent environmental advocates and the most committed industrialists will have to get together to determine ways to extract our natural resources in an environmentally sustainable way.”
Weston said a firm deadline will impose “a level of long-overdue accountability” on Environment Canada officials. He dismissed suggestions that the move is intended to limit public input.
“Two years is a generous period of time. Thumbs up or thumbs down, the decision gets made,” he said.
~ story by Benjamin Alldritt, North Shore News
Trio climbs high
A local trio delighted its audience and tied for second place in the 58th annual Young Musicians Chamber Music Competition held recently in Vancouver.
The Schweitzer/Hocking Trio of Eli Schweitzer on cello, his brother Josiah on piano and Madeline Hocking on violin, performed Piano Trio No. 2 Opus 67 Allegretto by Dmitri Shostakovich to impress judges. They are taught by Olga Tereschenko and Lynda Harris.
Finalists were selected from auditions held earlier in the year, and Schweitzer/Hocking Trio were contacted by Sheila McKay, host of CBC Radio’s North by Northwest for an interview which aired in February.
CFRO Co-op Radio 102.7 FM will air the entire concert, recorded at Koerner Recital Hall at the Vancouver Academy of Music, on Wednesday, April 11. The radio has live streaming through its website www.coopradio.org.
Next up for the trio is a performance in the national class at the Performing Arts BC provincial festival held in Nanaimo, May 27 through 31.
