BC Business
White Rock train | BCBusiness
Smoke signals The chemical fire at Port Metro Vancouver is out but is still raising alarms. Local officials and firefighters have no way of knowing what hazardous materials are being shipped by rail through their communities until 30 days later. White Rock Mayor Wayne Baldwin, who wants the tracks to be relocated, told Global News, “The only way we would know what exactly has been involved in an accident is for the firefighters to go down there on foot to find out. If it’s chlorine or hydrochloric acid…or a propane product, they could be dead.”
Hot airwavesWind Mobile and Telus were the big winners in Canada’s latest wireless spectrum auction. Telus was the biggest buyer, paying $1.5-billion for new airwaves in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec and increasing its spectrum 16 per cent. Wind Mobile, whose goal is to become the fourth national carrier, paid $56.4-million for licences in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta, increasing its spectrum 180 per cent. The next auction is April 14. (via Financial Post)
Wet blanket B.C.’s new legislation to charge corporations $2.25 per million litres of groundwater should be a good thing—but it’s not good enough, according to SumOfUs.org, a global organization that is “Fighting for people over profits.” So far almost 83,000 people have signed its online petition urging the B.C. government to charge a “fair” price for Canada’s groundwater and commit to review the water rates.