David Jordan

It used to be that climate change was a nagging but distant concern for British Columbians, spurred by pictures of stranded polar bears and the sinking islands of Tuvalu. Then came the images that brought the devastation home: vast swaths of our iconic B.C. forests laid to waste by the...

A map of areas hardest-hit by the mountain pine beetle puts Quesnel at ground zero. The Central Interior city’s local forests were predominantly mature lodgepole pine, and they were virtually wiped out. Mayor Bob Simpson—whose CV includes a stint as provincial NDP forestry critic and another as an executive—believes the disaster...

Because the agents share an open office space, a breakout room was essential for privacy, as it’s needed. The reclaimed wood bench at the boardroom table—along with a smaller version in the sitting area—was one of the few items salvaged from the fir To add a personal touch, Powell used chalkboard...

Having been raised in apartheid South Africa, Fiona Macfarlane knows a thing or two about bias and its effects. When she came to Canada in 1987 as an immigrant woman trying to break into the legal profession, she felt its effects firsthand. Trained as a lawyer, she became an honorary...

It was July 2012 and the founder and principal of Kirk Talent Agencies was in Los Angeles when she got the phone call from a friend who was outside the building, at Second Avenue and Quebec Street, watching flames shoot out the windows. Within hours Kirk was on a plane, emailing...

Scan the “income” column, and you’d think 2013 was a disastrous year for B.C.’s gold miners. The bottom line is deceiving, however; one-time writedowns at the end of the year masked otherwise solid operating performances, and pave the way for profitability and continued growth. Goldcorp Inc. recorded a loss of $2.7...

When Canada’s anti-spam legislation kicks into effect on July 1, a lot of businesses that don’t think it applies to them will likely be in for a rude shock. The new law, known informally as CASL, or Canada’s Anti-spam Legislation, targets the usual spam practices, like automated harvesting of email addresses...

After Westport was spun out of UBC research in 1995, David Demers had a vision of natural gas displacing oil as the world’s transportation fuel—not as the solution to climate change or dependence on a finite resource, but as a transition fuel. (Sure, he says, fuel cells, or solar-powered jet...

A three-inch-thick red hose snakes across the polished-concrete floor of Brassneck lounge on Vancouver’s Main Street. From behind the partially opened door to the adjoining brewery comes the near-deafening squeal of a winch slowly lifting the lid to the mash tun, the giant vat where malted barley is steeped in...

The cosy world of crowdfunding, where neighbours pitch in to support a family in need, or an aspiring filmmaker raises a few thousand dollars to take his documentary to SXSW, is about to enter a whole new era. With the prospect of equity crowdfunding, appeals to support the local soccer...

Bitlit Media Inc., a Vancouver startup that secures free or discounted digital editions for owners of hardcopy books, has closed a round of seed financing. While the parties involved are not disclosing the amount, Mike Volker, one of the investors and president of WUTIF Capital (VCC) Inc., said it was within...

After announcing last October that he is stepping down as CEO of Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Inc., Peter Blake announced today that he will become CEO of WesternOne Inc., a supplier of services to construction and infrastructure companies, effective September 1. Blake started with Ritchie Bros as controller in 1991, and has...