Action in Time

Vancouver Should Lower the City’s Voting Age from 18 to 16
Electoral Reform October 30, 2025 , by admin

Vancouver Councillor Pete Fry

Presentation to Vancouver City Council by Adriane Carr – Oct 29, 2025

Vancouver’s Unique Opportunity

The Vancouver Charter provides Vancouver the unique opportunity to be a leader and become the first municipality in Canada to change the voting age from 18 to 16. It requires Vancouver City Council requesting that the Province of BC make the Charter change, and the Province complying. To be in effect for the next municipal elections scheduled for October 17, 2026, the Vancouver Charter change must be enacted in the spring of 2026. The Province must also tweak the Election Act so Elections BC can include 16-17-year-olds in list extracts. Elections BC has collected this data since 2019.
Continue Reading »
Emily Lowan is the leader of the Green Party of British Columbia
Uncategorized September 27, 2025 , by admin

Emily Lowan

The Green Party of BC has just elected a new party leader on September 25, 2025, 25-year-old climate activist, Emily Lowan. Emily won decisively with over 60% of the votes on the first ballot.

Here is a recent speech by Lowan at the Union of BC Municipalities that was well-received:

Adriane Carr, a director of ActionInTime, was questioned on CBC by Stephen Quinn on her reaction to Emily’s win. What will Emily Lowan’s leadership of the B.C. Green Party look like?
Al Gore: Why Climate Action Is Unstoppable — and “Climate Realism” Is a Myth
Climate Change July 6, 2025 , by admin

In this hard-hitting talk, Nobel Laureate Al Gore thoroughly dismantles the fossil fuel industry’s narrative of “climate realism,” contrasting their misleading claims with the remarkable advancements in renewable energy. Drawing on data showing clear signs of progress across the world, Gore makes a powerful case that we already have everything needed to solve the climate crisis — and reminds us of what the most valuable renewable resource actually is.
THE REAL TRUTH: BC is one of the worst Greenhouse Gas (GHG) contributors, NOT a leader in reducing GHGs
Climate Change June 21, 2025 , by admin

The following was published as a Letter to the Editor in the Coast Reporter newspaper June 20, 2025.

I’ve got children and 3 young grandchildren here on the Sunshine Coast. I’ve become increasingly concerned about the huge gap between the political action needed to avoid runaway climate change which jeopardizes their future, and the results of government actions to date. I decided to check out the truth of how well BC is doing under the past and our current provincial governments. This is a summary that ChatGPT came up with. I think it’s worth publicly noting.

ChatGPT: On BC’s GHG emission record and its role in fueling global warming: BC has pledged to cut GHGs 40% below 2007 levels by 2030 and 80% by 2050. But as of 2021, emissions were still 64.6 Mt CO₂e — almost identical to 2007 levels (data from Canada’s National Inventory Report for BC, which is what Canada sends to the UN). BC has missed every interim milestone since 2010.
Continue Reading »
An MMP Electoral System for BC in 2025
Electoral Reform June 21, 2025 , by admin

Fairer for Everyone – Improved Democracy, Election Results that Reflect Voters’ Real Intentions

This is an updated proposal for a Mixed Member Proportional voting system for BC based on one originally developed by “Free Your Vote” participants Paul George OBC, Director of ActionInTime, and Adriane Carr, who was the proponent of the 2002 Citizen’s Initiative to Establish a Proportional Representation Electoral System in BC. It reflects updated best practices that are in place and functioning in other democracies, while respecting the political culture, population distribution and voter expectations in BC. Note: some of the information on these systems has been sourced through ChatGPT AI.

Overview

Our democracy is threatened by voter dissatisfaction and apathy: low voter turnout; increased frustration with feeling you have to vote for the lesser of evils instead of your real preference.

British Columbians deserve a voting system where they can vote for what they actually want, not “strategically” for the “lesser of evils” for fear of their vote being “wasted”.
- Every vote counts
- Every region has strong local MLAs
- Political parties earn seats in proportion to their support
- No more false majorities or wasted votes
This proposed 2025 BC Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system delivers all of this. It balances local accountability with more fair proportional representation-and it’s already used successfully in New Zealand, Germany, Scotland, and Wales.

Key Features of the 2025 BC MMP Model

1. Two Votes Per Voter
- Vote 1: For your local MLA (just like today).
- Vote 2: For a party, which contributes to that party achieving its fair share of seats.
This gives voters more power by adding to their current election of a local MLA with an additional vote for the party they feel represents their values and interests the best.

Continue Reading »
ChatGPT’s Answers to questions about the Impact Canadian Forest Fires are having on Climate, and issues arising from Prime Minister Carney’s first meeting with Canadian Premiers
Climate Change June 2, 2025 , by admin

Question to ChatGPT posed by Paul George OBC, Action in Time Director

Are the massive fires across the north of Canada and boreal forests releasing untold millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the air and pushing us past climate tipping points faster than scientists had imagined? Click here to view or download a PDF containing the answers to this and many other questions.
Roberts Bank Terminal 2 opposition demands answers from governments on expansion: Environmentalists, communities, and unions stand together
Roberts Bank Terminal 2 June 19, 2023 , by admin

June 14, 2023 press conference highlights government’s weak reasoning to sacrifice wildlife and ecosystems in the name of jobs and economy, based on false justifications and incomplete facts

VANCOUVER / UNCEDED xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh AND səlilwətaɬ TERRITORIES —
Labour, community, and environmental groups have come together in a united front against the
controversial Roberts Bank Terminal 2 (RBT2) expansion project, holding a press conference
this morning at Crab Park. With the federal government’s recent approval and the decision now
resting with the B.C. government, these groups are determined to halt the project, citing its
detrimental impacts on wildlife, the environment and job security.

Today’s press conference was organized and endorsed by 13 organizations including the BC
General Employees’ Union, International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Georgia Strait
Alliance and the Wilderness Committee.

One major concern workers and unions raise is the threat of widespread automation in the
sector. Representatives of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union say that RBT2 will
reduce family-supporting jobs as existing terminals will be forced to automate to compete with
the fully automated RBT2. They emphasize the need for jobs that do not come at the expense
of the ecosystems that sustain us.

Speakers from environmental organizations at the press conference highlighted the project’s
impacts on migratory birds, southern resident killer whales (SRKW), and chinook salmon. These
species, already facing significant challenges, will be further endangered by the expansion. The
project’s environmental consequences exist despite the inclusion of 377 lacklustre mitigation
measures and are deemed unacceptable by the opposition groups. Moreover, concerns have
been raised about the consultation process.
Continue Reading »
Sudden Silence: Hidden Voices
Drug abuse April 18, 2023 , by admin

Toxic illicit drugs have already killed more than 11,000 people in BC. This magazine, Sudden Silence: Hidden Voices tells the story of 16 of them through the voices of their loved ones, who are calling for a regulated safe supply. It includes a postscript by Vancouver City Councillor Adriane Carr and Action in Time Director Paul George.

A photo-voice project of Mothers Stop the Harm. Project lead: Deb Bailey. Published by Action in Time, April 2023. Photos copyrighted by Gabrielle Beer.

Click here to read or download the magazine.
Governments of Canada and B.C. Guilty of “Project Creep” and “Project Splitting”and Ignoring Public Submissions
Tilbury LNG September 8, 2022 , by admin

A press release from the Boundary Bay Conservation Committee

Do you want dangerous LNG Tankers daily on the Fraser River, in Burrard Inlet, and through the
Salish Sea?

Over a thousand public submissions voicing concerns have been ignored and buried.

Ignoring due, and legal, process, the Governments of Canada and B.C. refuse to appropriately
call for a federal Review Panel Environmental Assessment of plans for massive, full-scale LNG
operations, including an LNG Marine Terminal, at Tilbury Island, Delta.

Through a sneaky process called “Project Creep”, the Governments of Canada and B.C. have
allowed a small LNG operation at Tilbury Island to gradually expand without any environmental
assessments.

In 2015, the federal National Energy Board granted Tilbury LNG a licence to export 3.5 million
tonnes of LNG annually. Through Orders-in-Council in 20134 and 20145, the B.C. Government
permitted a 46-times increase in liquefaction and a new storage tank that almost tripled LNG
storage capacity.

Now the Governments are saying plans for a massive increase to full-scale LNG liquefaction and
storage is a separate project from the planned LNG marine terminal on the adjacent property,
with the same project owner, FortisBC. This Project-Splitting is to avoid the highest level of
assessment, a federal Review Panel Environmental Assessment. The projects are interdependent
with plans for LNG tankers daily transporting Tilbury LNG for local bunkering and for export.
Continue Reading »
Buried Public Input to the Tilbury LNG Marine Terminal Project
Tilbury LNG August 30, 2022 , by admin

A report from the Boundary Bay Conservation Committee, addressed to Hon. Steven Guilbeault, Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change. You can read it here (PDF).

They are concerned that due process has not been followed creating the potential for dangerous and damaging consequences to communities, as well as the Lower Fraser River and Salish Sea ecosystems.

Excerpt: “By approving the B.C. Substitution Assessment process, the federal government is avoiding a proper cumulative effects assessment of federal responsibilities: protection of federal waterways: impacts to fish habitat and populations; species at risk; shipping; transportation; dumping at sea; dredging of federal waterways; federal energy laws and regulations; safety; and emissions. These are the issues identified in public comments to the process and, summarily dismissed in responses as beyond the scope and responsibility of the Proponent.”