The mythical Wild West of British Columbia, a province founded on fishing, fur trapping and forestry, has become domesticated -- but lawmakers are fighting to preserve the historic power of the hinterland.
About 85 percent of people in Canada's westernmost province now live in densely-populated modern cities -- reflecting a global trend in migration. The UN predicts that by 2020, 60 percent of the world's population will live in urban centers.
But this shift has become painful and contentious. And now, as legislators prepare to pass a popular law to protect rural electoral representation, Canada's biggest civil liberties agency has declared war.
"It's people that vote, it's not mountains and hills and streams," said lawyer Rob Holmes of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association.
He said the proposed changes to the way the province elects its representatives would violate the "one-person-one-vote principle" and erase democratic equality.
The association, a national group, announced it would use Canada's Constitution to fight the law, to Canada's top court if necessary.
But well-organized and outspoken rural residents, as well as politicians from both main politicial parties, loudly objected to the change. The government's response was to change the electoral boundaries law.
"Reducing rural representation is unacceptable," said Justice Minister Wally Oppal, who introduced Bill 39 that would protect the number of elected representatives in three rural areas as the population falls.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
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