Lost City

Vancouverites could be forgiven if they have started to wonder what has happened to their beloved city these days. It all started with Expo 86 of course, when we were all so anxious to show off our magnificent location to the world and embrace the spirit of boosterism that went with the cleaning up of False Creek and the inauguration of a new driverless transit line called Skytrain. And sure enough the world took notice.

Before we knew it there was a construction boom and high-rise apartment buildings were going up all over the place. Overseas money was pouring into developments that were grander, richer, and more fantastic than anything ever constructed before. And property values started to skyrocket.

New high density neighborhoods were popping up in areas like Coal Harbour, the River District, Yaletown, Olympic Village, and the Cambie Corridor, with many others in various stages of planning. This didn't even count the even bigger developments taking place throughout Burnaby, Coquitlam, Surrey and Langley not to mention the North Shore. And in spite of all this supply the prices kept rising.

With all this new housing, traffic on the main roads is at the breaking point and the transit system can barely keep up with the demand. The original Skytrain line from Surrey to Downtown continues to expand with routes throughout Burnaby and Coquitlam, and out to Richmond and the airport. Construction has now started to bring it out to UBC in the west and Langley in the east with planners now looking to find a way to the North Shore. And of course everything is already years behind.

Then there are the unsexy, hidden parts of the city that have to be expanded to handle all of this development. Clean water, a sewage system, and other utilities like natural gas, electricity, and Internet connectivity. With this comes endless disruption as streets are repeatedly dug up and patched. And of course everything goes hopelessly over budget.

From approximately 1.5 million in 1986 to 3 million now, the Metro Vancouver population has doubled since Expo 86 and Vancouver itself has gone from 430,000 to over 600,000 residents. The neighbouring municipalities have also seen rapid growth with Surrey projected to pass Vancouver in population in the next few years. Where all these people have come from is a mystery.

However, in the midst of all this construction there is one thing the City has not kept up with and that is the Parks & Recreation facilities and Community Centres. Vancouver hasn't built a new community centre or swimming pool since 2009 and most of the inventory is more than 50 years old. There a total of only 8 indoor swimming pools of 25 metres or more in length and, with the exception of the Hillcrest pool, they were all in place before 1986. 

In 1986 there was one pool for every 55,000 residents and now in 2025 there is one pool for every 75,000 residents. With the planned closing of the Aquatic Centre in 2026 this will bring it down to one pool for every 85,000 residents. Not only has the City failed to keep up with the facilities required for a growing population they have also failed to maintain the ones they have. There used to be 9 outdoor pools in Vancouver and now there are only 4 with one of them, Kits pool, chronically out of service and 2nd Beach pool is still waiting for the showers and changerooms they were promised 30 years ago when the pool was built in 1995. In contrast Montreal has 74 outdoor pools and Toronto has 57.

The Community Centres and Recreation Facilities are what gives the various neighbourhoods their identity and provides a measure of human scale amidst the concrete jungle. For many folks these facilities are their church, and provide a source of both mental and physical health. In their absence the city becomes increasingly impersonal and residents lose their connectivity with where they live. Of course money is always the issue but with all the money being made by developers there was supposed to be something called Community Amenity Contributions that would go towards providing pools, parks, community centres, improved transit, and other services for an increasingly congested city. 

With every new development the City continues to grow but it's also been slowly losing its soul. Rising property values are pushing out the small merchants that provide character to a neighbourhood and drugs and homelessness are everywhere you look. With many apartments owned by absentee investors, buildings are dark and there aren't the expected number of people living in a given area to support the shops and restaurants. 

Yes times have changed, and we have gotten what we indirectly asked for but one can't help but feel nostalgic for less crowded streets, streets that were free of homeless people hunched over in drugged out oblivion, and well maintained streets and public facilities. Never mind housing and rental prices that are within reason. Vancouver has certainly been discovered but, for those who live here, it's in danger of becoming lost.

Looking Out My Back Door

 

Imagine my surprise the other day when I looked outside my window and saw a rather strange looking ship sitting at anchor in English Bay. Wondering what type of ship it was, a quick search identified it as a first of its kind ship-to-ship refuelling vessel, owned by Seaspan, that instead of diesel it supplies LNG. With LNG now coming into its own as a transition fuel for the shipping industry, this is a welcome improvement to the dirty bunker oil most ships are using. 

And in keeping with cleaner, low carbon solutions for the shipping industry, Vancouver is now one of the few places in the world to have electric tug boats operating in its harbour. With a fleet of over 200 tugs SAAM Towage is the largest tugboat operator in the Americas, and adding electric tug boats is a big game changer for the industry. Quiet, pollution free, and providing instant power when needed, tug captains are singing their praise.

But they weren't the first electric tugs to appear in Vancouver. The first electric tug in Canada, and the world, was the Haisea Wamis, owned by HaiSea Marine, a collaboration between the Haisla Nation and Seaspan. HaiSea now has a fleet of three electric tugboats and all of them are up in Kitimat where they are providing escort towing services for the LNG industry.

Both the HaiSea Marine and SAAM Towage tugs were built in the Sanmar shipyard in Turkey where most of the world's tugboats are made. Designed by Robert Allan Naval Architects and Marine Engineers and powered by Corvus Energy, two innovative firms, both founded in Vancouver, that have become leaders in clean marine technology.

Of course what links all this together is the new LNG facility in Kitimat that, after 7 years of negotiations with First Nations and various levels of government, followed by more than 7 years of constructing pipelines, processing units, tanks, and marine terminals, is finally getting ready to open. While still considered a fossil fuel, natural gas is viewed by many as a transitional fuel source for the world as it slowly shifts to nuclear, solar, and other sources of renewable energy. With some of the world's largest natural gas reserves and being the world's 5th largest producer of natural gas, Canada is well positioned to take advantage of this transition.

While the Haisla peoples in and around Kitimat have partnered with the LNG Canada consortium to provide employment opportunities for the community at the facility itself, the actual construction of the 670 km. pipeline by Coastal GasLink was considerably more complicated. Agreements had to be signed with all 20 bands along the route from Fort St. John to Kitimat and this exposed the decision-making challenges that had to be addressed between elected and hereditary leaders. There were numerous protests and court challenges but eventually the work proceeded and the pipeline was built. 

The Kitimat facility will be the first LNG export facility in Canada. LNG, which is natural gas cooled to a liquid state at extremely low temperatures, is loaded onto specially designed vessels where the gas is kept in tanks at a temperature of -162C for transport. This process reduces the volume of natural gas by 600 times making it easy to store. Since LNG does not contain oxygen it cannot support combustion making it very safe to handle. If LNG is somehow released it quickly vapourizes and disappears into the atmosphere without leaving any residue behind. LNG shipping has one of the best records in the world without a single cargo loss since the first commercial ship went into operation in 1964. Good thing because the Kitimat facility anticipates an LNG tanker leaving every day.

The miles of pipes in the Kitimat LNG facility are enough to bewilder any casual observer and even more amazing is that they come in pre-manufactured modules, 10 storeys high, from China that are then assembled on site. If all goes well a second phase is planned that will double production. But this isn't the only LNG export facility planned for B.C. there is also the Woodfibre LNG in Squamish, Ksi Lisims LNG in Gingolx, Cedar LNG in Kitimat, and Tilbury LNG in Delta that are coming on stream. Of course these facilities also require a tremendous amout of power to operate, whether it is hydroelectric, natural gas or a combination of the two but clearly they represent the future in terms of a net new energy source.

The U.S. has been quick to take advantage of Europe's need for LNG, following the destruction of the Russian Nordstream pipelines during the Ukranian war, but Canada was left out in the cold. So far all of our export facilities are based on the west coast with an eye on the Asian market. A pipeline to the East Coast is needed to open up the European market. Now that we have finally woken up to the threat of the U.S. to our economy and perhaps our very existence, this could be the opportunity for us to get moving on finally building a robust LNG export business. Change is in the air and looking out my back door I'm seeing a lot of LNG.

Let It Be

 

With 2025 already off to a rocky start thanks to governments everywhere falling apart, a psychotic buffoon elected President of the U.S.A., intractable wars in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, and the everlooming threat of climate change hanging over the world, there's never been a better time to consider the merits of stoicism. The problems of the world are too overwhelming and unsolvable so, rather than sink into despair, stoicism offers up a different way of looking at things and managing our emotions.

Take warfare for example. For over 2,000 years Europe has been at war with itself in a seemingly endless clash of ideology and religion to establish the boundaries of nations and empires in one form or another. From Greek and Roman empires through to the Middle Ages and then World Wars 1 and 2 it has never let up and here we are at it again with the Ukraine and Russia. Since it doesn't seem likely this will ever end or that the Europeans will ever learn from history why should we worry about it? Even before the Europeans, the various empires of the Middle East have been conquering one another over the ages with the Babylonians, Egyptians, Persians, Ottomans, and ultimately the Europeans trying to take control of the region with predictable results. Once again add a little ideology and religion into the mix and you have perfect conditions for endless warfare.

Global warming is another example of something we may have to examine in a different way. There's no denying we have put more CO2 into the atmosphere as a result of our fossil fuel consumption but unfortunately this is only going to get worse because our energy consumption is growing faster than we can supply it rather than slowing down. Even as we add solar, wind, and nuclear energy we still need the fossil fuels and other energy sources to maintain all of our activities. Energy intensive facilities such as new data centres to power AI and other technologies, are only adding to the problem. As energy historian Jean-Baptiste Fressoz points out in his book, More and More and More: An All-Consuming History of Energy, evolving high-energy societies incorporate their old energy addictions into new ones to solve more problems and, as a result, consume more energy of any kind. Rather than transitioning from consuming wood to coal, for example, we end up using even more wood to build timbers in coal mines and for building railways to haul the coal. Likewise we use even more coal to manufacture steel and other products to enable us to extract oil and transport it by pipeline.

Guera Mountains in southern Chad

There is however a positive aspect to all this increased CO2 in the atmosphere and that is the planet is starting to get greener. From the semi-arid Sahel region, a 3,900 km area stretching east-west across Africa south of the Sahara desert, to the deserts of northern China and southeast Australia, the world's drylands are turning green and the reason is surprisingly simple. Plants grow by photosynthesis (sunlight, water, CO2) and the high concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere makes it easier for this to occur and lets the plants use less water in the process. According to a Yale University study, validated by the University of California, there has been a 12% increase in photosynthesis world wide since 1982 as a result of this CO2 fertilization. So, while the Earth is indeed warming, the threat of desertification is receding and plants are moderating the build-up of gas in the atmosphere.

Alpine National Park in Victoria, Australia

Until we use up all the fossil fuels on Earth we will continue burning them and, as we continue to electrify the grid, our energy consumption will also increase as we mine more and more rare minerals to build the cars, solar panels, windmills, data centers, and nuclear power plants that will follow. We already know the end result of a warming planet is more rapidly melting polar caps, flooding, hurricanes, and forest fires but, because we can't prevent these things from happening, we instead need to learn how to live with these events and build our cities accordingly.

For example in Whitehorse, Yukon a 20 kilometre long fuel break around the south end of the city is being built to help prevent a wildfire from entering. The width of the break is between a few hundred metres to two kilometres. By removing coniferous trees and shrubs from the landscape and replacing them with slower-burning deciduous trees like aspen, the city will have a "living infrastructure" to help with firefighting efforts. Keeping buildings away from flood plains is another obvious preventative measure cities could encourage.

In the end the world's problems may not ever be solvable but there may be steps that can be taken to mitigate how they affect us. Focusing on happiness rather than despair will take some of the stress out of our lives. By practising a little Stoicism we may learn to simply let it be. 

Make Canada Great Again

Now that we've gotten over the shock of a convicted criminal and corrupt businessman being elected by the supporters of law and order, a sex offender and sexist pig being elected by women, a racist and anti immigration champion being elected by blacks and hispanics, and a sacrilegious, spiteful, liar being elected by the Christians, we need to move on and recognize the world is rapidly changing. Rather than wringing our hands in despair Canadians need to embrace the opportunities this change offers us in spite of tariff threats and other sabre rattling. A slap across the face and a kick in the ass is a good way for us to finally wake up.

First on the chopping block should be the dairy and other marketing boards that serve no other purpose except to inflate the cost of milk and cheese while protecting the incomes of the farmers who have managed to secure a quota. The farmers claim that without a marketing board they will go broke. Years ago a similiar situation existed in New Zealand where farmers went from a highly protected market to a very competitive open market and soon became a major exporter of dairy products in the process, thanks to improved efficiency and productivity. We could do the same.

If the Trump administration wants to bring in tariffs on our highly integrated auto industry then its a good time to shut down our subsidized car factories and ask for our money back from those companies who received grants, tax relief, and loan guarantees. With the world Electric Vehicle (EV) market now increasingly dominated by China, which has also cornered the market in car batteries, especially with the recent bankruptcy of Northvolt, we can now cancel the multi-billion dollar subsidies we promised to Volkswagen, Stellantis and others to try and build a competitive battery business. Nobody is going to want or need these batteries and it will save us billions.

Instead of being hewers of wood and drawers of water we should be adding value to our mining, forestry, and petroleum products. Rather than selling cheap crude oil to the U.S. let's refine it ourselves and sell them more expensive gasolene and diesel. Instead of selling raw ore to the U.S. or anyone else let's smelt it and produce the copper, zinc, and steel like we used to in places like Sudbury and Hamilton. And instead of exporting logs and 2x4's why not open up a pre-fab factory and sell pre-made houses?

And with regards to our NATO spending commitments this is a perfect opportunity for us to open up the North with roads connecting some of the communities like the Mackenzie Valley Highway extension, upgrading northern airports with Instrument Landing System (ILS) electronics so they can function in all types of weather, and building deep water ports to service icebreakers and other naval patrol ships. Billions can also be added to the economy by building ships, planes and armoured vehicles in-house which we used to do a lot more of. Remember that at the end of WW2 Canada had the world's 4th largest airforce and navy in spite of our relatively small population.

Best of all we can stop dragging our feet on producing nuclear power. We already have a world leading technology with our CANDU reactors and we should be the leaders in Small Modular Reactors (SMR's) development to power our northern communities as well as providing electricity to mining and other operations in remote areas. Demand for clean electricity is increasing by the day and adding more nuclear power plants to the electrical grid will give us yet another valuable product to export.

For too long Canada has been much too dependant on the U.S. for its economic survival and been all too happy to operate with a branch plant mentality. It's time we shook off those shackles and took advantage of our natural resources wealth to develop the industries the world needs and is willing to pay full price for. If we are going to subsidize anything let it be our own organizations and factories not the subsidiaries of American, European, or Asian companies. It's time for us to pull up our bootstraps and make Canada great again.

From Sea To Sea

While most folks know that Canada is the world's second largest country by landmass, not everyone appreciates that it also has the world's largest coastline by a wide margin. Bounded by the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic Oceans, the total coastline measures over 202,000 km. That's a lot of territory to keep an eye on though, to be fair, there isn't much going on in most of it. Still, each coastline has its own attractions and activities and together they make up a large part of the Canadian identity.

The Pacific northwest coast from Vancouver to Alaska has played host to the most successful groups of Indigenous peoples for thousands of years. Nourished by an environment rich in natural resources, particularly salmon and shellfish for food and cedar trees for home construction, dug-out canoes and artwork, this abundance of resources allowed them to build permanent settlements and flourish. It became the most densely populated First Nations area in Canada. Nowadays the coast is a playground for recreational boaters while thousands of others flock to Vancouver to board giant cruiseships and follow the coastline to the glaciers of Alaska while admiring the wildlife, rainforest, and rugged, snow capped, mountain ranges along the way.

The Atlantic coast on the other hand has a much different history, as it is here where Europeans first encountered the First Nations people a few hundred years before they did on the west coast. It was also the scene of many battles between the French and English and their respective native allies. The coastline is sprinkled with lighthouses, beautiful beaches, historic battlements, and lobster fishing fleets. It also boasts the highest tides in the world.

The Arctic Ocean is completely different from the Pacific and Atlantic. Not only is it much colder, it also serves as the highway to connect the few communities that exist in the North. The waters surround many islands that have weathered thousands of years of ice ages and glaciers, and the wildlife that exist are highly evolved to survive in this extremely harsh environment. The Inuit who live here have also managed to adapt and survive over several thousand years. But as unforgiving as the environment is it also has a certain beauty and each of the icebergs floating past are a unique work of art.

While the Arctic Ocean provides the greatest challenge to patrol, the Canadian government has outlined a large multi-billion dollar vessel shipbuilding program that will see up to 50 combat and non-combat vessels constructed for all of Canada's waterways. Half of them will be for the navy and the other half for the coast guard and they include 18 icebreakers. The ships promise to be best in class and in addition to security and protection will provide search and rescue services, emergency response, and a year round presence in the North in support of Indigenous Peoples.  200,000+ km of coastline is a lot of ocean to cover but if we want to ensure our sovereignty from sea to sea, it's probably our most important investment.