Blog

Multiple rooms ‘ransacked’ in break-in to Whistler Secondary School, police say

Police Briefs: Pemberton man facing charges following bar fight; impaired driving enforcement

Police are investigating an apparent break-in at Whistler Secondary School (WSS) last week, according to a release. Mounties were first alerted to the forced entry at about 2:30 a.m. last Tuesday, March 26.…

Locals shine at Whistler Olympic Park

Whistler Nordic Development Centre competitors hit North American Championships podium

Gillian Gowling worked best in hot pursuit at the Whistler Olympic Park on the weekend. During the Canadian and North American Biathlon Championships, the Whistler Nordic Development Centre (WNDC) skier earned a second-place finish in the junior women’s division in the 10-kilometre pursuit.…

Mountain News: Assessing how snowmaking helps cause climate change

ASPEN, Colo.—Last week a federal judge ruled that the federal gover=nment must at least acknowledge the climate change impacts created by fossil fuels when deciding whether to issue oil and gas leases in Wyoming. In Colorado, an environmental group is asking a parallel question about ski areas and snowmaking.…

Lil’wat looks to break ground in Function, but where’s the traffic study?

Council briefs: Liquor policy updated for non-traditional businesses

A year and a half after receiving a development permit from the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW), a Lil’wat Nation development in Function Junction is looking to finally break ground this spring. “We got conditional approval in October of 2017 and have just been working to remove the conditions,” said Kerry Mehaffey, CEO of the Lil’wat Business Group.…

Registry of beneficial ownership aimed at lifting curtain on money laundering and tax evasion

B.C. introduces first property registry in Canada that shines light on companies, trusts and partnerships

A new, publicly accessible registry will play a part in fighting money laundering and other crimes by revealing the beneficial owners of property in B.C., says Minister of Finance Carole James. The government tabled legislation Tuesday (April 2) that will enable the registry on beneficial ownership in real estate, which it intends to release next year after passing the Land Owner Transparency Act.…

Mountain News: A story to beat all stories

CRESTED BUTTE, Colo.—Alex Theaker will likely have the most interesting personal story in anybody’s room for the rest of his life. The 28-year-old Crested Butte resident almost lost his life in early March when he went to shovel at a house in Mt. Crested Butte, the slope-side town.…

Canada’s failure to fight climate change ‘disturbing,’ environment watchdog says

Environment Commissioner Julie Gelfand says successive governments have failed to reach greenhouse-gas targets

OTTAWA — Environment Commissioner Julie Gelfand says Canada is not doing enough to combat climate change. Gelfand delivered her final audits Tuesday before her five-year term expires, looking at fossil-fuel subsidies, invasive aquatic species and mining pollution.…

Summer saviours: Squamish SAR’s season begins to ramp up

Tracking trends in search and rescue points to a busy time of year

In the last 10 years, the number of calls for help to Squamish Search and Rescue has doubled and the summer of 2018 made the local unit the busiest in the province. Last summer, Squamish SAR responded to calls where seven people died.…

Peiffer reflects on successful rookie campaign

Whistler Freeride Club alum finished sixth in FWT overall standings

Tom Peiffer’s Freeride World Tour career got off to a strong start with a third-place finish in his first-ever competition in Hakuba, Japan. While he didn’t return to the podium in 2019, Peiffer’s rookie campaign was strong enough to earn him sixth overall in the season and punch his ticket for the 2020 campaign.…

Infrastructure contracts awarded

Council brief: Sewer trunk lining, reservoir upgrades to take place this spring

Two more municipal infrastructure projects are set to move ahead with the awarding of two contracts at Whistler’s March 26 council meeting. The Sewer Trunk Main Lining Project ($1,266,479, GST excluded, to Mar-Tech Underground Services Ltd.) will get underway this spring, and include cured-in-place-pipe lining of about 805 metres of sanitary sewer trunk main (697 metres between Alta Lake Road and Function Junction and another 108 metres in Whistler Cay Heights).…

Wildfire breaks out in Squamish area

Blaze presumably caused by humans, as there was no lightning in the area

A wildfire has broken out between Garibaldi and Alice Lake, just east of the Tantalus Range. The fire is burning at the 17.5-mile area of the Squamish Valley Road, according to an SLRD alert.…

Canada warming twice as fast as rest of the world, scientific report shows

Warming is ‘effectively irreversible,’ Environment and Climate Change Canada says

Canada is warming up twice as fast as the rest of the world and it’s “effectively irreversible,” a new scientific report from Environment and Climate Change Canada says. At stake is just how bad that warming gets, said several scientists presenting the Canada’s Changing Climate Report in Ottawa Monday, April 1.…

Speaker issues update of dress code at B.C. legislature

Sleeveless dresses OK; full dress code review underway

The Speaker of B.C.’s legislature says a preliminary review of the building’s dress code now permits women to wear sleeveless dresses and sleeveless shirts. Darryl Plecas says a full dress code review is underway, but until the report is complete business attire for women includes sleeveless dresses, shirts and blouses.…

Darkside Skimo set to debut

Organizer Eric Carter ran last year’s Squamish ski-mountaineering quest

There’s a time and place to push one’s luck, but spring in the backcountry is neither. That’s a major reason why after last year’s sold-out Squamish Skimo race, organizer Eric Carter had some trepidation about the perfect storm of good fortune coming together again.…

Canadian retailers push for return of GST rebate for tourists

Canada is only OECD country with a value-added tax and no rebate for visitors

A Montecristo Jewellers sales strategy intended to help foreign customers avoid paying Canada’s goods and services tax (GST) has backfired, leaving the Vancouver-based jeweller with a tax bill nearing $2.3 million. The case is a reminder to luxury retailers that Canada is the only country in the 36-member Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to have a national sales tax but no rebate program for international visitors, and that those visitors want ways to avoid paying the tax.…