Category Archives: B.C. News

BC Ferries Seeks Input On Revised Draft Schedules For The Southern Gulf Islands

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BC Ferries Seeks Input On Revised Draft Schedules  For The Southern Gulf Islands

Online Survey Open From Nov 23 – Dec 14, 2015

VICTORIA – BC Ferries is looking for input from its customers regarding adjustments made to the draft schedules for the Southern Gulf Islands based on the valuable feedback the company heard during a series of open houses held during the summer.

“While we’ve done a great deal of analysis and traffic modelling, we know that getting our customers’ input is just as important,” said Mark Collins, BC Ferries’ Vice President of Strategic Planning & Community Engagement. “Trying to balance the competing wants and needs of five islands (Salt Spring, Galiano, Pender, Mayne and Saturna) is a challenge and requires careful consideration before making any adjustments.”

The schedules now being presented support customers’ desire for sailing times and routing that more closely model the current schedules, with added improvements that BC Ferries believes ferry users will appreciate. The company is striving to preserve many of the benefits of the schedules presented at the public open houses, while addressing concerns raised at those meetings.

Highlights of the updated draft schedules include:
• The off-peak schedules are similar to current service.
• In the shoulder seasons, weekend service will be increased with the second new Salish Class vessel.
• In the peak season, there will be more sailing opportunities while maintaining inter- island connections on weekdays, as well as improvements from Tsawwassen to the Southern Gulf Islands on weekends.

To view the revised draft schedules and participate in the online survey, visit bcferries.com. The survey is open from now until December 14.

After BC Ferries analyzes the results of the survey, the company will communicate the Southern Gulf Island schedules with a Phase 3 survey.

The new schedule is expected to be finalized in the spring of 2016, for implementation in the spring of 2017.

Under contract to the Province of British Columbia, BC Ferries is the service provider responsible for the delivery of safe, efficient and dependable ferry service along coastal British Columbia.

Teachers may begin full-scale strike after losing LRB decision on 10 per cent pay cut

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Teachers to vote on Monday and Tuesday

By Tracy Sherlock, Postmedia News June 4, 2014 8:28 PM

Teachers across B.C. could embark on a full-scale strike within the next two weeks after a vote next Monday and Tuesday, their leader said Wednesday after the Labour Relations Board ruled a 10-per-cent pay cut would stand.

“Even before the LRB ruling, the BCTF executive decided last night that it’s time to apply the maximum pressure,” said Jim Iker, president of the B.C. Teachers’ Federation. “The vote itself will apply pressure to both sides. There is still time for the government to act to prevent a full strike.”

The Labour Relations Board on Wednesday dismissed the B.C. Teachers’ Federation’s application to declare the employer’s lockout and 10-per-cent wage cut illegal.

“ … Subject to the designation of essential services, the Employer is free to engage in lockout activities including imposing new terms of employment in order to pressure the Union into reaching a new collective agreement,” LRB vice-chairman Richard Longpre wrote in his decision.

“I do not accept the suggestion that once a designation has been issued by the Board and regardless of the scope of that designation, the parties must comply with the terms and conditions of the collective agreement until such time as either party applies to the Board to amend the order.”

The teachers could still refer the measures to arbitration and all decisions of the LRB can be appealed within 15 days.

Teachers have been holding rotating strikes since May 26, with several school districts closed each day. The partial lockout restricts teachers from working during recess or lunch hours, or from arriving at school any earlier than 45 minutes before classes start, or staying 45 minutes after they end, and includes the pay cut.

At issue are wages, class size, class composition and the number of specialist teachers. The employer is offering a 7.3-per-cent wage increase over six years. Teachers on Tuesday reduced their ask by one per cent, now calling for 12.75 over four years. The BCTF also says it moved on several other issues on Tuesday, including benefits, pay for teachers on call and preparation time.

BC Teacher Collective Bargaining: Latest bargaining proposals from the union and the government

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http://www.bcpsea.bc.ca   June 4, 2014

Provincial bargaining with the BC Teachers’ Federation resumed on October 30, 2013. Facilitator Mark Brown is assisting the parties.

Employers’ Partial Lockout Notice

Consolidated Questions and Answers on matters related to the BCTF Strike and the Employers’ Partial Lockout

Question and Answers

Backgrounders

For the Record
BCPSEA Responses to BCTF Statements

Proposals

BCPSEA Proposals
BCTF Proposals Tabled June 3, 2014

Discussion/Resource Papers

Bloomberg-Nanos Northern Gateway Pipeline Survey – Part 2

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June 4, 2014

Key Findings

To follow are the key highlights of a Bloomberg-Nanos random telephone survey conducted in British Columbia on the Northern Gateway Pipeline.

This is the second part of a two part survey release.

  • Approval of the pipeline by the Harper government is likely to have a collateral negative impact on support for the Conservatives in BC, especially among female voters.
  • Forty-seven percent of respondents said they would be less likely to support local Conservative candidates in BC if the Harper government approved the pipeline, while only 11 percent said they would be more likely to support the local Conservative candidate if the project was approved by the Harper government.
  • Among those respondents who refused to say who they voted for in the last federal election, there is a considerable negative impact on their likelihood to vote for their local Conservative candidate (40 percent less likely, 8 percent more likely to vote for the local Conservative voter).

Methodology

This random telephone survey of 500 British Columbians was conducted between May 27th and 31st, 2014 by Nanos Research. The dual frame sample included both land- and cell-lines across BC. The results were statistically checked and weighted by age and gender using the latest Census information and the sample was geographically stratified to be representative of BC. The margin of error for a random survey of 500 British Columbians is ±4.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

The research was conducted by Nanos Research and commissioned by Bloomberg News.  The questions were cooperatively designed by Nanos Research and Bloomberg News together.

The study was a stand-alone study conducted for Bloomberg by Nanos with no other questions other than those listed in the tabulations with the question order as presented in the tabulations. This second part of a two part series has all the questions in the second section of the questions in the order they are presented. 

Part 2 included the last two content questions of the study.  Non-content demographic questions were included at the end of the questionnaire to profile respondents and to weigh the data.

Individuals called using random digit dialling and were called up to five times by Nanos and 10 percent of the fieldwork was monitored/validated in accordance with industry standards.

n

Nik Nanos, FMRIA

Chairman

email: nnanos@nanosresearch.com

web: http://www.nanosresearch.com

Bloomberg-Nanos Northern Gateway Pipeline Survey

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June 3, 2014

Key Findings

A new Bloomberg Nanos survey in British Columbia suggests that 29 percent of British Columbians believe that the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline should be approved at this time.  Thirty four percent believe the proposed pipeline should not be approved, 33 percent believe it should be delayed for further review and the rest were unsure.  Men are more likely than women to believe the project should be approved.  However women are more likely than men to believe the project should be delayed for further review.

  • The two most prominent associations British Columbians have of the pipeline is the view that the pipeline might lead to an oil spill someday (36 percent) and that the project will create jobs in BC (25 percent).  Sixteen percent of BCers associated revenue for the provincial government and another 15 percent associated the pipeline with contributions to climate change.
  • Environmental groups in BC and Aboriginal leaders in BC are more likely to be considered credible or somewhat credible on the issue of the pipeline (75 percent and 71 percent respectively).  Almost one of two respondents (49 percent) thought that Enbridge, the company proposing the pipeline was credible or somewhat credible. One half of British Columbians (51 percent) thought the Clark provincial government was credible or somewhat credible on this issue while 46 percent of respondents believed the Harper federal government was credible or somewhat credible.
  • Just as many British Columbians thought that Aboriginal groups have the right amount of influence (36 percent) as thought that they should have more influence (35 percent).  Only 22 percent of respondents thought they should have less influence while eight percent were unsure.

Methodology

This random telephone survey of 500 British Columbians was conducted between May 27th and 31st, 2014 by Nanos Research. The dual frame sample included both land- and cell-lines across BC. The results were statistically checked and weighted by age and gender using the latest Census information and the sample was geographically stratified to be representative of BC. The margin of error for a random survey of 500 British Columbians is ±4.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

The research was conducted by Nanos Research and commissioned by Bloomberg News.  The questions were cooperatively designed by Nanos Research and Bloomberg News together

The study was a stand alone study conducted for Bloomberg by Nanos with no other questions other than those listed in the tabulations with the question order as presented in the tabulations. This first part of a two part series has all the questions in the first section of the questions in the order they are presented. 

Part 2 will include the last two content questions of the study.  Non-content demographic questions were included at the end of the questionnaire to profile respondents and to weight the data.

Individuals called using random digit dialling and were called up to five times by Nanos and 10 percent of the fieldwork was monitored/validated in accordance with industry standards.

Note: Charts may not add up to 100 due to rounding.

n

Nik Nanos, FMRIA

Chairman

email: nnanos@nanosresearch.com

web: http://www.nanosresearch.com