Major Projects in BC Help Build Clean Energy Sector

Written by admin on March 10th, 2010

Re posted from www.metroblenznewssquad.com

By Cybele Negris

Further to my recent post in February about the launch of CleanWorks BC (the new brand and marketing campaign to promote the $100 billion investment opportunity in BC’s clean technology and clean energy sectors), the BC Government announced today that out of the record number of major construction projects proposed in BC, nine of the 10 top-valued projects focus on clean energy.

Among the clean energy projects planned or underway across the province are:

  • Rocky Creek Wind Energy Project in Tumbler Ridge – $1.2 billion
  • Machmell River Hydropower Project in Campbell River – $900 million
  • Metro Vancouver Waste-to-Energy Incineration Facility – $500 million
  • Upper Lillooet River Hydroelectric Project in Pemberton – $222 million
  • Bronson Slope Hydropower Project in the Stewart Region – $216 million
  • Tzoonie River Hydropower Project in Sechelt – $186 million
  • Lower Wood River Hydropower Project in Mica – $144 million
  • Hurley River Hydroelectric Project in Pemberton – $138 million
  • Gun Creek Hydroelectric Project in Pemberton – $108 million

Click here to see the full press release

Related post:

BC Climate & Clean Energy Reception by Cybele Negris

Cybele Negris is Co-Founder of Webnames.ca, Canada’s Original Domain Registrar. She is on the Boards of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs, Small Business BC, Government of BC Small Business Roundtable and the Vancouver Economic Development Commission. More information is available at cybele.tel or webnames.tel. Follow on Twitter @cybelenegris and @webnames

 

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Olympic Parties – The Big Ending

Written by admin on March 8th, 2010

Re posted from www.metroblenznewssquad.com

Olympic Parties – The Big Ending
March 2, 2010 at 12:54 am by Cat Barr
Filed under Articles (published), News, North Shore Outlook

All the medals have been given out and the athletes have gone home, but the memories will live on forever. The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics were clearly one of the best star-studded parties this town will ever see and it was wonderful to have been part of it. O Canada – thank you for making us proud.

01 – West Vancouver’s Don DeCotiis and daughter Marianne come out to support the Face of Tomorrow Gala which featured Canadian rapper K’Naan.
02 – Gala sponsors (and West Vancouverites) Sofia Somani, left, and Alexis Palkowski pose with Face of Tomorrow’s socialite/founder Kasondra Cohen, daughter of famed Army and Navy heiress Jacqui Cohen.
03 – Robson Square was the place to be to meet athletes like North Vancouver’s gold medal snowboarding gal – Maelle Ricker.
04 – Beaming in the golden afterglow of her media interviews, Whistler’s Ashleigh McIvor shows off her first place prize.
05 – Former gold medal Olympic speed skater Catriona LeMay Doan, left, seen here with guest Patty Nees at the Commodore’s Manitoba Social night, got a chance to re-light the flame at the Closing Ceremony after that Opening Ceremony glitch.
06 – American skier Bode Miller, left, wanted a medal in each colour – and he got all three. Seen here with Olympic party impresario Craig Stowe, he and his entourage enjoy a night off at Canvas Lounge.
07 – After a disappointing start, the Canadian men’s short-track team came back with a vengeance and were more than happy to smile for the cameras at a special celebratory interview.
08 – Seen here at the Commodore’s Manitoba Social night, VANOC CEO John Furlong is undoubtedly ready for a long winter’s nap.
09 – Rock 101 FM’s Bro Jake “The Champ” Edwards, left, welcomes celebs, athletes and VIPs like Roy Nees, to the Commodore’s Manitoba Social night.
- -
By Catherine Barr – Feb 28, 2010
As seen in print in the North Shore Outlook on March 4,

 

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Issues, ideas and editorial

Written by admin on March 7th, 2010

Re posted from www.metroblenznewssquad.com

David Hutchison

This morning, as I read yesterday’s Vancouver Sun, time was in short supply yesterday, I found a number of very interesting columns.

The first by Micheal Hockney, who spent 4 years  living in Russia, wrote “The media’s view of Russia is 20 years out of date.” I am embarrassed to say, I am part of that collective with my opinion, which makes me think, I should go to Russia for their Olympics. So often real learning only comes from being there. Thank you Michael.

Next was Dan Gardner, one of my favorites, with the question “Is it worth it, Canada’s spending of billions on the Olympics. Olympic spending is like military spending, escalating. On the other hand, Colin Hansen, our finance minister,  was quoted as saying “Health Care and Education are bottomless pits!” They are, however, they are the only two moralities of government responsibility. 

And finally, The Newspaper’s View, Flaherty’s balanced budget plan is wishful thinking. Currently, we are $622.1 billion offside with our balance sheet. The papers point is, corporate welfare will not enhance competitiveness and raise productivity.

Those three columns, tied together, point out misplaced images of our neighbours. This drives our aggression, causing the media to miss the real point of the Olympic experience, which is, what was happening, on our streets with people from every nation on the planet.

We the people made the experience what is was, not corporations who benefited from government funded investment. Lets keep it going, at least throughout the Paralympics. We should make every effort to continue all the relationships we have made during the Olympics, as real peace lies with us and the relationships we build.

See you tomorrow,

David Hutchison                        david@transitionsadvertising.com

David Hutchison is President of Transitions Advertising www.transitionsadvertising.com Canada’s creative voice of seniors advertising. David is Board President of Promoting a Culture of Peace for Children Society of BC www.wartoystopeaceart.com

 

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Dinner with Sergey — Moscow on the Fraser thanks to 2010 Olympics

Written by admin on March 5th, 2010

Re posted from www.metroblenznewssquad.com

- by Rich Patterson

Tonight the power of the Olympics really hit home. And it hit me in a way that two weeks of non-stop athletic events, parties and happy streets could not have (although those ways hit me hard too, trust me). Tonight I met Sergey, a Moscovite working for a major international consulting firm. He’s been here in Vancouver since early February helping the Sochi group at Science World prepare to host the world at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

Sergey Sirotenko board member Big Brothers/Big Sisters Moscow and Rich Patterson board chair Big Brothers Greater Vancouver

Sergey is also part of the Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization in Moscow – his little brother is in an orphanage and statistics for orphans in Russia are scary. Sergey says after they are released from state care most orphans aren’t ready for the “real world” and don’t know how to socialize – so they end up in gangs, in trouble, on drugs and often dead. The Big Brothers/Big Sisters mentorship programme makes a big difference because it boosts self esteem, socialization, education and well-being.

As well as volunteering as a Big Brother, Sergey sits on the board of the Moscow Big Brothers Big Sisters organization. In his role as board member he decided to look up a counterpart in Vancouver and that’s how I met him.

We just had dinner tonight. It was amazing to compare stories on mentoring youth in our two very different cultures. They tend to focus on at-risk youth (in state care) while Vancouver’s Big Brothers programme is aimed at youth in one-parent homes (most likely without significant male role model). I won’t bore you with all the talk at dinner but we did delve into budgets, fundraising, staff, leadership and board strategy. It was really great to meet another board member from a brother organization halfway round the world. We agreed that using technology tools like Skype we would introduce our boards to each other and continue discussions in the months ahead.

I want to thank VANOC and the people of Vancouver for not only staging an excellent Olympic games (helluva party!) but also for making an opportunity for businesses and organizations from around the world to meet. We are all the better for it.

Rich Patterson, has a twenty years experience in Public Relations, Marketing & Sales. Rich owns a successful Licensing, Apparel & Promotional Product company and is partner in a social media consultancy based in Vancouver. Contact Rich at rich[at]pattersonbrands.com or follow twitter @pattersonbrands

 

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In need of opinion

Written by admin on March 5th, 2010

Re posted from www.metroblenznewssquad.com

David Hutchison david@transitionsadvertising.com

As a contributing writer, but focused on the growth of my advertising agency, I find it a challenge to come up with time to develop a new and interesting story each day.

As we have some down time between these Olympic and Paralympic stages, I thought I would put the question to you, about what you would like to read, what are your interests or what would other wise cause your involvement?

Social media allows for a more intimate discourse between writer and reader creating the chance to advance the media with new ideas or reworked old ideas.

In his time, Charles Dickens was considered a leader in story telling with his serial novels, his first, The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, which he wrote monthly for 1836 – 1837 created a ravenous audience for his stories.

As an aspiring novelist, I wonder, can we do that now? Can we do something that both interests and stimulates opinion? Can we stay with a story long enough to have its opinion impact on our social morays, direct media in how advertise in social media, change public perception or advance industry?

What do you want? Could you stay with an evolving storyline? In most media today, we do not stay with subject matter, an example being Haiti. A human tragedy of epic proportion, but already it has moved to the back pages of the media and our minds.

Like any media, social media or not, it still needs content, so again, I ask, what content do you need? I’ll be listening.

See you tomorrow,

David Hutchison

david@transitionsadvertising.com

David Hutchison is President of Transitions Advertising www.transitionsadvertising.com Canada’s creative voice of seniors advertising. David is Board President of Promoting a Culture of Peace for Children Society of BC www.wartoystopeaceart.com

 

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Gold Medal Purim Celebrations

Written by admin on March 4th, 2010

Re posted from www.metroblenznewssquad.com

By: Nicholas Pavlich
Sunday morning, just before Canada took on the United States of America for the gold medal in Olympic men’s hockey, many of Richmond’s Jewish community were celebrating Purim in style in Richmond River Rock Show Room Theatre.

One of the most festive holidays in the Jewish calendar, Purim is a way to remember an event that took place more than 2,000 years ago in ancient Persia.

As the story goes, Haman, a king’s minister issued an order to eliminate all Jewish people. The queen at this time, Esther, was Jewish, but the king was not aware of this. Mordechai, the leader of the Jewish people, went to the queen for help. Queen Ester went to speak to the king. This was dangerous to do because anyone who came into the king’s presence without being summoned could be put to death, and she had not been summoned. To prepare herself, Esther fasted for three days. The king welcomed her. She told him of Haman’s plot against her people. The Jewish people were saved, and Haman was hanged on gallows that had been prepared for Mordecai.

Over 200 Jewish Richmondites came to River Rock to hear the Megillah (Book of Ester) read aloud; make lots of noise (boo and hiss every time Haman’s name is read); and celebrate Purim in the comfort of Richmond River Rock Show Room Theatre. Other festivities included putting on Tefillin (phylacteries, a set of small cubic leather boxes painted black, containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah with leather straps dyed black on one side, and worn by observant Jewish men); eating well prepared food; arts and crafts for kids; singing and dancing; toasting one another with l’chaim (to life) chatting with old and new friends; and, of course, watching the thrilling men’s gold-medal hockey game, live on two giant show room screens.

Megillah Reading

Megillah Reading

Putting on Tefillin

Putting on Tefillin


Putting on Tefillin

Cheering During Hockey Game

Singing Purim Songs

While, many people came to the Purim celebrations anxious to cheer on their hockey team, Rabbi Baitelman of Chabad of Richmond Jewish Centre, organizers of the event, reminded those in attendance of the four mitzvot (commandments) of Purim.

1) Requirement to read the Megillah,
2) eat a festive meal,
3) sending gifts of food to friends
4) sending food to the poor, or donating money to charity

Many people also came dressed in costume, as is the tradition, and greeted old and new friends with the customary toast of l’chaim over a small glass of wine, beer or schnapps.
Festivities ended, after Canada win of Hockey’s prestigious Olympic gold medal, with many dancing to and singing tradition songs like Havana-gila and Chag-Purim. What a great way to end both Purim and the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Written By: Nicholas Pavlich
Video By: four mitzvot
Nicholas Pavlich is a public relations and marketing professional and freelance writer. Nicholas is @NicholasPR on Twitter and can be reached professionally through www.FuelledCommunications.com

 

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