Scoring shutdown VIU Mariners
women’s team won both matches in weekend play. PAGE 27
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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2015
VOL. 27, NO. 41
Candidates promise to invest in daycare BY KARL YU THE NEWS BULLETIN
Nathiel Stoffelsma, owner of Arbutus Grove Nursery in North Saanich, checks one of 2.5 million TimberWest Douglas fir seedlings, destined for planting on Vancouver Island. The 10-hectare facility raises up to 12 million seedlings annually for forest companies, First Nations, governments and woodlot owners in B.C. and the Pacific Northwest. CHRIS BUSH/THE NEWS BULLETIN
Forestry breeds against climate change
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DROUGHT RESPONSE includes planting trees to tolerate dry conditions. BY CHRIS BUSH THE NEWS BULLETIN
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urvival of B.C.’s forests might depend on the industry that harvests them as global temperatures rise. A process, loosely called “assisted migration,” is part of the federal and provincial governments’ overall response to climate change that includes genetic and selective breeding research carried out by the forest industry, government and
Genome B.C., a non-profit research organization that manages largescale research projects. Selectively breeding trees for quality, volume and pest resistance has been ongoing since the late 1940s, but Vancouver Island-based forestry companies, such as TimberWest, now also plant trees tolerant to drought conditions to ensure future harvests. “You don’t breed trees for their climate adaptability,” said Domenico Iannidinardo, TimberWest vice president of sustainability and chief forester. “You go to other ends of their ranges. They call it assisted migration. You go to Oregon, you take some Douglas fir trees from there and you start
matching them with what you think is going to be good for our sites in the next 20 years.” Thousands of years ago when the Earth was warmer, various species of redwoods covered much of North America, including coastal B.C. Their fossilized remains are still found on the Lower Mainland. As the climate cooled, redwood forests retreated south to California to be replaced by Douglas fir, western hemlock, western red cedar and other species now native to the Island. Forest ecosystems migrate as global temperatures rise and fall and can suffer along the way.
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With the federal NDP promising $15 a day child care in its campaign, affordable daycare has become an election issue. It is something that will benefit Nanaimo residents, says Kara Rafuse, an early childhood educator assistant at North Nanaimo Early Learning Centre. “It’d be a really good benefit because there’s always going to be parents that need it, especially for a lot of the times families have both parents working ... it’s always a benefit if they get help – daycare’s expensive,” said Rafuse. Sheila Malcolmson, Nanaimo-Ladysmith NDP candidate, said a similar plan in Quebec led to 70,000 w o m e n entering the workforce. “Those new 70,000 people in the workp l a c e , they then spent their income in the local economy, they got taxed by the federal and provincial government, so in the end, a $1 investment ended up creating between $2 and $2.45 economic benefit regionally,” said Malcolmson. Mark MacDonald, Conservative candidate, said the Harper government also is dealing with the issue in its platform. “The general line is that they’re trying to put more money into parents’ pockets through the universal child care benefit, so that parents can make their own decisions about child care instead of state-run institutionalized daycare,” said MacDonald. Tim Tessier, Liberal candidate, said the NDP plan will be rolled out in 2019 and most parents that need daycare today won’t see benefit. He said his party will provide a better child benefit, which equals $533 per child per month, tax free. It will allow parents to decide where the money goes.
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