NEWS-CLIPS December 18/2020 to January 20/2021 A new hope.pdf North Van District approves 481 units in two major developments.pdf BC condo owner wins damages for noises.pdf North Van District council debates election sign size limits.pdf Burnaby to seek public input on its first-ever short-term rental regulations.pdf North Van new Ecole Argyle Secondary School.pdf Can we please have more sidewalks.pdf North Van school PAC group advocates for diversity education.pdf Canada locks in 20M more Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine doses.pdf Notice - DNV Jan 26th Public Hearing on Single Family Zoning Amendments.pdf Canada Population Growth Stagnates.pdf Notice - DNV on Winter Weather Preparations.pdf Canadians leaving big cities at record numbers.pdf Notice - Public Information -Virtual Meeting - about 342 Mountain Hwy.pdf Carbon Capture Is Not a Climate Savior.pdf OPCC reopens police conduct investigation into 2015 death of Myles Gray.pdf Christine Miller of North Shore Black Bear Society to retire this month.pdf Pandemic spurs tiny house interest.pdf City of North Vancouver continues to break down barriers to EV use.pdf Pay parking for some NV parks a terrible idea.pdf Climate change will be sudden and cataclysmic.pdf Potential routes for Chilliwack-Vancouver-Whistler high-speed rail.pdf CO2 already emitted will warm Earth beyond climate targets.pdf Property values continue to skyrocket.pdf Consumer spending and real estate boom inspire hope for economy.pdf Protect us from second-hand smoke in homes.pdf Covid update by MP Jonathan Wilkinson.pdf Province to pay 3.2 million dollars in public subsidies to political parties.pdf Covid-19 variant complicates provincial response.pdf Reservoirs in the Sky a 1947 film documenting how GVWD supplies water.pdf Covid-19 variant raises R number.pdf Residential property assessments continue to soar.pdf Cycling upgrades coming in new year to Lions Gate Bridge approach.pdf Salmon returning to North Van creek in shocking numbers.pdf DNV Councillor Back brings motion to limit size and height of elections signs.pdf Sea-level rise from climate change could exceed high-end projections.pdf DNV plaza plan for Deep Cove lower Gallant Avenue.pdf See the most-read North Shore News stories of 2020.pdf Five things we have learned about COVID-19.pdf Senior oversight.pdf Global Covid-19 Vaccinations Jan 1 2021.pdf Smoke from wood-burning fireplaces a health hazard.pdf Here are our picks for the top North Shore stories of 2020.pdf The development that will transform health care.pdf Here is what a lawyer says about the constitutionality of a BC travel ban.pdf The race is on between the vaccine and the virus.pdf Highway 1 pothole in North Vancouver pops more than a dozen tires.pdf Translink balances 2021 budget after a difficult year.pdf How Covid-19 caused Vancouver's condo conundrum _ Financial Times.pdf Uncivil war.pdf How quickly will the COVID-19 vaccines start.pdf Vaccination plan unrealistic.pdf How to slash buildings growing greenhouse gas emissions.pdf Vancouver faces both a humanitarian and existential crisis.pdf Impact of pandemic on cities.pdf Want more EVs on roads.pdf In post-pandemic Vancouver can building better rental make us a friendlier city.pdf Wetlands -not walls- may be key to managing flooding as sea levels rise.pdf Indigenous business owners share pandemic lessons.pdf Windstorm damages and closes popular bridge in NV Capilano River Regional Park.pdf Landslide takes out section of West Vancouver walking trail.pdf Work-From-Home does not mean you can work from anywhere.pdf Money not a single use plastic item.pdf More people moving to North Van - U-Haul says.pdf New tool calculates solar potential of any location in Canada.pdf No simple solutions to skyrocketing condo insurance costs.pdf North Shore Black Bear Society director reflects on 15 years of educating the community.pdf North Shore recorded 54 new COVID-19 cases to Jan 2.pdf A8 | OPINION WEDNESDAY,DECEMBER30, 2020 north shorenews nsnews.com PUBLISHEDBYNORTH SHORENEWSADIVISION OF LMPPUBLICATION LTD. PARTNERSHIP 116-980 WEST 1STST.,NORTH VANCOUVER, B.C. V7P3N4.PETER KVARNSTROM, PUBLISHER. Anew hope ou’ll be forgiven if you didn’t familiar with. We believe thereisapent-up make good on the New Year’s demandfor alittle exuberance. resolutions you wereputting As you welcome2021 with members Ytogether this time last year. of your own household, you may start Thanks to you-know-what, 2020 to think about resolutions for personal was our annushorribilis. growth that go beyond simply getting by. But it delights us to tell you the year To be sure, challenges await us. We 2020, and many of the thingsthat made it need to act everybit as urgentlyon so daunting, arenearly over. climate change as we did on COVID-19. It is no longer aquestion of if we can be The systemic inequality that we and our vaccinated but rather when and which one. governments must confront demands our In time –afew months probably –we attention. Our economy has had ashock to can hug our friends and extended family the system. again. Therewill be concerts and live But this year,wehave been tested in a sports. No morewaiting in the rain to pick way not seen in generations, and we know up aloaf of bread or feeling anxiety about what we arecapable of. someonestanding alittle too close. Right now,onthe cusp of putting alittle Thereisalso abadly needed change of physical distancingbetween us and the leadership happeningimminently to our pandemic, the futureislooking brighter south. The 2021-’22 school year will hope- than it has in along, long time. fully feel alot morelike the ones we are Happy new year. ArrivalofU.K.variant complicatesCOVID response It was inevitable, Isuppose, that the Luckily,how- (beforethe pandemic began, we were so-called COVID-19 “U.K. variant” ever,early scientific often at 105 per cent capacity of regular would make its way into Canada and evidence suggests bed use). this province. the variant is not So the introduction of avariant COVID- Afterall,the novelcoronavirus does morelethal than 19 virus may not create carnage, but its not respect boundaries, and given that COVID-19. apparent high transmission rate has Dr. some Canadians weretravelling back This is poten- Henryasking for moreresourcesinorder and forth to the United Kingdom around View From tially good news for to increase and enhance the monitoring of the time the new strain was discovered – TheLedge our hospital system those people required to be in quarantine beforeatravel ban was instituted –itwas Keith Baldrey because even a or self-isolation. only amatter of time beforeitshowed up large spike in vari- However,she told me she has no plans here. ant cases may not necessarily overwhelm for an inter-provincial travel ban to thwart “This was not unexpected,” Dr.Bonnie our hospitals. the spread of COVID-19 or its U.K. variant, The U.K. variant of COVID-19 has arrivedin Henrytold me, in explaining the discov- On that front, we remain in good acontinuation of her position on that B.C.,raisingnew concerns about the spread eryofthe first variant case in B.C. “There shape compared to most other provinces. issue since the pandemic began. of the virus. MIKE WAKEFIELD will be morecases.” Ontario went into amajor lockdown after Still, it would come as asurprise to see Ahuge question raised by the appear- seeing its hospitalizations increase by the public health order that bans gather- descending recent trends. ance of the U.K. variant of COVID-19 in morethan 60 per cent in one month, while ings and events not be extended past its In addition, who knows how rampant B.C. is: what impact will it have on public its ICU cases have exploded by morethan Jan. 8expirydate. Even the fact that going the U.K. variant will actually become in health orders? 80 per cent in that time frame. into last weekend our daily average num- the weeks ahead, and thus further compli- For now.Dr. Henrytold me no changes By contrast, B.C.’shospitalization bers weresteadily declining as was our cating things? areplanned. However,she and other numbers have gone up by less than 20 per average mortality the numbers arelikely Nevertheless, Iwill end on apositive infectious disease experts have expressed cent and our ICU cases areupless than 30 not low enough to satisfy Dr.Henrywhen note: it appears the recently developed concern about how much moretrans- per cent in the same period. it comes to easing restrictions. COVID-19 vaccines will be effective on the missible the variant is compared to the As well, our hospital bed capacity Any cases arising from improper U.K. variant as well! original version of COVID-19. remains at healthy levels, with less than Christmas and New Year’sEve gatherings Keith Baldrey is chief political In other words, the variant can spread 90 per cent of regular beds in use and will begin showing up over the next two correspondent for Global BC. Reach him by quicker and have adeeper reach. about 50 per cent of ICU beds available weeks and may well halt the decline in our email at [email protected]. CONTACT US 116-980 WEST 1STSTREETNORTH VANCOUVERB.C.V7P 3N4 nsnews.com ADMINISTRATION/RECEPTION 604-985-2131 ADVERTISING 604-998-3520,[email protected] North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the REAL ESTATEADVERTISING Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday by North Shore News 604-998-3580,[email protected] adivision of LMP Publication Limited Partnership.