Cruise ships return to B.C., with tourist dollars and environmental concerns in tow
CBC
Simone Kearney-Rodriguez is looking forward to putting cash in the register this weekend when the first crowd of cruise ship passengers pull into port in Victoria, B.C., on Saturday, after the last two cruise seasons were cancelled due to COVID-19.
The owner of the Beaver Gift Shop says her family business almost sunk without the support of hundreds of thousands of cruise tourists that have kept her afloat for more than 30 years.
"We're still alive, but it took everything that I had to keep going," she told CBC's On the Island.
She's not alone: according to the Tourism Industry Association of B.C., cruise ships contribute about $2.7 billion annually to the provincial economy, supporting tourism-oriented businesses in coastal cities like Victoria, Vancouver and Prince Rupert.
"We're a tourist town," said Bruce Williams, CEO of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce in an interview in the James Bay neighbourhood, where docked tourists stock up on gifts and candy.
"These businesses have always been reliant on tourism and some of them are down 80 or 90 per cent of revenue."
More than 300 ships are expected to call at B.C. ports between now and November, bringing in upward of a million customers. But along with their tourist dollars are some concerns, including the possible arrival of new cases of COVID and the environmental impact of giant ships floating through delicate coastal ecosystems.
The first ship to arrive on B.C.'s coast is the Koningsdam, part of the Holland America line.
The ship hosts a seven-day cruise from San Diego, Calif., to Vancouver, and will arrive at a Victoria port Saturday.
Under federal regulations, cruise ship passengers arriving in Canada need to be fully vaccinated and tested for COVID-19 before boarding at departure points, and are monitored before arrival in Canada.
Dr. Horacio Bach of the University of British Columbia's faculty of medicine says cruise companies appear to have learned lessons from the early days of the pandemic, when COVID-19 outbreaks forced them to stay at sea for weeks, and now have strong testing regimes and medical facilities on board to prevent problems.
Recent research by environmental organizations warns the industry is treating the province's sensitive coast as a dumping ground for polluted wastewater, and that what bodes well for business is bad news for the environment.
"B.C. is the toilet bowl for the cruise industry," says Anna Barford, a shipping campaigner at environmental advocacy group Stand.earth.
Barford says cruising creates more greenhouse gas emissions than air travel, and lax Canadian regulations mean billions of litres of potentially dangerous sewage, greywater and washwater are likely dumped in B.C. coastal waters every year.
Ontario legislation that mandated air conditioning in all resident rooms in long-term care (LTC) homes has saved dozens of lives, according to a new study.
Gusty winds, rapid fall in temperature prompt special weather statement for Waterloo region and area
The mid-week warmup in Waterloo region, Guelph and area will abruptly come to an end on Friday, Environment and Climate Change Canada warns.
Water in two more schools in the N.W.T. show lead levels above Health Canada's guidelines for drinking water, according to the territorial government.
Ontario's ethics watchdog says it will investigate whether the province's labour minister contravened any laws in his handling of a controversial training fund.
Mitchell Rose, the 32-year-old man charged with three counts of attempted murder in St. John’s, will spend the next month on the forensic unit of a psychiatric hospital.
Nearly eight years after Halifax sold the historic Khyber building in the hopes it could be revived, the municipality says the site has become a “threat to safety” — and is taking it back.
The New Brunswick government has a strategy for reducing chronic homelessness in the province by 40 per cent over the next three years, Housing Minister David Hickey said Thursday.
Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé is stepping down.
A Winnipeg mother whose kids attend Winnipeg School Division schools says officials waited too long to let parents know classes would be cancelled on Thursday amid a winter blizzard that created dangerous road conditions across the city.
After one day of calm, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) says a second Alberta clipper storm will begin to hit western Saskatchewan early Friday morning.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's government is increasing how much it costs to apply for a citizen-initiated referendum by 5,000 per cent, saying it's about making sure applicants are serious.
A special unit established to solve cold cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people has solved the murder of a B.C. man in Washington State nearly a decade ago.
A judge ruled Thursday to remove an injunction in place since the summer against Alberta's law prohibiting doctors from providing gender-affirming care to youth.