Stop The Wrecking Ball on The Main

By Phyllis Lambert and Dinu Bumbaru, Montreal Gazette
June 5, 2012

The block of heritage buildings being demolished next to the Monument National on St. Laurent Blvd. must be preserved. This is an urgent matter: Montreal and the province of Quebec stand to lose an essential part of their cultural identity. These buildings belong to the extraordinary group of Romanesque Revival buildings on the Main between Viger Ave. and Guilbault Sts. They form a pioneering and vigorous example of late-19th-century Montreal’s modernism and popular culture. At the heart of that era’s transformation was a raging competition between the two founding nations of our modern metropolis. More … http://www.montrealgazette.com/opinion/Stop+wrecking+ball+Main/6734785/story.html.

ULX: The Power of Play

By Ron Nyren, Urban Land
May 30, 2012      

These days, recreation centers go far beyond simply offering fitness classes and equipment, swimming pools, and basketball courts. Contemporary facilities often serve as a social hub, incorporating educational programs and health care services and hosting community meetings and performances. Because they tend to bring together people from various points along economic and age spectrums, spaces designed for interaction are key. In low-income areas, these facilities can be particularly crucial for youths, not only encouraging healthier living, but also providing access to academic resources. More … http://urbanland.uli.org/Articles/2012/April/ul/NyrenULX.

Updated Legislation for LSBC, APEGBC

On May 9, 2012, the Province of British Columbia passed and gave royal assent to the Legal Profession Amendment Act, 2012, amended legislation that provides much-need updates to the 1998 act and which gives the Law Society of British Columbia the appropriate authority to regulate the legal profession in the public interest. Changes include:

• an updated mandate that highlights the commitment to the protection of the public interest in the administration of justice;
• review of LSBC hearing panel decisions by a board that includes non- lawyers;
• authority to suspend a lawyer under investigation or impose conditions on the lawyer’s practice;
• increased maximum fines for lawyer misconduct; and
• authority for the LSBC board of governors to set annual fees.

The provincial government has also passed new legislation that modernizes the Engineers and Geoscientists Act. Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act (No. 2) includes 11 proposed amendments brought forward by the the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia. The changes will better enable APEGBC to admit qualified professionals trained outside of British Columbia by streamlining the registration process while ensuring that high standards of entry to the professions are maintained. The amendments also provide APEGBC with broader options for managing investigation and disciplinary matters. The outdated Engineers and Geoscientists Act, first brought into law in 1920, significantly hampered APEGBC’s ability to effectively carry out its regulatory duties with respect to the registration of qualified applicants and the discipline of its members. The new amendments, which received royal assent on May 31, 2012, will also enable APEGBC to support labour force development through improved processes to allow qualified professionals trained outside of B.C. to practise engineering and geoscience in the province.

Binning Residence Canada Day Open House

This Canada Day, The Land Conservancy of British Columbia invites you to celebrate the historic Binning House in West Vancouver. Tour this national historic site and learn about why B.C. Binning and this unique example of early modern era architecture have had a lasting impact on the work of artists and architects across Canada. Matthew Soules MAIBC will provide guided tours. Admission is by donation with proceeds going to support the maintenance and restoration of the site. It happens Sunday, July 1, 2012, 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. at the B.C. Binning Residence, 2968 Mathers Crescent, West Vancouver. For more information, call (604) 733-2313 or e-mail tbaker@conservancy.bc.ca.