It was a wet weekend for the North Peace Fall Fair, held at the North Peace Regional Park in North Pine, 20 minutes north of Fort St. John. Pictures of the event will be posed on Monday, August 18.
This week The Broken Typewriter continued a deeper look into what powers the region and the province, with a look at BC Hydro’s Site C project which became fully operational as the sixth generating went online last week.
Through CleanBC, the provincial government has set ambitious electrification and climate-saving goals for British Columbia. Is it enough to meet projected demand and the emissions reductions targets?
Over the last two months, BC Hydro’s Site C hydro-electric dam project on the Peace River near Fort St. John has passed its two final milestones and is now fully operational.
In July, the fifth generating unit at the dam was successfully commissioned and brought online, and BC Hydro officials expected the sixth and final unit to be up and running by the fall. The remaining construction work on the dam includes completing the powerhouse and generating station, paving access roads, and final equipment commissioning.
Read More: Site C powers BC, falls short of surging energy demand
At City Council, August 31 was proclaimed as Overdose Awareness Day, in recognition of those who are struggling and the families who have lost loved ones to drug overdoses.
August 31 is “a day to honour those we’ve, support those still struggling and recognize the resilience of the individuals affected by this crisis,” Heather Boswell, from Moms Stop the Harm and a Healing Hearts facilitator told Fort St. John city council on Monday.
Boswell and Hailey Testawich of Nenan Dane-Zaa Family Services gave a short presentation to council on August 11, asking that August 31 be proclaimed Overdose Awareness Day.
For the past six years, the Fort St. John Community Action Team (FSJ CAT) has organized activities to raise awareness about the overdose crisis, highlighting the need for continued outreach and education.
Since 2016, some 49,000 Canadians have died from a drug overdose, said Testawich.
Read More: Overdose Awareness Day focuses on help and healing
In the latest edition of The Sidebar, local police are warning employees to be aware of a fraudster posing as their boss. Coffee with a Cop will also be back later this month following on the resounding success of the April event.
The Fort St. John RCMP are urging the public to beware of a new scam targeting employees in the area, after several incidents were reported to police in the past few months.
The latest incident took place on July 31, 2025, when an employee of a store in Fort St. John was targeted by a fraudster purporting to be their boss. The fraudster convinced the unsuspecting employee to deposit $900 into a Bitcoin ATM to pay for the delivery of a package for the business, and they complied.
Also, the Peace River Regional District landfills and Tier 1 transfer stations are now offering recycling for large appliances such as fridges, stoves, washing machines . . . for free!
Read More: Recycling, scams and coffee: North Peace News in Brief
Tales of fraud continued in Smart Money this week as Brad discussed affinity fraud, a very common, very lucrative brand of larceny. Stealing from people you know.
Recently I was confronted with disturbing situation. A successful business owner seems to be poised to lose 70 percent of her substantial net worth because she would rather believe a fairy tale then face hard, cold facts.
She has an unshakable belief that a crypto coin is about to launch in October, and when it does it will immediately become the 6th largest currency in the world. This, of course, is total bull****.
Maybe it launches, maybe it doesn’t. But one thing I know for sure is she just exchanged her real money for imaginary money. That’s a really stupid thing to do.
This situation is painful for me. A close colleague once told me what makes me unique is my strong protective instinct to keep people safe from harm, so when I see people about to get ripped off it really bothers me.
I feel compelled to try to get these future victims to see the light. Alas, my efforts are usually in vain. And the big reason for that is not because I don’t have the facts and reason and logic. It is because emotions are involved.
Read More: SMART MONEY: An Unwitting Victim? Or Worse?
On August 14, a new round of tariffs on Canadian canola, imposed by China took effect, the latest move in a tariff war that affects one of our biggest exports. One that effects some 260 farmers in the Peace Region.
China upped the stakes in the tariff war this week, imposing a 76 percent tariff on Canadian canola seed, heaping more stress upon farmers already seeing lower prices for canola due to China’s earlier 100 percent tariffs on canola oil and canola meal. These tariffs are China’s response to the Canadian government’s tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, steel and aluminum.
When the latest tariff was announced, the price per bushel for canola immediately dropped, putting a bigger strain on a sector that’s already seeing low prices.
Volatility in the market is something canola growers are used to, but as China is Canada’s second largest market for canola, it’s becoming worrisome for farmers.
China is a big market, and that’s a little nerve-wracking because we put a lot of money into this crop,” said Malcolm Odermatt, BC Grain Producers president and North Peace canola farmer.
“We did have some rain, so there’s actually a few bushels out there, so we should do okay this fall. It’s just whether or not we can make money on it, that’s out of our control,” he said.
Canola is by far the most expensive crop for farmers to grow, Odermatt explained.
“It’s very hungry for nutrients, and nutrients are expensive. The seed is also very expensive, because 95 percent of the canola we grow is genetically modified and have to pay the big companies for that technology.”
Read More: Local Canola Farmers Focus on Quality Crop Despite Tariffs
Thanks for reading! Stay tuned this week as The Broken Typewriter provides another deep dive or two into community matters, as well as an update on the North Peace Leisure Pool Replacement project which took an interesting turn on Friday.
The District of Taylor Council meets this week, on Monday, August 18 at 5 p.m. The agenda for the regular meeting and the Committee of the Whole can be found here. Both meetings are open to the public.
Have a great week!