The B.C. Liberal Party has returned a total of $33,825 in prohibited donations to Elections BC, most of it after two organizations failed to cash cheques refunding the gifts.

According to Elections BC spokesperson Jennifer Porayko, the office sent the returned money to the government's consolidated revenue fund, meaning that it went into the province's general revenue. In 2002, 2003, and 2004, Genome British Columbia gave $8,655 to the B.C. Liberal Party, according to financial statements filed with Elections BC. As well, during the same three years, an organization listed in the disclosure statements as the "Great Century Fund" gave the party $24,750.

On May 4, 2005, the donations were returned by cheque to the two organizations, according to B.C. Liberal Party communications director Chad Pederson. He said the party was unable to discover any information about the Great Century Fund, which does not appear in the Canada Revenue Agency's list of charities. "We refunded it out of an abundance of caution," Pederson told the Georgia Straight.

However, when the cheques were not cashed, the donations were instead forwarded to Elections BC last December 31. The refunds are the result of changes made to the Election Act since the 2001 general election. According to Section 186(4) of the legislation, an organization is no longer allowed to make political contributions if its objectives are the relief of poverty, advancement of education or religion, protection of health, governmental or municipal purposes, or other purposes beneficial to the community. Though the act refers to the above as "charitable" organizations, this provision applies regardless of whether the organization is a registered charity for tax purposes.

Other prohibited Liberal contributions, totalling $420, were received anonymously through the mail. As required by the legislation, that was also sent to the chief elections office.

Genome British Columbia is an organization that funds research in genomics and related kinds of scientific inquiry. According to Genome B.C.'s Web site, Deputy Advanced Education Minister Moura Quayle is a nonvoting member of the organization's board of directors. As well, the site says, one of Genome B.C.'s "major investors" is the B.C. government. According to the province's public accounts, the government paid Genome B.C. $5 million in the year ended March 31, 2005.

Genome B.C. did not return a call from the Straight by press time.

Several other organizations made prohibited donations to the B.C. Liberals last year. The YMCA of Greater Vancouver gave the party $700 on May 20, three days after the general election. Discovery Parks Trust, a Vancouver developer of technology office and research space, gave $5,000. All of the money has since been returned.

The NDP reported receiving no prohibited donations last year.

Seventeen years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, a number of species of wildlife has yet to recover, according to a draft report published on February 22, 2006, by the U.S. government-appointed Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council.

When the Exxon Valdez struck Bligh Reef off Alaska on March 24, 1989, it leaked about 42 million litres of oil into Prince William Sound. According to the report, an 11.3-hectare patch of oil from the tanker persists on or below the surface in the sound's intertidal zones. Loons, cormorants, harbour seals, harlequin ducks, Pacific herring, and pigeon guillemots are "not recovering" from the spill, according to the 182-page report. Other species, including orcas, sea otters, marbled murrelets, and mussels, are "still recovering".

That should give pause to backers of Enbridge Inc.'s proposal to ship 400,000 barrels-about 47.6 million litres-of crude oil daily via pipeline from Alberta to Kitimat, where it would be loaded onto supertankers.

Environmentalists say the risks of damage to the ecosystem are too high to justify the project.

Even though B.C. MLAs failed last November to carry through with a hefty pay and benefits package, provincial politicians of both the previous and the present parliament are covered by a long-term disability scheme that received no publicity when it was approved.

It was implemented just over a year ago by the Legislative Assembly Management Committee, which met, as always, in camera.

According to the meeting's somewhat cryptic minutes, on February 22, 2005, the committee voted for a long-term disability plan for members of the 37th and 38th parliaments. Present MLAs belong to the 38th parliament. The minutes provide no details as to the cost of the scheme, which was never brought before the house.

When West Vancouver-Capilano Liberal MLA Ralph Sultan had a heart attack on February 20, 2006, he faced the possibility of having to miss months or years of sittings of the house while he recovered. Fortunately, Sultan was back on the job by the end of March. But even if he had been off for a much longer period, he'd have been entitled to payments under the quietly implemented scheme.