With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
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14 BCBUSINESS MARCH 2019 S O U R C E S : S TAT I S T I C S C A N A D A , A N G U S R E I D I N S T I T U T E , B .C . G A M I N G P O L I C Y A N D E N F O R C E M E N T B R A N C H, B C L C , margin on the free-range eggs, too, says Easterbrook, who upholds a foundational ethic: "Don't let your animals suer or be exposed to danger." Not all operators are so con- scientious. Last April, animal rights activists walked onto three egg production facilities in the Abbotsford area where hens were housed in small con- ventional cages—also called battery cages—to "document the conditions," says Geo Rigear. A former undercover investigator for Mercy for Ani- mals, which works to expose cruel husbandry practices on industrial farms, Rigear chose the operations at random. He found hens dehydrated and starving—and some dead— stuck in deep pits of manure. Rigear videotaped eorts to rescue the birds and sent the footage to CTV News for broad- cast. "It's sad and horrifying, the suering the hens were made to endure," he says. The video sparked SPCA and BC Egg Marketing Board inves- tigations. The conditions at one farm were so substandard that about 14,000 chickens had to be removed and rehomed, says board executive director Katie Lowe. The result? BC Egg developed a barn "tness pol- icy that includes more than the usual four inspections per year of older facilities, Lowe explains. For egg producers like East- erbrook, this proposed change doesn't address the more im- mediate issue of battery cage use, which "limits the quality of life" of chickens, he maintains. In B.C., Lowe says, 65 percent of the province's 3.1 million egg- laying hens live in such cages, which give each bird 67 square inches of space. The enclosures won't be phased out until 2036 due to the cost of upgrading facilities, she adds. Thanks to education, largely by animal rights groups using social media, as well as clandes- tine videos from activists exposing sometimes-cruel handling and living conditions, the public know more about how food-production animals like hens live. Such awareness has inspired corporations like McDonald's and Starbucks to re- port plans to switch to cage-free eggs in the next several years. Concerns over animal welfare are aecting consumer behaviour. In 2018, Dal housie University food distribution and food policy professor Sylvain Charlebois led two sur- veys to assess Canadians' eating habits and food knowledge. The "rst poll showed that 7.1 percent and 2.3 percent of Canadians consider themselves vegetarian and vegan, respectively. They made this choice due to three main concerns, Charlebois found: treatment of farm ani- mals, a desire to reduce their environmental footprint and their own health. His second survey notes that some 6.4 million Cana- dians are eating less meat or eliminating it from their diets. Will people's tastes ever converge with more-humane animal husbandry practices? There are many low-income consumers as well as food- production businesses like bak- eries that will always choose the cheapest product, Easter- brook says. Still, with more education and awareness, and an increase in food variety, such as plant-based oerings to replace animal products, the time may come when farm ani- mals enjoy a life that lets them express natural behaviours from birth to death. But change hinges on pub- lic pressure, Easterbrook says. "Consumers need to vote with their dollars." From March 12 to 14, industry insiders converge on the Parq Vancouver casino to talk safer gaming at the New Horizons in Responsible Gambling Conference. How much do British Columbians like rolling the dice? by Melissa Edwards Whole Lotto Love ( the informer ) G O F I G U R E DO THIS Are you a startup looking to add a digital edge to your business? Or a professional who wants to stay in the loop with emerging technology? Learn about advances in the field and how they can help businesses at the fourth annual BCTechSummit. This year's Reality Revolution theme focuses on artificial intelligence, VR/AR and other "smart" concentrations, with the aim of solving the problems facing our world today. The event pairs high-profile speakers like Premier John Horgan and veteran distiller and Dragons' Den judge Manjit Minhas with diverse workshops and social events. Vancouver Convention Centre, March 11-13. Ticket information at bctechsummit.ca $230 Average spending on games of chance per B.C. household in 2017 RICH DIET Consumers with the highest income and the most education are "ethi- cal foodies," a new study co-authored by UBC assistant sociology professor Emily Huddart Kennedy found EATING FOR TASTE AND EATING FOR CHANGE: ETHICAL CONSUMPTION AS A HIGH-STATUS PRACTICE, SOCIAL FORCES 82% In a 2016 survey, Canadian households containing some- one who had bought a lottery ticket in the preceding year 32% contained a resident who had gambled in a casino $3.3 billion B.C. government's earnings from gambling revenue in 2017-18, a 6.5% annual gain $220 million Estimated amount allegedly laundered per year on behalf of crime organizations by a single B.C. couple, according to the B.C. Office of Civil Forfeiture $700 million+ Suspicious cash laundered at B.C. casinos from 2010–17 71% of British Columbians say government involvement in gambling is more good than bad