Darron Kloster
Darron Kloster is the business editor and a longtime reporter at the Times Colonist, with more than three decades of experience across business, politics, sports and breaking news. He focuses on how business decisions, major developments and policy shifts affect local companies, workers and neighbourhoods. His reporting links traditional business coverage with environmental change and land use, creating a beat that spans boardrooms, industrial sites and natural landscapes.
On The Street and local business coverage
Kloster writes the On The Street business column, giving sustained attention to local retailers, property owners and entrepreneurs and how they adapt to shifting market conditions. His coverage of the Bay Centre’s new ownership and plans for more “experiential” tenants fits this pattern, focusing on how changes in a major shopping centre reshape the tenant mix and customer experience.
He profiles projects such as the transformation of the historic Producers Pit aggregate mine into the multibillion-dollar Beachlands residential development, tracing how a long-established industrial site becomes a new housing community.
He also reports on large commercial and logistics projects, such as installations at an Amazon distribution centre, drawing out both the design and business implications of new facilities. Across these pieces, he pays close attention to investment decisions, timelines, and the way major developments interact with existing streetscapes and nearby businesses.
Mills, construction and the impact on workers
A recurring thread in Kloster’s business reporting is the human and community impact of industrial change. His coverage of the permanent closure of the Crofton pulp and paper mill, with the loss of 350 jobs, follows the shutdown from company decision through to its consequences for employees and the surrounding economy.
He continues to track that site in later reporting, including calls for the closed mill to be assessed as a potential port for the navy, showing how industrial infrastructure can be repositioned within broader economic and defence plans. Kloster also reports on the construction sector, including stories about a wellness and recovery hub designed for tradespeople struggling with addictions and mental health issues, highlighting the pressures on workers behind the building boom. In another piece, he documents the strain on businesses operating near a concentration of homelessness, mental illness and drug use, balancing empathy for vulnerable people with detailed accounts of the daily challenges faced by shop owners and staff.
Taken together, these stories show a business reporter who consistently follows the ripple effects of policy, market shifts and urban social issues on employers, employees and their streets.
Environmental change and land protection
Alongside business, Kloster maintains an environmental and land-use strand in his reporting.
His work includes coverage of climate change, wildlife and marine ecosystems, and the rapid changes occurring in the natural world. He has written on the decline of stately arbutus trees, the sale of properties by community organisations to fund programs, and the addition of acreage to protected areas, linking ecological issues with financial and governance realities.
These pieces show an interest in how land is managed, conserved, developed or sold, and how those decisions affect both habitats and the people who live and work around them. The combination of business and environmental reporting gives Kloster a distinctive vantage point on resource industries, conservation efforts and the long-term sustainability of local economies.
Feature reporting and special projects
Kloster is not only a daily news reporter; he is described as an editor, reporter and feature writer with roughly four decades in the industry.
At the Times Colonist he edits and compiles several special projects, including Discover Magazine, extending his role beyond the business desk into broader enterprise coverage. His feature work ranges from lighter pieces, such as a series of “cheesiest stories” built around an expensive wheel-of-cheese theft, to more serious narratives involving rescue at sea and other human-interest events carried by partner outlets.
Across these assignments he uses detailed scene-setting and interviews to show how individual stories sit within wider trends, whether in consumer habits, safety, or community resilience. The longevity of his career and his mix of editing, column-writing and feature reporting make him a versatile voice inside the newsroom, with the business beat anchored by a broad understanding of how stories connect across sections.
4 more business journalists.
Aarjavee Raaj
Aarjavee Raaj focuses on how corporate decisions, government warnings and economic trends affect everyday Canadians, using clear, data-driven business and related news coverage. She is a CTVNews.ca journalist with experience reporting on arts, culture, business and more, and her name is pronounced Aar-Za-Vee. Her work links institutional and corporate developments to practical consequences for workers, consumers and families, including corporate losses, retail restructuring, tax schemes and compliance warnings. She reports on workplace trends, economic strain, consumer recalls and health impacts, using survey data, charity reports, regulatory notices and clinical stories to show how macroeconomic and policy issues touch daily life. A digital journalist, she keeps to tight headlines, clear summaries of official statements or data, and a steady focus on what developments mean for people who work, shop and rely on public services.
Abigail Adams
Abigail Adams reports human interest stories that follow how sudden conflict, loss and long-running mysteries reshape the lives of ordinary people in everyday settings. She is a writer-reporter on PEOPLE’s Human Interest team, a role she has held since joining the brand in June 2021. Her work centers on routine days that turn into major events, giving equal weight to what happened and the human cost. She covers minor disputes and errands that end in tragedy, sudden accidents, law enforcement and public safety incidents, and missing-person cases with new developments after years of uncertainty. Her reporting is concise, event-led and built around individual lives, often framed with clear emotional cues while staying grounded in verified facts. Business and workplace contexts appear as backdrops, but the person and their circle remain at the heart of the story.
Akshay Kulkarni
Akshay Kulkarni is a data-led reporter who explains how economic, policy and social forces play out in British Columbia through concrete numbers, records and local case histories. He has worked as a journalist at CBC British Columbia since 2021, focusing on business, labour and resource developments, including tariffs, trade rules, corporate strategies and regulatory decisions. His coverage of critical minerals, Amazon’s impact on jobs and wages, and responsible investment links market shifts to the lived experience of workers, consumers and small businesses. He also reports on infrastructure, energy and land use, such as the Site C project and high-value property disputes, and on policy and social systems, including Indigenous deaths in custody, social media use in harm reduction, and mandatory inquests. His stories are built around original interviews and quantitative detail that show how systems affect communities on the ground.
Alex Karpa
Alex Karpa is a journalist with CTV National News who connects policies, innovations and systems to their effects on people’s lives. His real beat spans health care, research, reconciliation, culture, infrastructure and the regional economy. He reports on treatment access, medical breakthroughs, cancer care, emergency-room failures and health-system accountability. He covers residential school survivors, Indigenous artifact repatriation and the legacy of Louis Riel. His business and economy stories examine the Port of Churchill, sustainable farming technology, small-business theft and the Canada Strong Pass. He also reports on music, climate change, forest fires and honeybee populations. Across television segments and digital stories, he relies on detailed interviews, on-the-ground reporting and specific cases. He uses patients, families, survivors, researchers, businesses and communities to explain wider structural issues and practical consequences.