Stefan Labbé

Stefan Labbé is an investigative and solutions-focused reporter whose work follows the collision of money, power, climate change and the transportation sector, including automobiles and other vehicles, at Business in Vancouver and across Glacier Media’s titles. He distinguishes himself from a generic auto beat reporter by treating cars, yachts and other modes of transport as entry points into larger stories about climate policy, energy systems, global trade and corporate conduct. His reporting combines document-driven investigation with on-the-ground coverage of how businesses, governments and communities respond to environmental and economic pressure.

Climate, energy and transportation

Labbé’s coverage often sits where climate policy meets the vehicles people drive and the infrastructure that powers them. In Business in Vancouver he has reported on the pause of the Go Electric Passenger Vehicle Rebate Program, explaining how the decision comes as the province concedes it will miss its 2030 emission goals and outlining the timeline for when current funding ends.

He connects such incentives to broader questions about how quickly drivers can afford to switch to electric vehicles and how government programs shape that transition. In another Business in Vancouver piece he examines how prolonged drought and low reservoir levels have forced utilities to import electricity and cut exports, using trade data to show how these conditions expose Canada’s clean-technology export challenges and growing import dependence. His recent reporting also includes legal and financial disputes tied to marine transportation, such as a Granville Island marina’s six-figure fraud lawsuit against several yacht companies, extending his transport lens beyond roads to docks and waterways.

Together, these stories show a reporter who treats automobiles and other transport technologies as part of a wider climate and energy system rather than as stand-alone consumer products.

Investigations into policy, corporate conduct and climate solutions

Labbé’s work consistently follows the money and power behind environmental decisions, emphasizing how policy changes and corporate strategies play out on the ground. He has broken stories on the B.C. government unexpectedly cutting a municipal climate adaptation fund, tracing the implications for local governments trying to prepare for floods, fires and other climate risks. He has covered the development of a federal atmospheric river warning system, explaining how new forecasting tools are meant to prevent a repeat of catastrophic storm damage.

In another widely cited piece he tells the story of the first doctor to diagnose a patient with climate change, using a single medical case to illustrate how heat waves and air pollution are reshaping health care. During his time as an investigative reporter at Business in Vancouver he was given scope to pursue months-long, cross-border projects, spending extended periods wading through floodwaters and public records.

His Business in Vancouver cover stories include examinations of how three West Coast exporters in manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and aquaculture are navigating a new market reality after trade tensions with the United States escalated, tying boardroom decisions to shifting global politics. He has also reported on a mining project that could threaten a resort community’s outdoor economy, showing how residents and business owners organize against resource projects they see as incompatible with their local way of life. Across these pieces he focuses on the concrete consequences of policy and corporate decisions, always anchoring climate “solutions” in the lived experience of affected communities.

Global reporting and conflict-affected communities

Beyond Business in Vancouver, Labbé has a substantial body of international reporting that informs his approach to domestic climate and transport stories. His work has appeared in major outlets including the Guardian, the Globe and Mail, The Tyee, PBS NewsHour and other publications.

As a freelancer he has reported on returning jihadist fighters in Jordan, the fallout from a government–guerrilla peace deal in Colombia and the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in the Caribbean, focusing on how communities rebuild and adapt after conflict and disaster.

He has also worked on feature-length documentary projects as part of an international reporting fellowship, extending his storytelling beyond text into long-form visual journalism. Earlier in his career he reported daily news and in-depth features for a local newspaper, covering subjects such as the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, which sharpened his ability to track fast-moving stories while still finding space for deep reporting.

This global and general-news background feeds into his current beat, giving his automobile and transport coverage a wider frame that includes migration, conflict and disaster recovery.

Format, tone and sources

Labbé works across formats, producing daily news, explanatory features, investigative projects and documentary reporting. His climate and environment stories are designed to be syndicated across Glacier Media’s central desk, and his current role focuses on solutions journalism, telling stories about how people respond to problems linked to climate change from the energy transition to migration.

He grounds his reporting in public data and records; for example, his article on electricity imports during drought uses trade data from Statistics Canada to quantify how weather shifts alter power flows and clean-tech exports.

His writing, photography and documentary work have appeared in dozens of publications, and his on-the-ground reporting has been featured in interviews with national broadcasters and podcasts. Within Business in Vancouver, he brings this multi-platform, data-informed style to the automobile and transport beat, using vehicles as the connective tissue between climate science, public policy, business strategy and the everyday experience of drivers and coastal communities.