Castlegar Source

My colleague, Nathan Cullen MP – Skeena-Bulkley Valley recently issued the following Op-ed which I would like to share with you.

Days after the Deepwater Horizon offshore oilrig blew up off the coast of Lousiana killing 11 workers, British Petroleum assured the public that they would contain the leak quickly. They were wrong.

The leak has now quintupled to almost one million litres a day. This is an environmental and economic disaster beyond even that of the Exxon Valdez. 

Columbia Basin Trust (CBT) marks two milestones this year; a 15 year anniversary combined with a $15 million Delivery of Benefits budget. 

The month of May brings forth memories of war for those of Dutch descent. Memories of invasion and freedom. My mother was only five-years-old when the German soldiers took control of her homeland, Holland, on May 10,1940. Five years later, on May 5, 1945, the country was officially liberated by Canadians. For many Dutch immigrants here in Canada, these dates bring forward both pain and happiness.

A couple of years ago a friend and I were talking business and she said to me, “I’m American and I run my business the American way, not Canadian.” She was referring to the kill or be killed business culture of the United States. It’s hard to imagine that just by crossing the 49th parallel that the entrepreneurial spirit takes a different form. But when you start shopping around for pricing and customer service, it’s hard to understand the reasons for the significant difference between our countries. There truly is a cultural difference in how we run our businesses.

With the momentum gained by community donations, partners have come forward to make the Christina Lake North Bay Buoy Project to protect sensitive wetlands in the north part of the lake possible. The project, a partnership between the Christina Lake Stewardship Society (CLSS), the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary (RDKB), and B.C. Parks, put out a call for support to raise the $6,000 needed to purchase equipment and in just two weeks matching funds guaranteed that the project will be done this summer. In fact, so much funding was received they are able to do an expanded project.

Another Monday, and more than a million British Columbians head off to work: to earn a living,  pursue careers, provide services for clients, satisfy their own desire to contribute to society and share the stories and challenges of their lives with their closest co-workers. Lisa Reimer, however, is forced to stay home.

Hailed as well on his way to becoming a Canadian institution following in the footsteps of Ian Tyson and Stompin’ Tom Connors, cowboy singer and songwriter Tim Hus is bringing his storytelling style music to Grand Forks on Saturday, May 15. Folks say that Hus has a voice sweeter than a Husqvarna chainsaw, a wit that is sharper than rusty barbed wire, and a list of songs longer than a Saskatchewan fence line.

There’s no easy answer for School District 51’s Board of Trustees in the case of the possible closure of the Beaverdell Elementary School if the decision is based on the public meeting held on Tuesday, Apr. 27 in Beaverdell. The community came out in full force to support their small school with over 100 people attending the first meeting in the closure consultation process. The board heard their impassioned call to keep the school open, but did not comment or engage in any discussion at the meeting.

Kootenay West MLA Katrine Conroy will not be available for her official duties as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for approximately one month, beginning on May 7th, 2010.

Conroy and her husband Ed will be participating in a ‘domino’ kidney transplant in May, which will ultimately see Ed receive a much needed kidney transplant. 

The Columbia Basin Trust is offering Community Service awards in partnership with four Basin-based Colleges. The 22 awards, valued at $2,000 each, are divided amongst students attending Selkirk College (10), College of the Rockies (10), Valemount Campus of College of New Caledonia (1) and the *Revelstoke Centre of Okanagan College (1). Residents who are thinking of going back to school, but need some financial help, and have been actively volunteering in their community may qualify for these awards.