Report on Rossland City Council Meeting, June 25, 2018 (Updated) Present:  Mayor Kathy Moore and Councillors Martin Kruysse, John Greene, Andy Morel and Andrew Zwicker.   Absent: Lloyd McLellan and Aaron Cosbey. Public Input Period: Laura Petit spoke to oppose Council’s decision to do away with water metering; she felt it...

On June 20th, the House of Commons rose for the summer break.  One of the last votes we took dealt with the message to the Senate regarding their proposed amendments to Bill C-45, the bill to legalize marijuana.  And the final motion to adjourn included a message to the Senate regarding Bill C-46, which covers new...

More action on single-use plastic bags? Rossland City Council has stated that it was waiting for the outcome of the court challenge against the City of Victoria’s bylaw to ban plastic “check-out” bags.  The Canadian Plastic Bag Association challenged the City of Victoria’s right to regulate plastic bags. Now the Supreme Court...

Last week I travelled with Jim Carr, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, to the G20 energy meetings in Argentina.  The meetings are a mix of reports from the G20 countries and of presentations by world experts about the state of energy markets and future energy demand. The main theme of the talks was the “grand […]

Knotweed is one of the scarier invasive plants.  It doesn't cause burns or blindness, like Giant Hogweed, but it does spread very fast and it causes expensive damage to things like the foundations of buildings – and property values. It can burst right through pavement, take over lawns and gardens, and we have it right […]

Rossland City Council meetings, June 12, 2018  PUBLIC HEARING: Re: A bylaw to re-zone 2194 Park Street from R-1 Residential to R-1 GS (allowing for short-term rental of a guest suite.) One resident had written and expressed comfort with the application, as long as the off-street parking would be used, instead of the owner and...

Editor’s Note:  Many people are not yet aware of the proposal to turn about 700 square kilometres of the southern Purcell  Range into a heli-playground, cutting new trails and building lodges, with helicopter flights carrying in skiers in the winter and hikers and mountain bikers in the summer.  The...

Few people here can recall war efforts in Britain during the Second World War, but more of us have read about them. Most everyone pitched in; they sacrificed personal comfort and convenience for the common good, obeyed blackout rules, saved even gum wrappers for the aluminum content, contributed pots and pans, rationed food,...

Will Canada finally inspire a wave of celebration on World Oceans Day, June 8? Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to lead G7 nations on global marine protection during Canada’s presidency this year, a welcome change after decades of inaction left just one per cent of our oceans formally safeguarded. The government is...

People gathered at Gold Rush Bookstore Tuesday evening to talk about growing grassroots support for replacing fossil-fueled energy with renewable energy throughout the Kootenays. It’s worth noting that much of our energy locally is renewable hydro power; that’s what attracted the smelter to Trail, now owned by Teck, which...