Environment Canada issues Special Weather Statement for Highway 3
This can't be happening. But Environment Canada is not mincing any words when it issued a Special Weather Statement Sunday for Highway 3, the Paulson Summit to Kootenay Pass. "We expect the first taste of winter at higher elevations tonight and Monday morning in central and southern BC," the Enivronment Canada Weather Statement...
Province urges caution when using water in Kootenay-Columbia region
With many streams and rivers in the Lower Columbia, West Kootenay and East Kootenay regions experiencing very low streamflows, Kootenay residents are being urged to reduce water consumption. The Government of British Columbia has announced a Level 3 drought rating for the area that calls for voluntary water use reductions of...
Water users will ‘scrape by’, despite drought conditions
Water managers across the region say despite the two-month-old drought that’s gripped the Boundary and Kootenay areas, community and regional water supplies remain stable. “Surprisingly, we’ve had no problems yet,” says Uli Wolf, the general manager for environmental services with the Regional District of Central Kootenay. ...
Funding to make sport affordable, so all kids can play
Ravi Kahlon, Parliamentary Secretary for Sport and Multiculturalism, marked the official proclamation of KidSport BC Week with an announcement of $400,000 in funding at the annual Ritchie Bros. Corporate Kids Challenge 2017 this past weekend. “Every child in B.C. deserves the chance to benefit from the social, physical and ...
Search and rescue seeks fee-for-service agreement with city; transient camps growing
The city could come to the rescue of Grand Forks Search and Rescue by entering into an annual fee-for-service agreement with the only search and rescue team in the Boundary. Members of the Grand Forks Search and Rescue (GFSAR) appeared before council recently with the request for annual financial and in-kind contributions, ...
Opinion: A SAD dilemma
As autumn sets in and the sunlit hours of each day diminish, some people begin to notice that their moods dim along with the daylight. Northerners generally begin to feel the effects earlier in the fall, as the shrinkage of their daylight is earlier and more pronounced. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is real. It was...
Class-action suit seeks info from Lemon Creek evacuees
People who were forced out of their homes by the Lemon Creek Fuel spill in 2013 are being asked to estimate what the evacuation cost them- and they’ve got until October 2 to do it. About a dozen participants in the lawsuit met on Sunday night at the Slocan Park Community Hall to find out about the next step in the drawn-out...
Column: Can we have economic growth and lower emissions?
What does climate change have to do with economic growth? Canada’s prime minister and premiers signed a deal in December to “grow our economy, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and build resilience to the impacts of a changing climate.” The Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change...
Column: From the Hill -- Business Tax Controversy
There has been a great deal of talk in the news and on the street about the Liberal government’s proposed changes to federal tax laws that would make it more difficult for small businesses to make passive investments in their companies and share profits with members of their families. The Liberals claim that many small...
FortisBC crews in Turks and Caicos Islands to help after Hurricane Irma
A trio of FortisBC workers from the Kootenays arrived in in the Turks and Caicos Islands on Sunday, September 10 to begin in helping restore power to the area devastated by Hurricane Irma over the weekend. FortisBC said in total, six power line technicians and one supervisor from FortisBC joined a 58-person operation crew...