This week’s Op/Ed piece by Professor Henry Giroux asks us to “stand up for democracy.”   Sounds like a good idea – but how can we best do that?     Being well-informed One of the things Giroux emphasizes is information – a healthy democracy depends on well-informed citizens. Today, information can fly around the planet in...

Editor’s Note:  This still-very-timely article is from 2017, adapted by the author from a commencement address he delivered that year in Glasgow, Scotland. The emphasis on what youth must do is appropriate to a commencement address – and as everyone not living under a rock already knows, the world’s...

In support of the January 25th Global Day of Action calling for No War on Iran, approximately 80 people who gathered at Castlegar United Church urged all Federal party leaders to work to avoid a catastrophic war.  They wrote: Whereas the USA may launch a war on Iran; Whereas such a war will involve Canada; Whereas such a war...

Canada has major income tax loopholes that favour the wealthy, arguably cost the country (ergo all of us taxpayers who aren’t rich enough to qualify for them) billions of dollars overall, and make lesser-income people pay more than their fair share, while further enriching the already-rich.  Now, the already-rich are pretty...

By Morten Fibieger Byskov, for The  Conversation What can be done to limit global warming to 1.5°C? A quick internet search offers a deluge of advice on how individuals can change their behaviour. Take public transport instead of the car or, for longer journeys, the train rather than fly. Eat less meat and more vegetables, ...

Let’s hope 2020 marks the start of a year and decade when we finally take climate disruption as seriously as the evidence shows we must. We understand the problem and know how to deal with it. Many solutions exist and more are being developed daily. Consuming less of everything, including energy, rapidly shifting to renewable...

It’s a new year, a new decade, and a time to look forward. The new parliament sat for two weeks in early December, time enough to get an indication how the government intends to move forward.  Most Canadians want the government to work collaboratively with other parties to tackle the issues of our time, and the NDP is very ...

The BC Ecosocialists are the first provincial political party to respond to the revelations published in The Guardian on Friday, alleging that the RCMP planned to deploy snipers and were prepared to use extreme tactics including child apprehension in a raid on the Indigenous land defenders who continue to oppose the gas...

By Sharon J. Riley, for The Narwhal The fate of a massive new oilsands project is being seen as the litmus test for the future of the oilsands themselves.   There’s a huge oilsands project that’s getting a lot of attention these days — and it’s not the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. A massive new oilsands mine project...

Many years ago, I helped the parents of a seriously disturbed young person by obtaining a court order for his involuntary committal. He had been delusional, and doing things that could easily have resulted in his own death.  The parents had made one attempt on their own, but had failed to convince a court of the need to protect...