Former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Ian Binnie said, “I think the recent popularity amongst political leaders denouncing judicial outcomes is extremely dangerous.”  He was referring to the fact that Green Party Member of Parliament (and party leader)  Elizabeth May and NDP Member of Parliament Kennedy Stewart defied a court...

Electoral Reform : My Personal Fact Check #1 Having read through the selection of ‘news and reports’ on the nobcprorep website, there are a few claims that lack support: one is that proportional representation will lead to a string of minority governments along with economic instability.  I also just skimmed through the World...

To The Editor: One of the things that first attracted me to proportional representation, PR, apart from the fact that it just made sense, is that it is supported by people across the political spectrum. At my first PR meeting in 2004, I sat next to someone from the Canadian Rate Payer's Federation and Andrew Coyne was the...

Life is never simple, and one decision is generally followed by more decisions. If a majority of voters choose a change to a proportional representation system for BC, more decisions must be made. Here, we explain how the referendum will be held and what decisions may follow – depending on the outcome – and who will make them....

A BC voter has begun the next stage of an initiative petition process seeking to have the BC government cancel the Site C dam project; see this May 3 article first announcing the petition. The petition sheets were issued on July 3, so the proponent has 90 days to collect signatures. To move to the next stage of the process,...

This is Part Four in the series on the upcoming referendum and the voting systems we can choose. To recap briefly, the referendum this fall will offer us a choice between staying with our current system of voting, usually called First-Past-the-Post (FPTP), or moving to a system of Proportional Representation. People who want...

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...

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...