Column: A different look at LNG for BC
There will many announcements and pronouncements for and against the federal government’s approval of the Petronas LNG project if, in view of the 190 pre-conditions, approval is the appropriate term. What aroused my curiosity was the identity of developer: who is Petronas? Petronasis an oil and gas giant created a little over...
Editorial Musing: New MSP Premiums for 2017
How much do you pay for BC Medical Services Plan (MSP)? This year, if you're a single person who earned $21,900 (or so) last year ("adjusted net income"), you'll pay nothing -- as long as you applied for Premium Assistance. But if you're a couple, and you and your spouse earned a total of $30,001 last year, then this year...
Re-inventing the Wheel and Electoral Reform
How should we vote? How should the people of Canada be represented in our federal government? How should members of Parliament be elected? On September 1st at the Fireside Inn in Castlegar, a number of citizens interested in these simple yet profound questions met with our local MP, Richard Cannings, to talk about electoral...
Quality of Care in Seniors' Facilities
Many Rosslanders recall the unfortunate separation of a devoted senior couple so that they could more conveniently (for IHA) be housed in different facilities, in different towns. While separated, one of the couple died. The resulting, and well-justified, outcry may have resulted in changes to the practice of deciding which...
Thought-provoking Workshop to Generate Ideas
Do you roll your eyes at the word "sustainability" and scoff at concerns about food security? Well, how much of the world's news have you been reading -- or do you stick to celebrity gossip and animal photos so as not to become too depressed about bombings, weird extreme weather and famine in distant places, or about political...
COLUMN: From the Hill -- Site C and Treaty 8
On February 18th of this year a group of First Nations activists came to Ottawa to speak to the government about the Site C dam project on the Peace River. They met with myself and other MPs in the BC NDP caucus to discuss their attempts to delay construction of the dam until the concerns of their people were heard in federal...
EDITORIAL RANT: Rape Culture Sums Up Human Society, So Far
A reader recently commented privately about the recent "Rape and Consequences" article, and expressed dismay that Canada's "rape shield" legislation is not more effective at curbing defence attorneys' strategy of "whacking the victim" in court. Her comment made me think: our society's acceptance of "rape culture" is...
'Night at the Museum' in Rossland to feature Dr. Gavin Hanke of the Royal BC Museum in Victoria
"Night at the Museum" on August 10, from 7:30 to 8:30 pm, will feature Dr. Gavin Hanke of the Royal Museum of BC, and the opportunity to speak with him informally. He will have with him some exhibits -- and a vast store of knowledge on vertebrates: that's all the creatures with backbones, though he doesn't include humans ...
COLUMN: What Caribou Need to Survive
(Editor's Note: Southern BC is also home to most of the world's at-risk population of Mountain Caribou, and the comments in the column below about the need for undisturbed habitat apply equally. For a BC government document on the Mountain Caribou's need for "large tracts of old-growth forest in the Interior Wet Belt," ...
OPINION: Rape and Consequences
The Rossland Telegraph Things are beginning to look up for rape victims. Recently, a judgment by Alberta Court of Queen's Bench Justice Juliana Topolniski reversed an acquittal of a teen charged with sexual assault. The language in her ruling made it very clear that she was disappointed, to say the least, with the lower...
