I’ve often thought politicians inhabit a parallel universe. Maybe it’s just widespread cognitive dissonance, coupled with a lack of imagination, that compels them to engage in so much contradictory behaviour. Trying to appease so many varying interests isn’t easy. Rather than focusing on short-term economic and corporate...

The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans is breaking the law by not testing B.C. farmed salmon for a virus that has spread like wildfire in Norway and Chile, before allowing them to be transferred into open-net ocean pens alongside wild fish. “According to federal fisheries laws, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans is required...

Are you interested to learn about environmental activities and projects happening in Rossland and how you can get involved?  Come to the Annual General Meeting for the Rossland Society for Environmental Action (RSEA) on Tuesday, October 25, to hear about RSEA’s recent successes,  plans for the future and to provide input on...

Here is Part II of this lengthy article.  To review Part I, click on this link. The 60’s Generation and political change: No revolution The question again puts my focus on the effects of the ‘60’s on culture. We heard then about a Generation Gap. Parents and their boomer children were divided by age, and age determined one’s...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...