The Brazeau affair — sad, repugnant and bizarre all at the same time — shines a light on two aspects of Canadian politics that desperately need some exposure. One is what it reveals about the state of “official” aboriginal politics and its relationship to the Canadian state. The other, the almost exclusive focus of the media,...

Back over Christmas, I eagerly unwrapped the gift of enormously diverse input given by respondents to December's DemocracySTORM survey. Now we’re in the second, more exciting phase of the storm—we’re asking you to vote on your favourite Budge the Budget ideas. You need not have participated to jump in right now and vote, so...

Below are 58 categories into which  I put people’s responses to the question, What key points should council consider before passing the budget? Separate articles address the questions: What should Rossland spend MORE money on? What should Rossland spend LESS money on?  And we also address concerns people have raised about ...

Below are 50 categories into which I put people’s responses to the question, What should Rossland spend LESS money on? Separate articles address the questions: What should Rossland spend MORE money on? What other key points should council consider before passing the budget? And we also address concerns people have raised about...

Below are 49 categories into which I put people’s responses to the question, What should Rossland spend MORE money on? Separate articles address the questions: What should Rossland spend LESS money on? What other key points should council consider before passing the budget? And we also address concerns people have raised about...

Five men pleaded not guilty yesterday to the rape and murder of a 23-year-old Delhi student. They face 13 charges and the death penalty in a specially set up "fast track court". The accused, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Kumar, Ram Singh, Mukesh Singh and Akshay Thakur, signed statements in the court declaring their innocence. The five...

The board of School District No. 20 (SD20) voted last night 6-3 against K-12 in Rossland. The majority voted in favour of both K-7 at MacLean and K-9 at RSS, and these options will be left on the table for the bylaw's second reading at the special open board meeting at the RSS gym on Feb. 12.The board voted on each of the...

Dear editor, With all the focus on the Jason Ward affair and the prospect of school closures in Rossland, we shouldn’t lose sight of other concerns--like our taxes. We still don’t know the final cost of the Columbia / Washington project and its impact on taxes. (When are we going to be informed on this?) It has been reported...

Dear editor, There was no giant roar of disapproval from the small crowd gathered to hear SD20's first reading of the school closure bylaw, when all but three of the trustees voted to defeat the option to keep K-12 in Rossland at RSS. And that's exactly the way the trustees wanted it. They didn't want to face angry questions....

I had the opportunity in January to represent our country at the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF) in Vladivostok, Russia.  This was the 21st annual Forum which hosted over three hundred parliamentarians from 23 APPF member states as well as representatives from other countries, the UN and other world organizations. Our...