During a normal school day at Christina Lake Elementary, the quiet chatter of children reciting their multiplication tables, working on group projects and reading out loud filters out of the classrooms and into the halls. Then a secret signal sounds. Not the usual fierce fire alarm, but something new. And within seconds the school falls […]

This is the final article in a series to address Coun. Cary Fisher’s surprise at a lack of awareness about the budget among Rossland residents. Part One examined the General Fund in broad strokes. The actual “general” revenue of the city in 2011 was $6.4 million, to which taxation contributed 57 per cent, residential taxes ...

In response to Coun. Cary Fisher’s "shock" at a lack of budgetary awareness among city residents, here we tackle the portion of the budget that deals specifically with city funding for community organizations and facilities, parks, and recreation. In Part One we examined the broad strokes of Rossland's major revenue streams,...

Coun. Cary Fisher has taken Rossland's budget to task, recently asking residents, "Do you know what you're paying for?” Fisher expressed dismay that many residents didn't know where their taxes go. He pointed to the media to sound the alarm and called for the public to identify budget cuts before the annual budget cycle gets...

Budget season is coming up fast and Coun. Cary Fisher, a self-described "numbers guy," has sounded the alarm: "Do you know what you're paying for?"Fisher came to council with an emphasis on trimming fat from the budget, but last year he felt that council didn't get a solid chance to make spending cuts because councillors were...

Some might say it is laziness, others may want to blame it on the tipping fees at the dump or transfer station, but the reality is people like to dump their compostable lawn waste, old appliances and even animal carcasses down the roads less travelled in the Boundary. Karen Mehmal, who operates a ranch and […]

Last night on ‘The Rick Mercer Report,’ Canadian icon Rick Mercer put the Harper Government, “previously known as the Government of Canada,” to task over the termination of the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA). In one of his classic rants, Mercer tried to make sense of the senseless closure of the ELA, which will only save the...

Following council's request in September for a "smoking dogs" bylaw, city staff returned to council on Monday with a report on bylaws used by other communities to control dogs and restrict smoking in public areas. Council voted to provide several opportunities for public input before contemplating any change to either the ban...

Council has advanced Curtis Nichols' application to rezone his property at 926 Black Bear Drive—opposite the junction of Highway 22 and the Cascade Highway—from R1 Residential to C2 Commercial Service, and a public hearing has been scheduled for Nov. 12. Nichols plans to subdivide his lot, keeping the southern portion...

Alex Atamanenko, MP (BC Southern Interior) is slamming the Conservative government’s second mammoth Omnibus Budget Bill this year which amends over 40 separate Acts, guts a series of commissions that protect the public interest and concentrates even more power in Ministers’ hands. The BC MP denounced the government’s measures...