Rick Mercer: “My Canada includes weird scientists who are devoted to keeping our water clean”
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...
Rossland council wants public input on leash laws and smoking bans
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...
"Rossland Gateway" property applies for commercial zoning to build a metal shop
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...
COMMENT: Conservative ominous omnibus bills – The art of stealing power from democracy
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...
Time to chill-out in Lillooet municipal politics?
The political climate in Lillooet is beginning to resemble a Quentin Tarantino movie and if it continues down the same path it’s not – from a cinematic perspective – going to end much differently than most of his films. In May, IntegrityBC called on the provincial government to appoint a conciliator in Lillooet, since then ...
Finding homes for the hard-to-house
The Greater Trail Skills Centre and Career Development Services (CDS) are part way through a 48 week program of one-time-only funding from the federal government to lay the foundation for better support for the region's homeless and hard-to-house. To sustain the project beyond March 31, 2013, when the current funding expires,...
Major celebrities add their support to Defend Our Coast mass sit-in
Well known entertainers from Canada and the United States, including Mark Ruffalo, Daryl Hannah, Michael Moore, Ellen Page, Pamela Anderson, Peter Keleghan and Tantoo Cardinal have added their names to the growing number of supporters of the Defend Our Coast mass sit-in on October 22nd in Victoria, B.C. to oppose tar sands ...
ANALYSIS: A review of the contracts for Rossland's senior management
As Rossland transitioned to CAO/CFO Cecile Arnott's new tenure this month, we have fielded several questions about the employment contracts of the city's senior management and how these compare to other managers’ in the province. We do not try to answer subjective questions such as whether or not Rossland is getting good value...
Storm causes power outage in Christina Lake, parts of West Kootenays
UPDATE: Most customers back online after Fortis works to restore power Most of the estimated thousands of FortisBC customers have their electrical services restored after fallen trees downed lines earlier this morning, said Tracy Tang, FortisBC spokesperson. The early morning thunder storm coupled with high winds brought trees...
COMMENT: Happy young farmers in Happy Valley will lease, not buy
Council was divided on whether or not to pursue Dr. Brenda Trenholme's request for an OCP amendment to allow her to subdivide (reported here), so I would like to address Dr. Trenholme's potentially most convincing argument, that smaller lots are more likely to attract young families interested in agriculture. As a member of...