Op/Ed: What’s next on corporate crime and remediation agreements?
By Jennifer Quaid; originally published in The Conversation About a year ago, the SNC-Lavalin controversy introduced Canadians to a new way of settling criminal charges — remediation agreements. Added to Canadian law via a budget bill in June 2018, the system was put to the test almost immediately when SNC-Lavalin sought a ...
COLUMN: From the Hill -- Canada's new Parliament, so far
It’s a new year, a new decade, and a time to look forward. The new parliament sat for two weeks in early December, time enough to get an indication how the government intends to move forward. Most Canadians want the government to work collaboratively with other parties to tackle the issues of our time, and the NDP is very ...
2020 Property Tax Assessments are in the mail
In the next few days, owners of more than 147,500 properties throughout the Kootenay Columbia region can expect to receive their 2020 assessment notices, which reflect market value as of July 1, 2019. "The majority of Kootenay Columbia home-owners can expect an increase when compared to last year’s assessments," says Deputy...
BC’s newest political party calls for investigation of RCMP actions and halt to pipeline construction
The BC Ecosocialists are the first provincial political party to respond to the revelations published in The Guardian on Friday, alleging that the RCMP planned to deploy snipers and were prepared to use extreme tactics including child apprehension in a raid on the Indigenous land defenders who continue to oppose the gas...
Explainer: Why the proposed Frontier oilsands mine is a political hot potato
By Sharon J. Riley, for The Narwhal The fate of a massive new oilsands project is being seen as the litmus test for the future of the oilsands themselves. There’s a huge oilsands project that’s getting a lot of attention these days — and it’s not the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. A massive new oilsands mine project...
Editorial Rant: The case for involuntary committal of certain politicians
Many years ago, I helped the parents of a seriously disturbed young person by obtaining a court order for his involuntary committal. He had been delusional, and doing things that could easily have resulted in his own death. The parents had made one attempt on their own, but had failed to convince a court of the need to protect...
Opinion: The digital economy’s environmental footprint is threatening the planet
By Raynold Wonder Alorse, for The Conversation Modern society has given significant attention to the promises of the digital economy over the past decade. But it has given little attention to its negative environmental footprint. Our smartphones rely on rare earth metals, and cloud computing, data centres, artificial intelligence...
Opinion: Taxation and us
Taxes – who wants to think about taxes at this time of year? Can’t we put it off for a few months? Relax – this isn’t about doing the dreaded tax return. It’s about trends in taxation, and what they achieve. Or not. And what voters can do about it. Besides, it can take...
Editorial: An object lesson from Uzbekistan
A Kootenay man, environmental consultant Michael Keefer who lives in Rossland and Cranbrook, was invited to go to Uzbekistan for a conference on solutions to the Aralkum Desert problem. While there, he toured the area and took many hundreds of pictures. When I sat down with Keefer, who told me fascinating tales ...
COUNCIL MATTERS: Rossland City Council Meetings, December 9, 2019
Condo owners upset by noise from Mook Thai; Community Grants; embracing the Step Code; opposing water-bottling from groundwater, and more Present: Mayor Kathy Moore, and Councillors Janice Nightingale, Chris Bowman, Scott Forsyth, Stewart Spooner, Andy Morel and Dirk Lewis. PUBLIC HEARING on the Financial Plan Amendment...
