The focus on deficits in the federal election campaign, triggered by one political party’s call for a major infrastructure program to be financed over a three year term by way of deficits, highlights the mindless state of our politics. The proposal is to spend money in excess of what is collected by taxation, royalties, and...

Daily there are thousands of migrants fleeing to Europe from Syria and Iraq.  This year there have been over 300,000 refugees arriving on European shores.  People are fleeing the savage rule of ISIS in parts of Iraq and Syria and the ongoing civil war in Syria.  We continue to read headlines that ISIS has fired […]

“We need things consumed, burned up, replaced, and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate.”– Victor Lebow, Journal of Retailing, 1955 Come, gather round, and let’s write a new story. This story will be about nurturant change and provide you with physical and emotional care and nourishment.  It will also alter the way you live...

There is only one election issue There can be only one issue for citizens to consider in this federal election. It is not the economy, the environment, or security. The preeminent issue in this election is governance: the process by which the nation is to be governed. We can rely on Elections Canada to produce an accurate...

Is The US Dollar Collapsing, or is it Not? There are three schools of thought on where the US dollar is headed, some say it will be dead before Sept. 2015  is over. Some believe it is business as usual, while a third group points to the US dollar as deflating. Now I’m a Canadian, and personally, I do not care who is right, ...

Eileen Delehanty Pearkes has been researching and writing about the history and politics of water in the upper Columbia Basin since 2005.  Her book on the Columbia River Treaty, A River Captured, is forthcoming in 2016.  Recently, her travelling exhibit on the Columbia River Treaty, curated for Touchstones Nelson, won a...

Our provincial government is holding up the 25-year liquefied natural gas (LNG) deal recently approved as an achievement which will serve our long-term economic interests.  It is a done deal, but it nonetheless merits closer examination.  We need to reflect on it even though we do not have the power to do anything about it. ...

One way of looking at the current election is to see it as a massive civic literacy test, not just for those who actually intend to vote but for those who mistake cynicism for sophistication and stay glued to their iPads instead. As David Akin of the Toronto Sun once said, "Bad governments are elected by good folks who don't...

Dear Editor, As a resident of the new South Okanagan West Kootenay federal riding, a question that I have for our candidates relates to climate-action. My family and I are very interested in knowing of any specific, “new and improved” plans on Canadian climate action that the various parties are putting forward. The current...

This season, the Kootenay Robusters decided to try a different strategy for their paddling season - one that should be especially helpful to new recruits, and enjoyable for experienced team members as well. Two early season festivals were planned, the first in Lethbridge at the end of June and the second at the end of July ...