I would like to preface this by saying I have long been a vehement – almost rabid – supporter of the Blueberry Creek Community School Hub (BCCS). I lobbied hard, both personally and professionally, for SD 20 to sell the BCCS property to its non-profit society to keep the school in operation. It is, thus, truly with a heavy ...

"Sweep away the community of honest brokers in America [and] we'll be left with a culture and public dialogue based on assertion rather than authenticity, on claim rather than fact." -- U.S. journalist Ron Suskind, 2004 While you were going about your daily routines this week, the Trudeau Sunny Ways government was rushing...

The U.S. election was a chilling illustration of the atrocious state of public discourse. It doesn’t bode well for a country once admired for leadership in education and science. As public relations expert and former David Suzuki Foundation board chair James Hoggan writes in I’m Right and You’re an Idiot,  “polluted public ...

There’s been a flood of posts recently contrasting a naked or near-naked Melania Trump with Michelle Obama looking elegant. Alt-right criticism of Michelle, almost without exception, is abhorrent and racist. But is unfair criticism of one woman *in any way* addressed by inviting ridicule and mockery of another? Michelle is extraordinary. She would be a […]

To The Editor: Did you replace the batteries in your smoke alarm after changing the clocks back for Daylight Saving Time? With apologies to Saskatchewan residents, who do not adjust their clocks, safety advocates have often repeated this handy mnemonic device as an easy way to remember that batteries in smoke alarms must be...

Last week I had the honour of laying a wreath on behalf of Canada in remembrance of our veterans at the cenotaph in Castlegar.  My childhood memories of these outdoor events are coloured by bone-chilling winds and early snowfalls, but last Friday a truly warm sun peeked out of the clouds. A large eagle flew overhead as the ...

By Charles Eisenstein Normal is coming unhinged. For the last eight years it has been possible for most people (at least in the relatively privileged classes) to believe that society is sound, that the system, though creaky, basically works, and that the progressive deterioration of everything from ecology to economy is a...

A quick glance over current headlines: madness and dread “You spread your paranoia, all over this land – Creating situations you don’t understand… You’ve got to stop flashing pictures of the People. Stop! Flashing pictures of the Power!” -- Tom Fogarty, Goodbye Media Man [1968] “In times of apparent madness, the insane person...

Over the last couple of years many elected officials in our region have been trying hard to improve collaboration and cooperation between our various local governments. Unfortunately, the region has just experienced a major setback. One area that was a sparkling example of regional cooperation was the economic development...

A recent scathing opinion piece by Murray Dobbin outlined the shortcomings of food in some health care facilities administered by the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (VCHA). Both the quality and the quantity of the food served were reported as inadequate, even for institutional food which is understandably challenging to...