The notion of ‘big ideas’ periodically raises its head in Canadian politics and I recently criticized the NDP for taking a good idea – a national day of action – and wasting it in on, well, small ideas. Specifically I suggested that the party’s focus on excessive interest rates and other charges effectively redefined citizens...

Fifty years ago municipal councils were elected to one year terms. Forty years ago the law was changed to allow for two-year terms. Twenty-four years ago terms were extended to three years, and now councils are to be elected to serve four year terms. The reasons for every term extension were to reduce election costs, to give...

Recently three prominent conservation organizations: Ducks Unlimited, Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation and the Nature Trust of B.C. were highly critical of the B.C. Liberal Government’s agenda of increasing grazing leases from 10 years to 20-25 years. The criticism was directed at range tenures that included the lands ...

It’s difficult to know which is the more disturbing aspect of the crisis in Ukraine. Is it the deliberate obfuscation of the truth by Western leaders like Stephen Harper (and their complicit media)? Or is it the truth itself — the casual acceptance by the West of an illegal, coup-installed regime in Kyiv populated by neo-Nazis...

It would be tough to miss the ad, particularly if you're trying to watch anything online. The one where WorkBC tells us that: “BC's growing economy will lead to one million job openings by 2020.” Since it was uploaded to YouTube in February, it's had more than 900,000 views, the bulk of them paid for by the very people it's...

Crimea Knock knock. Who’s there? Crimea. Crimea who? Crimea a river. Click. (phone is hung up.) Putin is knocking on Obama’s door… This was a Facebaook cartoon posted March 4. Clever joke. For me it says enough. Who told the USA it is the champion of global rights and the law of international politics? It seems to think that...

Horses are not raised according to the food safety protocols required of food animals. The wide array of highly toxic medications they are commonly administered convinces me that horsemeat poses an unacceptable risk to the health of those who consume it.  In the hopes of legislating severe restrictions on Canada’s horse...

Footloose the musical graced the stage of Grand Forks Secondary School on March 7th, 8th, and 9th. The main character of the play is a boy named Ren McCormack (played by Aaron Baker), whom I have known for a long time and had no idea he could sing so well. The nice thing about the play was the set. The set was simple and...

For those of you who follow the proceedings in the legislature you will very likely see the best and the worst of the process of government. It is a process steeped in tradition and is somewhat archaic and slow to respond to change. However, I believe that those who put their names on a ballot to represent the people in their...

Alex Atamanenko, MP (BC Southern Interior) couldn’t be more pleased that Humane Society International/Canada has launched a new campaign to support his private members bill C-571 that will severely restrict the slaughter of horses for human consumption. Parliament will be debating Bill C-571 at the end of this month. “There...