Small town B.C. may be facing a plague of what disgraced former U.S. vice president Spiro Agnew called the nattering nabobs of negativity or at least that's what a number of B.C. mayors and their allies would have you believe. The crime these nattering nabobs have committed? Having the temerity to challenge council gospel. In […]

I think our community is reeling a bit, right now. The loss of three of our young sons (preceded by the loss of an 18-year-old girl under the cruelest of circumstances) with a fourth still missing, and a family still in agony. Two of our teachers, just gone. Flooding that cost people their homes and […]

The recent announcement by BC Timber Sales that the perimeter of the Class A Gladstone Provincial Park in the Lynch Creek watershed will be logged is hardly surprising. Very few politicians and bureaucrats respect our democratic system of governance and repeatedly take advantage of the largest and most important stakeholder...

The City of Rossland has started another Alternative Approval Process (AAP) to obtain authority to borrow up to $4,000,000 for up to 30 years to pay for the City’s portion of the nearly completed Columbia Avenue infrastructure project.  This AAP is accompanied by even fewer details than was provided with the first AAP in...

The City of Rossland has started another Alternative Approval Process (AAP) to obtain authority to borrow up to $4,000,000 for up to 30 years to help pay for the City’s portion of the Columbia Avenue project.   (See “What’s an AAP anyways?")  The project is almost complete and has to be paid for.  But what did it actually...

In the argument last column, I was still selling the typical narrative of our time, the story of progress in the West through democratic evolution and material science. The thesis is Progress. I see that this view, the perspective of modernity, is outmoded. Postmodernism now describes our mind and consciousness better than ...

I was approached by a number of constituents who are involved in the Defend Dignity Campaign, a justice initiative of 430 churches of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada. Defend Dignity exits to abolish prostitution in Canada and proposes that Canada implement the Nordic law as Sweden did in 1999. Nordic law was...

The history of regulations goes back to the early civilizations of Greece and Egypt. Their purpose then as it is now is to protect society from the negative consequences of risks and hazards. Regulations, backed by the power of laws, govern what we wear, what we eat, where and how we live, and all but the most benign of our...

Our current incarnation of capitalism — variously referred to as savage capitalism, extreme capitalism or euphemistically as the “free market” (free of any constraints) — is in one of its periodic crises. For years many assumed that the smart people who ran the system and benefitted from it would find a practical way to fix...

Ed note: The following is a press release issued byt the BC government: Bill Bennett, Minister of Energy and Mines, announced today that BC Hydro will offer new options for customers who have put their smart meters on hold. Government is responding to public concerns by providing opt-out options with the costs borne by those […]