Stephen Harper and the Big Oil Party of Canada
Where will you be and what will you be doing when the first giant oil tanker, (there will be two plying the waters every three days) carrying over 200,000 gallons of tar sands goop diluted with solvent, spills its load into the pristine waters of the northern BC coast? We often remember catastrophic events by recalling exactly...
ELECTRIC GRAPEVINE: Movies to remember and some to forget
Having had three weeks to digest what was 2011 I can begin my annual look at the best and worst films by examining the bookends which are Drive and The Tree Of Life.In the awful words of The Rock in Fast Five, "You know I like my dessert first," so I'll start with Drive. Drive is perhaps one of the best films I have seen...
Clark breaks faith with Facebook users
Premier Christy Clark's Facebook page didn't come anywhere close in December to meeting the high expectations that the premier's office set out for the page itself, according to IntegrityBC. Premier Clark's page is being promoted with Facebook ads that promise: “I want to hear from you on how we can keep British Columbia...
Who’s running the show?
Rossland councillors have relinquished significant responsibilities and authority to staff. The Procedure Bylaw establishes the rules to be followed by council when conducting their business. Council recently approved changes to the Procedure Bylaw and rescinded policies, the net effect of which is to reduce their ability to...
COMMENT: Federal Government comments damaging to the Impartiality of the joint review process
The First Nations Leadership Council is greatly troubled by recent comments by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Minister of Natural Resources Joe Oliver advocating for the proposed Enbridge Gateway pipeline to proceed even before the Joint Review Panel’s environmental review has begun. Grand Chief Edward John states,...
Analyst says it: HST has hurt retailing
It didn’t get much attention when it was said just after Christmas: partially because many of us were still busy with the holiday season; but I noticed it. And also because it’s not something the pro-HST media pundits and propagandists would want to tell you about: so I will. In an article in The Vancouver Province about weak...
This year, put the country ahead of party affiliations
As we enter the new year, the prospects for defeating the Harper government in 2015 seem uncertain at best. And yet if those who care about the country were musing over a new year’s resolution, that would be it, a dedication to this single overarching purpose. Even if Harper is soundly defeated in the next election, it will...
Because they can: Federal government rushed legislation
Good or bad? Does it really matter anymore? This is a question that weighs on the minds of many Canadians. Government legislation (bills) which would normally be put through the proper course of debate in the House of Commons has been miraculously deemed “what all Canadians want” and pushed through the system by using Time ...
COMMENT: Who authorized $25,000 in architecture and engineering fees for a pool design council knew nothing about? The CAO must go!
Rossland, we have a problem. The end of 2011 was defined by a serious breach of democracy, a breach so egregious that it deserves the whole town's attention.As a taxpayer myself, I feel violated by this breach and feel it constitutes more than enough cause to terminate CAO Victor Kumar's contract immediately.Our mayor,...
Cross-border deal's grave threats to Canadian food security
The following is the third installment of a three part investigation by Nelle Maxey into the wide-ranging environmental and socio-political implications for Canada of the recently signed US-Canada cross border security deal and ancillary agreements related to the Regulatory Cooperation Commission. Read part 1 and part 2 here....
