COMMENT: In response to Andrew Bennett’s Nov 12th Item
I think most Rosslanders agree that provisions for higher density housing forms to lower costs are a good idea. These thoughts are crystallized in the 2008 Official Community Plan in section 18.2. However, the OCP also recognizes the risks of radically changing neighbourhoods. The following section of the OCP at 18.3.4...
COMMENT: The justification of massacre and the elusive goal of peace
Today we consider the great terror of war; Remembrance Day swells each of our chests differently, but the same. Emotions are strong, or should be. Whether we know it or not, both as individuals and societies, our past and present are infused with war. That should terrify us.Wars build in a wave of motives and he-said-she-saids...
Stephen Harper’s social engineering
The Harper government’s announcement that it will change the laws regarding capital gains taxes to encourage more charitable giving strikes an ominous note for the country’s political culture. Harper is mimicking the Conservatives in Britain who are trying to pull the same trick with what they call the Big Society initiative...
Candidate Questions 3: Should Rossland seek to expand its population and tax base?
One perrenial issue here in town is our rather anaemic tax base. Trail has Teck, whose taxes heavily subsidize life down the hill. Rossland, on the other hand, has no industry and no large employers other than the seaonal Red Resort. As our recreation programs face funding challenges, we asked the candidates, "Should Rossland...
Will the candidates commit to creating a new recreation deal?
To the editor:A couple of mornings ago, I was listening to the latest news on the Eurozone (17 independent states, 13 official languages, over 330 million inhabitants...) After hearing of these nations’ immense political effort to finally reach a financial deal to try and bring to a halt the slide into economic chaos, I could...
Greenpeace returns ocean destruction to Canadian tuna giant Clover Leaf
Greenpeace activists visited Clover Leaf Seafoods’ Canadian headquarters this morning to return cases of the company’s canned tuna products and deliver a platter of simulated marine life remains, representing the wasteful fisheries the company sources from. “Canadian consumers deserve better than Clover Leaf’s canned ocean ...
Kudos to Harper for shipbuilding methodology
It’s as much a tradition as Hockey Night in Canada: awarding federal contracts on the basis of political seats, powerful clout and, in essence, attempts to bribe voters. I saw that personally while covering Parliament Hill, when Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney overruled all technical assessments and recommendations...
Occupy: What can it teach the left?
The occupy movement has been a like a powerful cleansing wind blowing over the political landscape – exposing not just the obscenely rich, and criminally irresponsible political elite, but almost every other political player too: cowardly liberals, cautious social democrats, the strangely silenced churches, social movements...
COMMENT: The costs of being aboriginal in BC
Being First Nations in BC comes at too high a price. We all know the statistics: dismal success at (white) school; endemic poverty on and off reserve; half the prison population despite being only three percent of the Canadian population; high incidence of sexual abuse; the too high a percentage of children in care; high...
COMMENT: Shame, scandal, and skeletons in the closet as Bennett backs down from the call to council.
Here I tell the sordid tale of how—through greed for lucrative backroom deals with local lobbyists, a smoky lust for power, and the insatiable appetite of an ego growling for the glory of Rossland city council—I ended up with my name on the ballot. And here I must regretfully apologize to my supporters—who were soon to trend...
