COLUMN: Time and Space -- Seeing the past and shaping the future
It’s not science fiction to recognize that the landscapes we encounter daily, and whatever is in them, can be at various points in a time continuum. Put another way, most of the things we see are stamped with information from years gone by, and the way they are stamped differs greatly. A wooden table was once a tree. So too,...
OP/ED: Six Years, 9000+ Deaths – Is there an end in sight?
Over 9,000 people have died in BC as a result of drug toxicity since the government declared a public health emergency into substance-related harms in April 2016. Year over year death tolls continue to rise, with 2021 the highest on record in our province - 2,224 people died, a 26% increase over the year before. “These are ...
FROM THE HILL: MP Cannings and NDP leverage their power for big wins in Budget 2022
Parents, workers and advocates across healthcare and housing sectors are celebrating some key wins the NDP secured from the Liberal government in Budget 2022. “It is day worth smiling about if you’re a kid or parent. By the end of the year all children under 12 will have access to free, quality dental care. The Liberals and...
FROM THE HILL: NDP MP Richard Cannings introduces a beer bill that makes sense
As the cost of gas, groceries and housing continues to rise, NDP MP Richard Cannings wants to make it a bit easier at the end of the day to enjoy a cold beer. Cannings’ new Bill C--- is proposing to eliminate the federal excise tax on low-alcoholic beer. “An error was made and the result is that Canada doesn’t treat all...
COLUMN: Alongside climate threat, add lethal change in geopolitical atmosphere
Almost everything in your life, reader, is poised on a threshold of change. War does that. War is back. One man decided it. Deterrence failed. He calculated that expected gain outweighed potential cost, and that there was a military solution to his political problem. He believes what he believes and no one has access to his...
Special OP/ED Series; Health care workers talk climate change
I am a neurologist working in Nelson. I talked to a man this summer to review his Parkinson's disease. He was not doing well. Usually he did not have any history of depression but he was lacking his usual motivation. He lived in a remote area and had lived there on a small remote property with a stream running through it for...
Open Letter to the Public from Kootenay Boundary Family Physicians and Nurse Practitioners
To the citizens of Kootenay Boundary, Everyone in our region has been stressed by the COVID-19 pandemic over the last two years. We have all been subjected to a barrage of information, advice, and instructions; always evolving and sometimes conflicting. We write to explain our perspectives as Family Practitioners (Family...
From The Hill — Full inquiry into Emergencies Act a must
After more than two weeks of an occupation of downtown Ottawa and serious border blockades in Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia, the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act on February 14. Local police forces had seemed unable or unwilling to act and both the Ontario and Alberta governments had asked for...
Special OP/ED Series; Health care workers talk climate change
I first moved to the Kootenays in 1985 with my partner and first child. After a leaving a few times for work we finally settled here in 1993 with two more children because we love it. Now I’ve lived here longer than anywhere else in my life and I plan to stay for the rest of my life. At least I hope I can…. Several months ...
From the Hill — Affront to democracy in Canada
I’ve been in Ottawa for the past nine days, in the centre of the protest by the “Freedom Convoy”. My offices have been flooded by emails and phone calls on both sides of this issue, so I want to make it clear where I stand and why. First, a short description of how the last week in Ottawa has gone. The organizers of the...
