Canadian swordfish eco-certified despite deaths of endangered sea turtles and sharks
Despite strong opposition from conservation organizations, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has granted eco-certification to Nova Scotia’s swordfish longline fishery which is responsible for killing 35,000 sharks and 200-500 endangered sea turtles each year as ‘bycatch’. According to yesterday’s announcement by the MSC,...
LETTER: Not everyone thrilled about Rick Hansen's visit
Dear Rick Hansen: I hope that during your next 25 years of raising money for spinal cord research (SCR) we will see the end of inhumane, scientifically fallacious spinal cord experiments on animals. It was 25 years ago when Lifeforce, a Vancouver based ecology and animal rights organization, gave you extensive data about the failure […]
MP says Tories wiping out rural services
Southern Interior MP Alex Atamanenko says he was dismayed to hear the news that the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) office in Kelowna is slated for closure earlier today. “The Conservatives are dismantling Canada piece by piece,” he said. “This will result in a critical reduction in services related to citizenship and immigration matters for […]
OP/ED: Government money paying back for misdirected regulations
First you shut down an industry then you build it back up with subsidies. Sound like Pierre Trudeau? Think again. This is Conservative MP Dan Albas we’re talking about. Albas is taking the credit for a whopping $240,000 handout from the federal government to a community group who’re setting up a mobile abattoir in the Grand Forks area. […]
OP/ED: Castlegar and Trail need to put down the banjos and grow up
“Our airport is better.” “No, OUR airport is better.” “You’re not closing OUR school.” “Well, you’re sure not closing OURS. So there.” Every time I try to imagine how dialogue between Castlegar and Trail must sound to ministry officials at both the provincial and federal levels, I can almost hear the banjos playing in the […]
TAX TIP: Savings for tradespersons
Did you know that being a tradesperson may make you eligible for certain deductions? Some of these include Deduction for tools. You may be able to deduct the cost of eligible tools you bought in 2011 to earn employment income as a tradesperson (including apprentice mechanics). This cost includes any GST and provincial sales...
How many roads?
Bob Dylan wrote the lyrics; Peter, Paul and Mary recorded it in the early 1960s and I, coming of age as a young civil rights supporter and believer, always found the song "Blowin' In The Wind" as evocative, emotional and energizing as the fight for equality and social justice took hold in the U.S. and Canada, including the...
Budget 2012: At least the war on the environment is going well
Until this year, the purpose of the annual Canadian federal budget was to project government revenues, lay out spending priorities and forecast economic conditions for the upcoming year. Reading Budget 2012, announced last week by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, it soon becomes clear that this government has no intention of ...
Mourning Mulcair’s win
There will be lots of soul searching and head scratching going on this week about what happened with the NDP leadership race. The mechanics of the convention, the interesting lack of deal-making, and how the balloting progressed are all fodder for those who enjoy going through the entrails of leadership conventions. Others ...
COMMENT: So who really runs city hall?
They should have landed with a thud. But instead last week's financial filings by hundreds of candidates in B.C.'s 2011 municipal elections were met with matter-of-fact reporting or shrugs of indifference. Yet, the tale they told couldn't have been sung better by Liza Minelli and Joel Grey in Cabaret if they had tried: “money...