COMMENT: Help our farmers and seasonal farm workers
It is the time of the year when farmers in the Southern Interior of British Columbia are making plans for the next season which includes securing labour. Many orchard and vineyard owners are placing ads in their local papers looking for full time farm workers for next year. Season duration and wages vary depending on […]
COMMENT: Time to stand up for orderly marketing systems--our food security depends on it
There is a lot of spin from think tanks these days being spotlighted in the news suggesting that Canada needs to give up its orderly marketing tools such as our Supply Management (SM) system for dairy, poultry and eggs. A lot of effort is going into convincing us that these ‘oppressive- government-run-collective-marketing-systems’...
Christmas isn't Christmas anymore?
I'm suspecting I'm not the only Christian minister who is in receipt of emails; facebook pokes; youtube videos and (if I had an account like my Anglican friend across the street) twitter notes filled with umbrage about the downfall of Christmas. Not as a way of life; not as a recognition of the Divine in the ordinary; not ...
Xiao Zhang Case:BC courts GUILTY of contempt
If only BC courts showed the same respect for the courts and the legal system that they demand--or least hope--of us. But they don’t. BC judges and BC courts have often made a complete mockery of our laws, the justice system and the citizenry’s expectations to see justice done and be protected from the evil that dwell among...
OP/ED: Clark and Bond wrong on public, wrong on electoral finance reform
The BC Liberal government may have committed itself to transparency, new ideas and engaging with British Columbians in its October 3rd Throne speech, but according to IntegrityBC the memo doesn't seem to have quite reached every minister. The non-partisan organization was reacting to a letter it received from Attorney General...
It’s the economy, dippers
The NDP leadership race suddenly seems like a very long, drawn out affair. Initially, there was much outrage – especially from Thomas Mulcair – at the suggestion that the party go along with what Jack Layton seemed to want: an earlier leadership convention in January. But now many in the party, lead by Winnipeg MP Pat Martin...
Fox News North: Your national, pro-war TV network
You will no doubt recall the controversy surrounding the efforts of Quebec billionaire Pierre Peladeau to get a prized licence for his Sun News TV network. If he had succeeded, the cable companies would have been obliged to carry his extremist right wing news channel, dubbed by many as “Fox News North.” In the end, the CRTC...
SHADES OF GREEN: The Keystone XL protests and the Occupy Movement
The protest against the 2,763 km Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta's tar sands to America's Gulf States' oil refineries are driven by a deeper concern than risk to Nebraska's Sand Hills region and its underlying Ogallala aquifer. The same applies to The worldwide Occupy movement, too, is motivated by a deeper concern than...
OP/ED: B.C. needs to tighten belts or suffer the consequences
By: Jordan Bateman, Canadian Taxpayers Federation B.C. Finance Minister Kevin Falcon, like a cliché movie hero, is slowly sinking into fiscal quicksand. In his recently released quarterly fiscal report, he told British Columbians that economic growth has slowed, crown corporation revenues are down and the provincial deficit is exploding. The true culprit – runaway spending […]
My Rx for Occupy Vancouver success
I hope the REAL Occupy Vancouver movement does not fade away. For MOST of our sakes, it MUST not. Their message--that the rich must STOP getting richer at the expense of the rest of us--must not die, or be forgotten, or cease to be advocated. promoted and brought to success in our society. Readers of this blog will know how...