Today is crucial and could go very badly. The Egyptian gangster regime and its backers have clearly decided to use maximum force to end the popular challenge. At 12.34 this morning, Egypt’s entire internet service was closed down – the largest shutdown in history. Mobile phone services have also been suspended, and al-Jazeera has been taken off […]

I don’t think I have ever re-cycled a column before but the whole question of tax cuts and all the issues it involves never really changes. In November, 2007, I wrote a column for the Tyee and rabble focusing on Conservative finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s five year tax cut plan. This up-coming cut to corporate […]

Egypt’s anti-regime protests are unprecedented in size, frequency and ferocity. In Shubra, Dokki, Mohandaseen and Bulaq, Cairenes chanted ash-sha’ab yureed isqaat an-nizam, or The People Want the Fall of the Regime, and braved tear gas and baton-wielding thugs in the central Tahrir Square. Alexandria, Tanta, Suez, and the labour stronghold of Mahalla al-Kubra have also demonstrated. A […]

This past year, my staff and I had the privilege of assisting constituents faced with federal bureaucratic problems – unfair treatment, misinterpretations or just plain despair at not seeing any hope in their particular plight.  For the most part, I find the federal public service is exceptionally professional, knowledgeable and helpful, and should not be […]

One of the best BC blogs, in my opinion, is done by Laila Yuile: I’m Laila Yuile and This Is How I See It. She has broken real news, taken on the powers that be, and opened up some great discussions on many, many topics of interest and importance to British Columbians.   And her […]

By Michael Jessen Think your commute from Balfour, Castlegar, Nelson, Slocan Valley or Ymir is a drag?  Just be glad you don’t live in Chicago or Washington, DC. Residents living beyond Longbeach on the North Shore got a taste of what can happen when a highway is shut down, but commuters in the West Kootenay […]

By Roscoe Triana Canada Post announced a decision in the summer of 2010 that they would look into rerouting all Friday mail sent from the Kootenay area in British Columbia to Vancouver for sorting prior to being delivered to the final destination. Canada Post stating that the change “would not impact customers or jobs in […]

I think it’s a fair statement to say that Rossland might not be what it is today without the efforts of an Englishman named Edgar Dewdney. Before he came along to build his eponymous trail, this area was a prime location for First Nations hunters and gatherers and was apparently well known for its huckleberry bounty. All that...

I know I said my next post was going to be some reviews, but I haven’t quite had time to pull that one together, with all my fitness classes up and on the go now, and my experimentation in the kitchen being semi-out of control. The review post will come up soon, hopefully in the […]

Just back from the Vancouver Sun live chat with Kevin Falcon, in which every question I submitted was given to Falcon except the last, because time ran out. So, what can you expect from Kevin Falcon if he were to be the leader of the Liberals, or worse yet–shudder–premier? He will continue to use and promote P3 projects […]