The Home Renovation Tax Credit (HRTC) program recently came to an end. By all accounts it was such a success that people are clamouring for the government to continue the credit for another year.  New Democrats agree, and are calling for the credit to be maintained and enhanced to promote energy-efficient, green technology for […]

This is the first in a series of coloumns that will attempt to explore and put forward some new ideas and new twists on existing ideas around how to grow Rossland's economy. The ideas put forth are designed not as set-in-stone plans but rather as starting points for discussion in an attempt to broaden our views on what could...

It seems that, on Feb. 8, School District 20 (SD20) has opted to remove the controversial Planning for the Future Part 2, much to the relief of the parents who were concerned of the school closures. What truly amazes me is the fact that the board narrowly voted to remove Part 2 by a 5-4 […]

It is hard to imagine that before the 1979 Soviet invasion, Afghanistan was a country where many ethnic groups and tribes lived in harmony with their neighbours. They had a subsistence economy and a central government. Unlike today there was no sign of extremist inspired suicide bombings or a heroin based economy. It took thirty […]

If Haiti wasn’t an unsuccessful nation before the earthquake, it most certainly is one now, prior to the terrible event of Jan. 12 that left Haiti in a pile of rubble, the tiny country was not much better off. Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere, boasts of only having 52 per cent of its […]

In Golden, peaceful protesters had their banners taken away by police and one man was arrested during the Olympic Torch ceremony there Thursday. CBC radio ran a brief piece on the incident, but since then there have been no other new reports of this fairly significant and newsworthy event. All we've been able to find on the...

Our ice rink may be running the risk of defrosting, our schools may be on the verge of failing, and even our post office may be on the way to the dead letter office, but that doesn't mean we don't have anything to celebrate this Winter Carnival weekend here in the Mountain Kingdom. This year is the 113th edition of the Carnival...

I bet the School District 20 board of education is, right now, wishing it had Stephen Harper’s discretionary power and could just prorogue the whole district until this budgetary mess goes away …or at least until the public forgets about it. Of course, they can’t … no more than I can “prorogue” this issue of […]

When the government has completed the legislative agenda they have put forward in the session following a Budget speech it is usual and perfectly fine to prorogue the House. In fact Parliament can be prorogued on one day and a new budget speech introduced the following day if the government chooses. It is not okay, […]

Alex Atamanenko, MP, B.C. Southern Interior, is accusing the Harper government of misusing his privilege to prorogue Parliament in order to suit its own political agenda. Parliament, which was scheduled to resume on Jan. 25, has now (had its leave) extended to March 3, a date which appears to have been contrived to coincide with […]