COLUMN: A Bill to improve the Species at Risk Act
Last Friday, I tabled my Private Members Bill, C-363, in the House of Commons. This bill would patch a large loophole in the Species at Risk Act, or SARA, that has allowed previous governments to wilfully ignore scientific advice as to which species need protection in Canada. SARA is designed to be transparent and timely. ...
COLUMN: The other reasons for rising ICBC rates -- what we weren't told
The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia which was, only a decade ago, a financially sound crown corporation, is on the ropes today. What happened? The information ICBC offers on its “Rate Pressures” web page speaks of “significant external pressures on ICBC’s insurance rates”. From 2014 to 2016 the number of crashes...
Letters: Discarded bags of dog poop proliferating near trails
We have been increasingly distressed by the many, many bags of dog feces neatly bagged and thrown on the mining school road and on out the trails and presumably all over Rossland. The bears are hungry now and dog feces are rich in nutrients, and ugly as this photo is, people need to know that they are threatening the ...
COLUMN: Finance committee chair Wayne Easter defends the privileged, undermines modest tax reforms
What is it about progressive politicians going to Ottawa only to end up as arrogant and nasty conservatives? My old friend Pam Wallin was one of the kindest people I knew in Regina in the 1970s when she was a member of the Waffle group in the NDP. She turned into one of the nastiest Conservative senators. And the last encounter...
B.C.'s Wild West reputation laid to rest — NOT!
The headlines should have read “B.C.'s Wild West reputation laid to rest.” Instead, British Columbians woke up to “Taxpayers would give millions to political parties in NDP plan,” all thanks to an ill-advised decision to slide two unexpected provisions into the government's campaign finance reform package: a transitional...
Site C or No Site C — Public hearing Tuesday in Nelson
British Columbians are facing a crucial test in the coming weeks – reaching an opinion on the planned Site C dam. Currently estimated to cost $8.8 billion, the hydroelectric dam on the Peace River is the single most expensive public infrastructure project ever proposed in B.C. history. Originally put forward along with a...
Editorial: About those proposed changes in federal income tax: Will they hurt small businesses? Will they hurt farmers?
The short answer, according to a number of reviews done by experts in economics, is ― no. The vast majority of small businesses do not make enough money to be affected at all by the proposed changes in federal taxation. Farmers should not suffer either. In fact, according to the conclusions of those ...
From the Hill: Time to invest in post-secondary education
A couple of weeks ago, students returned to colleges and universities across Canada after a long summer break. They have been working hard for months to earn enough to pay for their education, but these days those summer wages don’t go very far. Housing costs have been skyrocketing across the country in recent years,...
Opinion: A SAD dilemma
As autumn sets in and the sunlit hours of each day diminish, some people begin to notice that their moods dim along with the daylight. Northerners generally begin to feel the effects earlier in the fall, as the shrinkage of their daylight is earlier and more pronounced. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is real. It was...
Column: Can we have economic growth and lower emissions?
What does climate change have to do with economic growth? Canada’s prime minister and premiers signed a deal in December to “grow our economy, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and build resilience to the impacts of a changing climate.” The Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change...
