Rossland's Taxes Not High Enough?
Dear fellow Rosslanders, You may or may not be aware, but it is municipal budget and tax rate setting time again. There is no really exciting way to start this conversation, but it might be one that you would benefit from taking a moment to look at. Over the last decade, we Rosslanders have enjoyed ...
Fracking and all of us: recent news
To further our understanding of what's accelerating climate change, here's a brand-new report from the David Suzuki Foundation about leaking of methane from fracking and other fossil fuel extraction being much greater than reported by industry and government, and how it has been measured, and why it's scary: Methane emissions...
Compare the candidates and their parties: Part II
The Rossland Telegraph asked two sets of questions of the local candidates in this provincial election. Answers to the first four questions (Part I) appeared last week. Candidates' answers appear in the order in which they were received, and their pictures do too -- last week, we illustrated Part I with Katrine Conroy's...
LETTER: 'My Green vote: weary, hopeful, and defiant'
To The Editor: It happens every election. The NDP line up and lecture other lefties on how they mustn’t split the vote and open an avenue for the current government to retain power. It’s always the same. Defeating the political right is of paramount importance, they sternly warn, and a vote for the Greens is a vote for the...
Candidates Answer Four Questions (or not): Part I
Last week, I posted an editorial criticizing negative campaigning, and posed questions for our local candidates to answer -- without mentioning other candidates or other parties. Here are two of our local candidates' answers to the first set of four questions; the third candidate, Liberal Jim Postnikoff, was unfortunately unable to respond in time. Where possible, I have looked through the Liberal platform and attempted to find the Liberal approach on the topics of the questions, and inserted what I could find.
COLUMN: Fair Shares -- the moral way to distribute social wealth: PART II
This continues a discussion begun in Part I, last week. Bad Capitalism: exploitation If there is one single thing that separates me from most Lennonesque liberals and progressives who want One World, it is not my affection for defined and qualified Canadian nationalism. It is that I am anti-capitalist, whereas the majority ...
Editorial: Negative campaigning and being well-informed
Every day, my inbox is littered with vitriol from two of BC's political parties, about each other. They're each titled "press release" but I haven't been publishing them. Perhaps that's wrong-headed of me, but I don't want to encourage the negativity. Why am I opposed to the nastiness? Because I want voters to vote, and to...
COLUMN: The moral way to distribute social wealth -- Part One
Capitalists,Liberals, Nationalists, Intellectuals News about money We have been treated to the spectacle this month of a half-dozen Bombardier executives planning to split 32 million dollars among themselves as bonuses, at the same time as the corporation has announced it is about to lay off 14, 000 workers worldwide. It was...
Report: Government oversight compromised?
A report released recently by Evidence for Democracy shows that resource capacity and scientific independence are the most pressing scientific integrity issues within the BC government. "Evidence-based decision-making" has become the mantra of governments, but without good evidence, it's a difficult promise to deliver. Without...
LETTER: Canadian Federation of Students replies to Selkirk students
Selkirk Students Deserve Fair, Transparent and Democratic Referendum (On April 5) the Castlegar Source published a letter to the editor containing misinformation about Selkirk College students' membership in the Canadian Federation of Students. The letter leaves out some critical information that Selkirk students need to ...