LETTER: Speak up during government review of Canada Post
Dear Editor: Canada Post management has given every indication that they will lock out their clerks and letter carriers and rural drivers any time after July 2. Negotiations have been ongoing for six months and in the spring, management applied for conciliation and requested that process be speeded up so they could lock us ...
COLUMN: Some Lessons To Learn From Australia
South Australia sets an example for the country and the world First-time visitors to Australia are often drawn to the big city attractions of Sydney and Melbourne or the fabulous beaches of Queensland’s Gold Coast. I’ve always had a soft spot for Adelaide in South Australia, a city built more on a human scale, where downtown...
Letter: Open letter to Minister of Education Hon. Mike Bernier
To The Editor: Open letter to Minister of Education Mike Bernier Dear Minister Bernier, We are writing to bring your attention to the financial struggle rural school districts face in this province. In our constituencies of Nelson-Creston and Kootenay West, rural schools are facing closure and districts are charging...
LETTER: THE TROUBLE WITH BEAR BANGERS
As a wise and departed friend once said to me, “I feel a letter coming on”. A Bear Banger is a very loud explosive that is launched from a hand held cylinder. They are meant for use in remote areas to ward off aggressive bears for fear of one’s safety. Hikers, wilderness campers, wildlife photographers and the like often carry...
River Talks — Stirring the waters of the Columbia River Treaty
Eileen Delehanty Pearkes has been researching and writing about the history and politics of water in the upper Columbia Basin since 2005. Her book on the Columbia River Treaty, A River Captured, is expected to be released in a few months. Recently, her travelling exhibit on the Columbia River Treaty, curated for Touchstones...
Column: Money and Influence -- Telling It Like It Is
Former chief of staff to then-Premier Gordon Campbell, Martyn Brown made some refreshingly candid comments about B.C.'s political financing culture on Shaw TV's Voice of B.C. the other day. “No corporation, no industry, no union gives the level of money that they give to politicians without expecting special consideration in...
Column: From the Hill -- Bill C-14 and Access to Medically Assisted Dying
By Member Of Pariliament for South Okanagan- West Kootenay, Richard Cannings: Bill C-14, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and to make related amendments to other Acts (medical assistance in dying) In March I wrote in this column about the ongoing debates in Parliament around medical aid in dying, brought on by the Supreme...
COLUMN: Feeding Humanity in a Warming World
Calculating farming’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions is difficult, but experts agree that feeding the world’s people has tremendous climate and environmental impacts. Estimates of global emissions from farms range widely. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency puts them at 24 per cent, including deforestation,...
COLUMN: Catastrophe Punctuates the Human Story
Disaster in “Canada’s most divisive city” When I label Fort McMurray our ‘most divisive city’ I am stealing the phrase of a Globe and Mail journalist. It is an apt label. Fort Mac and what it symbolizes – the fossil-fuel industry and resource capitalism – does indeed divide us into camps according to our political response ...
COLUMN: Eating Less Meat Will Reduce the Earth's Heat
Will vegans save the world? Reading comments under climate change articles or watching the film Cowspiracy make it seem they’re the only ones who can. Cowspiracy boldly claims veganism is “the only way to sustainably and ethically live on this planet.” But, as with most issues, it’s complicated. It’s true, though, that the ...
