How We Vote Reforming the system by which we elect members to the House of Commons was an issue for at least one political party in the last federal election, but it is not a new topic. Arguably the most extensive study undertaken on the subject was the 2004 Law Commission Canada report: Voting Counts: Electoral Reform for ...

The BC government is enabling a dangerous disregard for environmental monitoring, reporting and protection among mining companies by letting them off the hook for the full costs of environmental reclamation – leaving taxpayers liable for more than $1.5 billion, a new report shows. “Other industrial sectors treat accident...

For the past several years, Millennium Park has undergone many changes. The path allowed access and allowed the community to stroll through nature. The ongoing additions for the past several years have just taken away from the beauty of the walkway, in my opinion. Now I am greeted by tractors driving down the paths, sometimes...

By David Suzuki The digital revolution is breaking new ground every day. Technology has a way of doing that. I remember when Hewlett-Packard introduced its first “laptop” computer, which stored a page and a half of writing. It revolutionized my life as a newspaper columnist, allowing me to write on planes or in a tent and...

As most of us know the City budget is very complex and takes considerable time to put together. Weighing out what to fund and what not to fund or somewhere in between can be very stressful for those directly involved. My experience has been that decisions made by our elected officials are done with the best intentions using...

If the federal Liberal government is on the verge of a major shift in economic and industrial policies, as Terence Corcoran suggests in his April 20 column, “Ghosts of business past — and future,” then all that can be said is thank goodness. Since the mid-1990s Canada has basically been without any coherent or deliberate...

Three high school boys from Vancouver are making a movie.  Correction:  three young men who have graduated.  They've been allowed to graduate early to work on this project, and they're busy raising funds for the work.  The introduction video (above) tells a bit about why they're doing it.  It's an ambitious and exciting idea; ...

Spring has sprung across Canada, and with the return of the warmer weather we have other annual traditions that come with this time of the year-- hockey play-offs, getting together with family at Easter and getting the garden ready for summer. Another spring activity is one that we don’t tend to look forward to but still needs...

A woman named Kay Carter arranged for her own death.  She was suffering constant pain and knew that it would never get any better -- her  neurodegenerative condition might eventually bring death, but not "foreseeably."   The pain it caused was unmanageable. Pain had rendered her life so unbearable that she just wanted it...

Not Learning from Empires: saying Yes to imperial temptation “Take up the White Man’s Burden…”                -- Rudyard Kipling “[G]overning India is the fulfillment of a mandate from God… the miracle of the world.”  – Lord Curzon, British Viceroy in India “Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair.”    -- Percy B. Shelley,...