On Wednesday, after a new report from Dalhousie University revealed that close to three out of five Canadians are worried about compromising on nutrition due to high food prices at the grocery store, NDP MP Richard Cannings (South Okanagan – West Kootenay) joined NDP leader Jagmeet Singh in reiterating his call for the Liberal government […]

No budging on birdfeeders;  despite strong arguments in favor of the highest standard, a majority of Council compromises with a “step back” approach on greenhouse gas emissions;  getting started on prep for the 2026 BC Winter Games in Rossland and Trail;  aquamation request ignored Present:  Mayor Andy Morel, and Councillors Maya Provençal, Lisa Kwiatkowski, Jeff […]

In a report released today, the BC Ombudsperson finds emergency support programs are outdated, under-resourced, inaccessible for vulnerable evacuees and poorly communicated and calls on government to take urgent action to better support people who are increasingly being displaced from their homes for long periods by extreme weather events. The report Fairness in a Changing […]

On Sept. 30, people across British Columbia and the entire country observe Orange Shirt Day to honour the children who suffered in the residential school system and to remind all Canadians that “Every Child Matters.” Since 2021, Sept. 30 is also the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. This year marks the first time that this day […]

For many people in our community and across B.C., affordable and available housing is top of mind. It’s one of our government’s top priorities too. This week, our government announced two actions from our Homes for People plan that will help get more British Columbians into affordable homes, faster. We launched the Single Housing Application Service […]

Arrow Lake levels & Columbia River Treaty I have lived in Castlegar most of my life – moving here when my dad got a job at the pulp mill in the early 1960s and I was a young child. One of my earliest memories as a child was watching houses being moved and floated down […]

The Federal government needs to do more… to provide better mental health supports. This sentence really could have ended in so many different ways. Last month, I wrote about how, after 30 years of abandoning housing investments, the feds need to get back into the housing game. Before that it was childcare, and before that […]

As British Columbia’s lead in negotiations with the United States to modernize the Columbia River Treaty, I would like to comment on the difficult conditions in the Arrow Lakes Reservoir this year. My perspective comes from having lived in the West Kootenay for 10 years, assuming several provincial environmental roles in the region and, for […]

CoW recommends losing some council liaison positions;  bear concerns and garbage; only modest campfires allowed;  a stricter wildlife attractant bylaw; support for a liquor licence application; more cost overruns; Rossland Yards updated occupancy estimate COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING (4:00 p.m.) Present:  Mayor Andy Morel, and Councillors Maya Provençal, Lisa Kwiatkowski, Jeff Weaver, Eliza Boyce, […]

CBC Radio has been airing programs I’ve hosted since the late 1980s. The prescience of the experts I spoke with as early as 1989 for It’s a Matter of Survival is astounding. But it saddens me. Had we taken their warnings seriously we might have avoided the terrible consequences they accurately predicted. With massive wildfires […]