The results are in for advanced polling Wednesday, Thursday and Friday so far (with Saturday’s due this afternoon) in the B.C. election, and while the province in general is seeing a voter-turn-out increase of about 20 per cent over 2009 numbers, Kootenay West district is very much on par, with only 14 more voters than […]

Much has been written in the past year about the Harper government’s war on science. The almost daily drip, drip of abandoned environmental treaties, nobbled scientists and access denied to existing government science is a bit like Chinese water torture for those who believe government policy should be evidence-based,...

Following council’s five hour debate on the entire budget on May 1, council was forced to pause the financial plan blitz for twenty minutes on May 6 to hear nine members of the public oppose the only major cut: approximately $20,000 axed from the Sustainability Commission (SC), terminating their paid coordinator with no...

Council approved the 2013-2017 financial plan (FP) on Wednesday morning, just one week after the bulk of debate was completed in a single unpublicized meeting on May 1.  No major changes came about in a follow-up meeting on May 6 that concluded with council passing the first three readings of this year's FP bylaw.   The major...

Council has decided to reinstate the downtown furniture budget that it had put on hold last year. The $108,000 line item includes benches, but also bike racks, recycling bins, bear-proof garbage containers, and the eclectic but contentious ore cart. Council's decision, however, stipulates that city staff will return to council...

Justin Trudeau just may be Canada's most dangerous man. He of the throngs of adoring supporters, the pretty new face that promises to resurrect "Canada's party". The key positions he's taken thus far - supporting the sellout of our strategic energy resources to the Chinese Government, giving away our sovereignty through the...

Update: Unfortunately, the really big news coming out of last night’s All Candidate Forum in Castlegar was that less than one per cent of the Greater Castlegar population attended – roughly 55 people. Hopefully, residents will inform themselves via media and the Internet about the various candidates – but I’m afraid this doesn’t bode well […]

Update: Letter to the Editor: On May 7, President and CEO of Kootenay Savings Credit Union, Brent Tremblay, wrote a letter to local media outlining his concerns with the proposed capital tax on financial institutions that the NDP has discussed implementing if we win government on May 14. Firstly, I want to thank Brent for […]

Castlegar will be seeing more flights at its regional airport, according to a press release issued today. “The West Kootenay Regional Airport is pleased to advise that Jazz Air has increased its summer passenger service to better meet the needs of the travelling public in the West Kootenay region,” the release said. Airport manager Gerry […]

Trivia time: who was the last leader of the BC NDP to lead his party to more than 45 per cent of the popular vote in a provincial election? One would have to go back six leaders and eight elections to 1979 when Dave Barrett won 45.99 per cent of the popular vote and still lost the election to Bill Bennett and the Social Credit...