The topics explored and debated in the preceding seven Who Really Owns City Hall columns were not concerned with the powers and responsibilities delegated by the Yukon’s Legislative Assembly to communities under section 18(1)(e) of the Yukon Act. Some provinces have delegated more and different responsibilities to their...

Nurses on Vancouver Island are demanding an immediate halt to a plan to cut nurses at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital because it puts patients’ safety at risk.   The Vancouver Island Health Authority scheme would eliminate a total of 26 nurses – both Registered Nurses and Licensed Practical Nurses – from teams providing bedside care […]

By Suzy Hamilton, The Nelson Daily Regional parks may look natural, but there’s a lot that goes in to keeping them that way. The RDCK operates 20 regional parks in the area and their 2013 maintenance and upgrades were reviewed at the April 11 Regional District of Central Kootenay’s monthly board meeting. Parking, monitoring, community […]

Things are getting interesting - a fourth candidate, independent Glen Byle from Trail, has thrown his hat into the ring for Kootenay West in the upcoming B.C. provincial election. Byle, a 26-year-old medical equipment repairman at KBRH, is also married and the father of a 10-month-old baby. "I am a young voter who never found...

The search for the new MLA in Kootenay West is well under way. Finally there  are options that go beyond the historic party politics that have caused so much voter apathy in our province; an independent. But how is an independent any better? People say they would love to vote for an independent but they […]

Mr. Deepak Chopra, President Canada Post Corporation 2701 Riverside Drive Ottawa, ON   K1A 0B1   Dear Mr. Chopra, I have just learned from the Castlegar local of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) that Canada Post has served notice of its intent to open a postal franchise office within one half of a kilometer […]

"Downloading" was a hot topic at council on Monday evening as councillors lamented a large increase in the regional tax burden that will be foisted on residents when their property tax bills arrive this year. Coun. Jill Spearn started things off, asking Coun. Kathy Wallace for her comments on the hospital requisition of...

CAO Cecile Arnott brought her preliminary budget presentation to council's committee-of-the-whole (COW) on Tuesday afternoon, offering councillors a first taste of what the 2013 financial plan might look like when it gets passed before the May 15 filing deadline. The next budget COW meeting has been scheduled for May 1 at...

There is no accounting for political judgment when it gets caught up in irrational euphoria. The overwhelming victory of Justin Trudeau in the Liberal Party's leadership race demonstrates just how impoverished the state of our political culture has become. Did the polls -- almost completely meaningless at this stage of the ...

I recently had the opportunity to speak and offer support for Bill C-380, An Act to Amend the Fish Inspection Act and the Fisheries Act, which would prohibit the importation of shark fins not attached to the rest of the shark and enshrine in legislation Canada's prohibition on finning.  This bill was introduced by my colleague,...