Usually, I’m in line with public opinion, in keeping with the democratic values that drive my very profession. But a recent Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of the Canadian Red Cross just crosses the line for me – away from public opinion and into public hysteria or public stupidity, I can’t decide which. Apparently, about […]

The official unveiling of the Olaus Jeldness statue is planned for the Friday night (Jan. 25) of the 116th annual Rossland Winter Carnival, immediately after the parade—and the city recently set about drafting invitations for Norwegian notables to attend. Coun. Kathy Wallace raised the plans at the Oct. 9 council meeting: "I...

Rossland council authorized the purchase of 40 new 4.5 foot diameter top-mount Christmas lights—or "winter" lights as the mayor preferred to call them—for the new street lamps on Columbia Ave. and Washington St. to First Ave. Rossland previously had 30 snowflake lights, but the manager of operations, Darrin Albo, wrote to...

The Greater Trail Skills Centre and Career Development Services (CDS) are part way through a 48 week program of one-time-only funding from the federal government to lay the foundation for better support for the region's homeless and hard-to-house. To sustain the project beyond March 31, 2013, when the current funding expires,...

The $40,000 in disaster relief funds raised in Nelson to help victims of the tsunami in Japan have remained in a City of Nelson bank account since the spring of 2011. The money will be used in the near future to purchase a 2-ton flatbed truck  to help with the reconstruction of the town of […]

As Rossland transitioned to CAO/CFO Cecile Arnott's new tenure this month, we have fielded several questions about the employment contracts of the city's senior management and how these compare to other managers’ in the province. We do not try to answer subjective questions such as whether or not Rossland is getting good value...

When the B.C. Court of Appeal struck down the government's not-so-subtle attempt to stifle citizens with its ill-advised “gag” law this month, it was only a partial victory.   Regrettably, the Court never had the chance to consider the multitude of contradictions and loopholes that exist in the B.C. Election Act, most of which...

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty shocked his Liberal caucus Monday night by resigning. McGuinty, 57, has led the Liberal party in Ontario since 1996 and was premier since 2003. ““Earlier today, I asked Yasir Naqvi, our party president, to convene a leadership convention at the earliest possible time,” McgGuinty said on the Liberal Party website. McGuinty, […]

Nelson/Creston MLA Michelle Mungall is headed to the Ukraine later this month as part of the Canadian delegation to monitor the country’s parliamentary elections. “Democracy is not something that can be taken for granted,” said Mungall, to be in the Ukraine elections on October 28, in a written release.  “Canada has a very strong and […]

There has been much written about the erosion of democracy in Canada under the Liberals but even more egregiously under the Harper Conservatives (and PLEASE don’t call these libertarians “Tories”). There is a very long list of grievances from the abuse of prorogation, to deliberate sabotaging of Parliamentary Committees, to election robo-calls, to the gagging […]