“Our defensive power has been created on the basis of our defensive strategy and the presumption ruling our defensive strategy is that we will enter an massive battle with a US-led coalition.”  Brigadier General Hossein Salami, IRGC Deputy Commander, September  2012) *       *       * Both the US and Israel have threatened to implement a preemptive […]

Mayors from across BC met in Victoria today to examine the challenges of BC’s communities and to share best practices in moving forward. On the topic of infrastructure the 140 member strong BC Mayors’ Caucus endorsed the following statement: “We agree that our communities require immediate action to provide stable, predictable,...

Over 1,000 delegates from 189 municipalities and districts across B.C. are gathering this week in Victoria for the annual conference of the Union of B.C. Municipalities. And for many of them the recent appointment of Bill Bennett as Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development may very well seem like déjà vu. Bennett...

Kaslo Mayor Greg Lay and Regional District of Central Kootenay Director Andy Shadrack, Electoral Area D, have scheduled meetings Monday in Victoria with Interior Health Authority CEO Dr Robert Halpenny in efforts to save emergency room hours at the Victorian Community Health Centre. “I hope to get an agreement that (IHA) is going to negotiate […]

The Regional District of Central Kootenay has gone to the B.C. interior to find its new Chief Administrative Officer. Board chair John Kettle announced the RDCK has hired Brian Carruthers of Williams Lake as the new skipper of the regional district. “The Board is excited to welcome Brian to the RDCK family. We believe he […]

If someone had planned to upend US foreign policy — to utterly destroy the very basis [.pdf] of all our diplomats (and military personnel) have been working to achieve in the Middle East and throughout the Muslim world — they couldn’t have done a better job of it than whoever put together Innocence of Muslims. […]

Dear Laurie Charlton, I write in response to your recent condemnation of council's process in hiring our new CAO/CFO. I've added some headings to break things up. Yup, council screwed upI agree. Council made a big mistake when they decided to keep CAO Victor Kumar's resignation confidential, limited their job search to a...

Cecile Arnott is completing her final two weeks as CFO and deputy CAO at the City of Grand Forks as she transitions to her Oct. 1 start date as the CAO/CFO here in Rossland. I met with her on Sept. 13 at City Hall.She was generous with her time and comments, spending 45 minutes fielding a wide variety of questions on management...

In France where people are sent to jail for “Holocaust denial,” considered by law a religious hate crime, it seems strange then that well timed, raunchy cartoons designed solely to insult and inflame hate against and amongst Muslims worldwide would be defended vigorously by French politicians who claim, according to the Christian Science Monitor, that […]

A distinguished  judge—one of the first aboriginal judges in Canada—will speak at the Mir Centre for Peace at Selkirk College in Castlegar on Friday, September 21. The Honourable Justice Murray Sinclair is the Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. “We are bringing him here because in spite of our growing awareness of […]