B.C. teachers vote 'yes' for Bill 22 opposition strategy
Ed Note: The following is a press release issued by the B.C. Teachers’ Federation A decisive 73 per cent of teachers have voted in favour of a resistance strategy to oppose Bill 22, the controversial Education Improvement Act. In a province-wide vote conducted April 17–19, a total of 21,625 teachers voted yes and 7,846 voted […]
LETTER: Not everyone thrilled about Rick Hansen's visit
Dear Rick Hansen: I hope that during your next 25 years of raising money for spinal cord research (SCR) we will see the end of inhumane, scientifically fallacious spinal cord experiments on animals. It was 25 years ago when Lifeforce, a Vancouver based ecology and animal rights organization, gave you extensive data about the failure […]
Councillor uses Facebook to gauge community response to fowl play
A Castlegar city councillor is using social media sites to try to gauge how much community support there is for allowing urban chicken husbandry within city limits. Kevin Chernoff, now serving his third term at the council table, says the majority of the people attending council on the issue are in support of the notion […]
MP says Tories wiping out rural services
Southern Interior MP Alex Atamanenko says he was dismayed to hear the news that the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) office in Kelowna is slated for closure earlier today. “The Conservatives are dismantling Canada piece by piece,” he said. “This will result in a critical reduction in services related to citizenship and immigration matters for […]
ANALYSIS: Sports versus Arts—where do council's priorities lie? A closer look at CBT's Community Initiatives Program in Rossland.
As council divided the annual Community Initiatives Program (CIP) funding from the Columbia Basin Trust (CBT) among 37 applicants on Monday, one petitioner for an arts organization noted that it is difficult to get arts funding in a sports town like Rossland. But is that the case? Our numbers suggest otherwise. We took the...
K-12 at RSS the only ‘decent’ solution, claims local group in school board presentation
Rossland's Neighbourhoods of Learning (NOL) committee gave a presentation to the School District No. 20 (SD20) board on Monday evening, arguing that K-7 at MacLean Elementary makes no sense, but that K-12 at RSS is doable, even a "win-win-win" solution to the problem of closing a $1.5 million gap in SD20's limited budget....
OP/ED: Castlegar and Trail need to put down the banjos and grow up
“Our airport is better.” “No, OUR airport is better.” “You’re not closing OUR school.” “Well, you’re sure not closing OURS. So there.” Every time I try to imagine how dialogue between Castlegar and Trail must sound to ministry officials at both the provincial and federal levels, I can almost hear the banjos playing in the […]
How many roads?
Bob Dylan wrote the lyrics; Peter, Paul and Mary recorded it in the early 1960s and I, coming of age as a young civil rights supporter and believer, always found the song "Blowin' In The Wind" as evocative, emotional and energizing as the fight for equality and social justice took hold in the U.S. and Canada, including the...
Budget 2012: At least the war on the environment is going well
Until this year, the purpose of the annual Canadian federal budget was to project government revenues, lay out spending priorities and forecast economic conditions for the upcoming year. Reading Budget 2012, announced last week by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, it soon becomes clear that this government has no intention of ...
Dix to be commended for renewing NDP's call for a ban on corporate and union donations
IntegrityBC congratulates NDP leader Adrian Dix for renewing the BC NDP's call for a ban on corporate and union donations to political parties in the province. Dix is honouring the pledge that the NDP made in its 2009 platform. Dix made the call during a media scrum last Wednesday while responding to questions over the annual...
