Rossland City Council Meeting, Tuesday, November 14, 2017 Present:  Mayor Kathy Moore, and Councillors Marten Kruysse, John Greene, and Andy Morel.  Absent: Lloyd McLellan, Andrew Zwicker, and Aaron Cosbey. (Two out of town, one ill.) Mayor Moore welcomed and introduced Shirley Rhodes, who is filling in as Deputy Corporate ...

As many countries move away from big hydro projects, B.C.’s government must decide whether to continue work on the Site C dam. The controversial megaproject would flood a 100-kilometre stretch of the Peace River Valley and provide enough power for the equivalent of about 500,000 homes. The BC Utilities Commission, an independent...

It seems odd that a major U.S. government climate report released November 3rd didn’t receive more media attention. But then, the main thing newsworthy about the Climate Science Special Report is that it was released at all, apparently without political interference. Although the U.S. government is required by law (enacted ...

When it comes to measures seriously addressing climate change, Canadians have pretty low expectations. They know that oil companies have the ear of both Bay Street political parties. Just last week, for example, the auditor general went public, exposing the Trudeau government’s refusal to provide the information he needs to...

“The West is the best. /  Get here, and we’ll do the rest.”                                                 -- Jim Morrison, the Doors, Blue Bus In the beginning, two words I do not often fare into the waters of moral judgements, but in this column I do. My morals and ethics, or “values” as the modern vocabulary seems to...

The City of Castlegar is planning for the 2018 budget process and is encouraging residents to have their say by using a new, interactive online budgeting tool. “Each year, we encourage residents to provide feedback on how their tax dollars are spent,” said Mayor Lawrence Chernoff. ”As Council continues to focus on Community Engagement as […]

The ongoing conflict over open-net fin-fish aquaculture in our coastal waters has not received much local press. After all, it's a coastal issue; we no  longer have salmon runs in our neighbourhood, thanks to a series of dams on the  Columbia River.  But I notice that we eat  salmon from the coast anyway, brought to us by the...

Rossland City Council Meeting, October 23, 2017 Present:  Mayor Kathy Moore, and Councillors Lloyd McLellan, Andy Morel, John Greene, and Marten Kruysse.  Absent:  Andrew Zwicker and Aaron Cosbey. Public Input Period: 1.         Rossland Dispensary owner Jeff Weaver spoke about the coming decriminalization of cannabis by the...

The BC government has announced a key step toward creating a new, more effective climate-change strategy.  The multi-sector Climate Solutions and Clean Growth Advisory Council is charged with advising the B.C. government and delivering its first public report in one year. Karen Tam Wu, acting BC Director of the Pembina...

You have to hand it to the rich in dealing with the tax reforms proposed by the Liberals. They didn’t even have to put pen to paper or pick up the phone to protest the taxman messing with their ill-gotten wealth. They got the poor besotted small businessperson to fight on their behalf. In this newly fact-free world it didn’t...