On October 20th, former U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were invited by Mayor Diane Watts, the Surrey Board of Trade and Surrey City Council to speak at the Surrey Regional Economic Summit.  Each former President was given $150,000 for their appearance, while the attendees paid an astonishing $599 each to...

Being First Nations in BC comes at too high a price. We all know the statistics: dismal success at (white) school; endemic poverty on and off reserve; half the prison population despite being only three percent of the Canadian population; high incidence of sexual abuse; the too high a percentage of children in care; high...

A global call was put out for a day of action on October 15th, 2011.  Inspired by the swelling movement at “Occupy Wall Street” and hundreds of similar protests around the world, Vancouver residents answered the beckon.  This morning marked the inception of Vancouver’s Occupy Movement with thousands converging at the Vancouver...

A confidential report on BC Hydro Smart Meter Business Case by Horizon Technologies Inc. states that "BC Hydro will maintain the same rate structures when Smart Meters are first put in, and implement new rate structures afterwards; so that Smart Meters aren't blamed for higher rates."Read the full confidential report here.Rich...

In the ongoing campaign to put a positive spin on Alberta’s Tar Sands, proponents have deployed a new rhetorical attack: women’s rights. If you support women’s rights, say conservative pundits Ezra Levant and Alykhan Velshi, choose “ethical oil” over “conflict oil”. The phrase is now standard prose for the Harper government,...

This fall British Columbia’s Missing Women Commission will finally begin its work. It does so in under a cloud of suspicion: an inadequate mandate, a potentially compromised commissioner, and a refusal to financially support affected native communities, families, and Vancouver Downtown Eastside community groups to participate...

The First Nations Summit (FNS), the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC), the BC Assembly of First Nations (BCAFN) and the Native Courtworker and Counselling Association of BC (NCCABC) today expressed shock and outrage at the RCMP beating of a 17 year old handcuffed aboriginal girl in Williams Lake and an aboriginal death in...

Dear Editor,The BC Liberals' attempts to silence the growing Smart Meter controversy have failed at the Union of BC Municipalities convention with delegates voting for a province-wide moratorium. Could the heavy-handed, dictatorial edicts of Rich Coleman and the Liberals have actually prompted this clear vote for democracy,...

On a cloudy Monday night, hundreds of Vancouver residents gathered at the ‘Vancouver Club’ to protest the visit of former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. This was Cheney's first trip outside of the United States on his book tour.The protestors came from a plethora of different backgrounds including anti-war, 9/11 conspiracy,...

I like the provincial government’s new job plan--not because they promised thousands of new jobs almost immediately, but because they didn’t.We all experiecned the hype before, provincially and federally, from every political party that has held office or wanted to: with the hype and promises skyrocketing in job numbers in ...