A BC voter has begun the next stage of an initiative petition process seeking to have the BC government cancel the Site C dam project; see this May 3 article first announcing the petition. The petition sheets were issued on July 3, so the proponent has 90 days to collect signatures. To move to the next stage of the process,...

More action on single-use plastic bags? Rossland City Council has stated that it was waiting for the outcome of the court challenge against the City of Victoria’s bylaw to ban plastic “check-out” bags.  The Canadian Plastic Bag Association challenged the City of Victoria’s right to regulate plastic bags. Now the Supreme Court...

Last week I travelled with Jim Carr, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, to the G20 energy meetings in Argentina.  The meetings are a mix of reports from the G20 countries and of presentations by world experts about the state of energy markets and future energy demand. The main theme of the talks was the “grand […]

Knotweed is one of the scarier invasive plants.  It doesn't cause burns or blindness, like Giant Hogweed, but it does spread very fast and it causes expensive damage to things like the foundations of buildings – and property values. It can burst right through pavement, take over lawns and gardens, and we have it right […]

Editor’s Note:  Many people are not yet aware of the proposal to turn about 700 square kilometres of the southern Purcell  Range into a heli-playground, cutting new trails and building lodges, with helicopter flights carrying in skiers in the winter and hikers and mountain bikers in the summer.  The...

There’s never been a better time to head to downtown Castlegar than this weekend (Friday and Saturday), for the Second Annual I Heart Downtown Castlegar event. Organizer Shawna Tarasoff said it’s a two-day event intended to showcase the variety of diverse and dynamic businesses in the downtown core. “It’s to create some...

Another positive sign Grand Forks is getting back to a bit of normalcy after the Great Flood of 2018 happened Wednesday when Interfor Corporation announced that it resumed operations at the Boundary City sawmill. Management had closed the sawmill in Grand Forks for the past two weeks due to following severe flooding in the ...

Kootenay Mountain Culture magazine and veteran journalist Bob Keating have landed in some fine company. Keating’s story, "Dammed & Determined," about the future of the Columbia River Treaty, has been nominated for a National Magazine Award in the Feature Writing category. Other nominees in this category include Maclean's, Chatelaine and Alberta Views. The winner will […]

Volunteers are needed to help the flooded-out residents of Grand Forks. The Trail and District Chamber of Commerce is appealing to local businesses to send some employees to Grand Forks for a few hours to assist. Sandbagging efforts are winding down, but clean-up crews are needed. For people who would like to make a positive...

Following a complaint to the BC Ombudsperson, Jay Chalke, an investigation determined that the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction had failed to follow the law in calculating entitlement to income assistance benefits. The Ministry had improperly imposed a policy of a one-month suspension the earnings exemption,...