In his book A Fair Country John Ralston Saul argues that, among other things that make us unique, Canadians have developed as a society of community out of our close attention to our First Nations/Metis roots. He sees those roots in every Canadian institution and in most Canadian ways of doing things. It's the basis of our ...

‘Tis the season for weddings, and I have two friends getting ready to walk down the aisle this summer. It is so much fun….the preparing, the planning, and the decorating. But it is also so much work. The decision-making; the color-scheming; the guest list … On top of all that, you need to make all […]

The lack of foresight our government has can be absolutely staggering sometimes. Our new currency and the application of it to our daily lives is a prime example of how we operate as a country. Force of habit led me to dumping two shiny 2012 toonies into an already overpriced parking meter the other day before realizing I may...

There is a discussion brewing in many of our communities right now about the opportunity to access broadband. If your community is in the Columbia Basin catchment area like my home town of Rossland the conversation is likely taking place for you as well. The Columbia Basin Trusts subsidiary Columbia Basin Broadband Corporation is offering […]

It’s just under a year that Search and Rescue volunteer Sheilah Sweatman went out on a “recovery mission” near Nelson, B.C. only to have her life ripped away.This past weekend two more female search and rescue volunteers lost their lives in a “training mission” near Skookumchuck Rapids just outside of Halfmoon Bay, B.C. What...

Anyone who thought Dan Albas’ private member’s bill was going to open the floodgates to cheap cross-border shopping for wine should think again. When Albas’s Bill C-311 is finally passed, the provinces will experience an immediate shortfall in revenue. Indeed, John Skinner, the owner of Painted Rock Winery in Penticton is...

All of the celebrations surrounding SunFest recently have me thinking about small-town dynamics. I am definitely a small-town girl through and through. I love the community support, the sense of safety, and being able to walk down the main drag and wave at a dozen people I know as they drive by. Don’t get me […]

The words that title my piece are biblical and mean, roughly, “number, number, weight, division.” They are apt to this moment. I believe that numbers, judgment, and a state of feeling divided, are clues to our malaise as Canadians right now. To say that Stephen Harper divides Canadians like no other prime minister before him...

Shouldn’t the economy be working for all of us by now? After all, we’ve been swallowing the prescription of the world’s financial leaders since the ‘80s, yet our quality of life is going down. We see the harsh results everywhere. People around the world, including the students in Quebec, are courageously defending their beliefs...

IntegrityBC has called on the B.C. Liberal party to stop behaving as though B.C. charities are a private piggybank to help beef up party coffers, this after Elections BC told the party to return a 2011 donation from the Vancouver Art Gallery Association.  It was  the second time in as many months that Elections BC has had to...