Column: U.S. crisis shows need to speak truth to power
As was demonstrated in the U.S. last week, many who are motivated by fear and ignorance are feeling emboldened — and desperate. It’s not just in the United States. Irrational, authoritarian, anti-science rhetoric and action has been heating up from Brazil to India to Hungary, and is fully entrenched in places like Russia and China. […]
Letter: We must be vigilant
Dear Editor. We fought global wars, and millions of people died to defend and protect our human rights, including our right to have democratic governments. Last week’s invasion of the Capital Hill in DC was nothing but a stunning attack on democracy, perpetrated by none other than the President of the United States. It was ...
Column: What we need
The following is adapted from The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our Place in Nature (Greystone Books), a book I wrote with Amanda McConnell in 1997 and updated in 2007. It seems as relevant today as when we wrote it, if not more so. I hope you enjoy it and that the year ahead brings new ways of seeing and thinking about the...
OP/ED: You can always find happiness - living here
This has been a hard year. One might say, this has been one of the most difficult years we have ever had to face. Collectively, we have experienced one of the most challenging times in modern history. And yet, here we are. For some of us, this year has not come without loss. There are many people who...
Letter: 'After you' won't work for climate change
To the Editor: It used to be, and largely still is, considered an act of politeness to let others go first. In the context of climate change and emissions reductions, this might be described as a rationale for inertia. China and India are currently used to support that rationale. Although China tops the emitters list,...
Out of Left Field: Why the pandemic stopped me from writing rants
Anyone who knows me well will tell you that the quarantine isn’t such of a much for me – I am, at heart, an introvert who rarely leaves her house, and now, instead of my friends being annoyed with me for it, they’re applauding me for it. It’s finally okay for me to prefer reading […]
Book Review: ‘In Search of a Happy Ending’ by Rosa Jordan
Rossland author Rosa Jordan’s latest novel is a rich, varied and gripping read. Its characters deal with life’s profound issues, including ambition, love, loyalty, illness and death – and Jordan handles them deftly, with generous compassion and a touch of humour. A list of suggestions from Kurt Vonnegut to writers included one advising authors to […]
Conservative candidate Glen Byle, in his own words
Fourteen years ago I graduated from BCIT and was hired full time at the hospital in Trail repairing medical equipment. I moved here on my motorcycle and I immediately fell in love with life in the Kootenays. I met my wife here and we have three young kids age 4, 6, and 8. I enjoy biking, weight lifting, and spending time with...
Incumbent MLA Katrine Conroy, in her own words
I have been honoured to represent the West Kootenays as MLA since 2005 and for the last three years as British Columbia’s Minister of Children and Family Development, as well as Minister Responsible for the Columbia Basin Trust, Columbia Power Corporation and the Columbia River Treaty. I have had a variety of jobs which have...
Column: From the Hill -- Behind the scenes on that 'confidence motion'
I don’t usually go into the “inside baseball” minutiae of backroom politics on Parliament Hill—the battles over make-up of committees, opposition motions with poison pills, and filibusters—because, frankly, most Canadians aren’t concerned about these details. They just want parliament to work for them, especially when so...