Our party is committed to earning back Canada’s respect on the world stage so that we can win back our seat at the Security Council table.  We want to project a bold and ambitious agenda for cooperation, and to build a more compassionate, peaceful and sustainable world. Since that work has already begun, I thought it might ...

Whales have shorter gestation periods. For the third time since the Local Government Elections Task Force tabled its report, the B.C. government has been stricken with a case of cold feet. In 2010, the task force made 31 recommendations to improve local democracy, including: setting campaign spending limits for candidates; ...

It’s so common to see loose dogs that people don’t often think twice about it – start thinking. We have leash laws for the comfort and safety of everyone including our beloved dogs. It seems obvious that dogs with behavioural challenges should be on a leash. You never know how they are going to react in any given circumstances...

A single parent of two boys recently went public in a letter to the editor (Terrace Standard) with a detailed outline of the harsh financial reality facing her due to difficulties in collecting maintenance payments the boys’ father has been ordered to pay. Her reality is not unheard of, and the defaulting parent is not a...

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird’s recent mission to Latin America cannot mask Canada’s unprecedented diplomatic isolation in the hemisphere. Despite shifting ‘aid’ to the region and claiming to have made Latin America a priority, Ottawa is increasingly offside with a region breaking free from centuries of Western imperialism. On July 9 the Organization of American […]

Just across the border, in the sleepy town of Northport WA, lies a place like no other.  It can provide you an escape from the everyday, and has a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ that seems to have been lost as the years have progressed.  Rosslanders have been coming down here regularly for years now, […]

Letter to the Editor: This week is Gay Pride Week in the Kootenays. This is a celebration of love and understanding to millions of people worldwide and, in many cases, the acknowledgment of equal rights for LGBT couples. I am afraid to say that I have been remiss in my duties as a councillor as I did not bring up the topic ...

This is for everyone who feels a need to share this photo (the one attached to this story). As someone on assistance, this is very hurtful. I do not choose to be disabled. But it most certainly does not define me as a human being, nor does it diminish my worth. I have done thousands of hours of volunteer work and have saton...

We all spend time as kids imagining how our lives might be when we grow up.  And then we grow up and we find ourselves imagining what might happen if… In business, those daydreams can often turn into guessing games, red herrings and assumptive goose chases.   But with some imagination and calculation, business owners can […]

The Canada Organic Trade Association (COTA) recently published a report entitled, The BC Organic Market – Growth, Trends and Opportunities, 2013.  According to the report, the organic market in Canada has grown exponentially over a very short period, to the point that it is now the fourth largest in the world.  In British...