DOBBIN: Canadian politics needs a game-changer
As we head into a new political season it looks depressingly like the old: a stand-off between the malignant minority government of Stephen Harper and the seriously diminished Liberal Party and its hapless leader Michael Ignatieff. Both these parties and their leaders are so off the mark in terms of what Canadians want and...
Electoral Officer’s Ruling MUST Be Challenged
The decision by B.C.’s “Acting” Chief Electoral Officer Craig James to stall the anti-HST petition until court cases are dealt with MUST be challenged in court. I believe he’s wrong; he made a mistake; he went far beyond his proper role in validating a petition. He has in effect destroyed B.C.’s democratic petition legislation,...
A CLOSER LOOK: the questionable cost of America's spy games
By Stephen Engelberg, ProPublicaThere's nothing like a spy story to get the journalistic juices flowing. They have all the elements. High stakes. Betrayal. And, if you're lucky, sexual intrigue. The true import of spy stories is more difficult for readers to weigh. The facts are invariably spooned out by intelligence agencies...
DOBBIN: Harper's G20 victory is to shrink Canada
Is the world, including Canada, headed for the third great depression, as New York Times columnist Paul Krugman argues? Watching the results of the G8/G20 meetings was like hearing news that a giant comet is heading for earth and we are just waiting for impact. Those meetings of the world's largest and/or growing...
SUMMING IT UP: Grand Forks says no to rugby field in city park and tackles oil recycling
Campers have discovered the vandals ruining trees in City Park – the beavers did it said City Councillor Gene Robert at council’s last meeting. Joking aside, council dealt with a light meeting on June 28 deciding the location of the rugby field, authorizing financing for the development of northwest 79 Avenue improvements, ...
Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers face potential charges in Dziekanski tasering death
After reviewing the Braidwood Inquiry report into the death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport on October 14, 2007, Special Prosecutor Richard C.C. Peck, Q.C. announced he will revisit the British Columbia Attorney General's decision not to charge the four Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers...
Locals protest G8 / G20 summit adding their voice to the rally for peace
Grand Forks residents lent their voice to the collective voices of protesters across Canada on Friday as they rallied against the G8 / G20 summit being held in Toronto. Headed by the Boundary Peace Initiative (BPI), a small but vocal group gathered after their march through town at the Source on Market Ave. to share their...
Cattle vs. conservationists: the battle for the Gilpin
In a conflict that dates back to the 1970’s, the battle over the Gilpin Grasslands near Grand Forks between cattlemen and conservationists is still unresolved. Grand Forks City Council has found themselves the go to point for both sides of the controversy to try and garner government support for their cause. This round had ...
Obama to ask for special BP claims fund over oil spill
US president Barack Obama, in response to criticism over his handling of the ongoing Gulf of Mexico oil spill, has asked the oil company BP to create a special fund with "substantial" amounts of money to pay claimants over the disaster.Obama is to make his fourth visit to the Gulf Coast tomorrow, and on Tuesday is scheduled...
DOBBIN: A response to the banker's association
When is a bank bail-out not a bailout? When the Canadian bankers’ Association President, Nancy Hughes Anthony says so. In her letter to the Vancouver Sun (which published my blog on the issue) Hughes Anthony points out that not a single bank went bankrupt and therefore did not require a bail out.But call it what you will ...
