Anyone made uneasy by the temporary closure of Castlegar’s hospital in February and the lack of ambulance coverage in Castlegar over the holidays is going to be delighted with this latest bombshell from B.C. Ambulance Services (BCAS) – I was so horrified by what I learned here that I feel obligated to write about it […]

While people in more than 175 countries used Earth Day 2012 to raise awareness and appreciation of the world’s natural environment, a rally in Nelson had more of a direct message for government — Keep Jumbo Wild and put a stop the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines Project. “Look at this sky, look at that (Elephant) […]

Ed Note: The following is a press release issued by the B.C. Teachers’ Federation A decisive 73 per cent of teachers have voted in favour of a resistance strategy to oppose Bill 22, the controversial Education Improvement Act.  In a province-wide vote conducted April 17–19, a total of 21,625 teachers voted yes and 7,846 voted […]

Dear Rick Hansen: I hope that during your next 25 years of raising money for spinal cord research (SCR) we will see the end of inhumane, scientifically fallacious spinal cord experiments on animals. It was 25 years ago when Lifeforce, a Vancouver based ecology and animal rights organization, gave you extensive data about the failure […]

A Castlegar city councillor is using social media sites to try to gauge how much community support there is for allowing urban chicken husbandry within city limits. Kevin Chernoff, now serving his third term at the council table, says the majority of the people attending council on the issue are in support of the notion […]

Southern Interior MP Alex Atamanenko says he was dismayed to hear the news that the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) office in Kelowna is slated for closure earlier today. “The Conservatives are dismantling Canada piece by piece,” he said. “This will result in a critical reduction in services related to citizenship and immigration matters for […]

“Our airport is better.” “No, OUR airport is better.” “You’re not closing OUR school.” “Well, you’re sure not closing OURS. So there.” Every time I try to imagine how dialogue between Castlegar and Trail must sound to ministry officials at both the provincial and federal levels, I can almost hear the banjos playing in the […]

Bob Dylan wrote the lyrics; Peter, Paul and Mary recorded it in the early 1960s and I, coming of age as a young civil rights supporter and believer,  always found the song "Blowin' In The Wind" as evocative, emotional and energizing as the fight for equality and social justice took hold in the U.S. and Canada, including the...

Until this year, the purpose of the annual Canadian federal budget was to project government revenues, lay out spending priorities and forecast economic conditions for the upcoming year. Reading Budget 2012, announced last week by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, it soon becomes clear that this government has no intention of ...

IntegrityBC congratulates NDP leader Adrian Dix for renewing the BC NDP's call for a ban on corporate and union donations to political parties in the province. Dix is honouring the pledge that the NDP made in its 2009 platform. Dix made the call during a media scrum last Wednesday while responding to questions over the annual...