Feds take tax off poppies
The federal government will remove the sales tax from the purchase of poppies and wreaths for the Legion’s annual poppy campaign. When the Harmonized Sales Tax was implemented in Ontario and B.C. this summer, the production of poppies fell under the new tax system since a private firm in Toronto makes the poppies. This means […]
QUNFUZ: Things that happened while I was there
Editor's note: the following is a list of things that took place during the author's trip to Palestine a couple of weeks ago.A large demonstration was held in central Nablus calling for the release of the thousands of prisoners held in the Israeli gulag.Israeli forces shelled Gaza.The Palestinian Authority arrested 53 men in...
Local communities receive gaming grants
The provincial government has announced the recipients of this year’s provincial gaming grants and the Rossland is getting a small slice of the pie. 7000 organizations across the province will receive grants from the $120 million fund designed to foster talent and support events that celebrate local traditions and customs, ...
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...
Alex Neve to speak in West Kootenay: A call for renewal of Canada's fading human rights leadership
Selkirk College and Amnesty International will be launching the fall Mir Centre for Peace Lecture Series with a passionate and important talk by Alex Neve, Secretary-General of Amnesty International Canada. His lecture, Protecting Human Rights: What’s Happening to Canada’s Voice, will focus on the concerns surrounding Canada’s fading human rights leadership and will put a […]
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...
MP Atamanenko supports investigation into alleged police violations at G-20
Alex Atamanenko, MP for BC Southern Interior, has voiced his support for a parliamentary committee to look into allegations of police use of force and human rights abuses during the G-20 summit in Toronto in June. Vancouver–Kingsway New Democrat MP Don Davies has collected signatures from Liberal and Bloc Québécois MPs to force the recall […]
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, ...