Community Leadership! What’s important on City Council.
We all have ideas about how City Councillors should conduct themselves and all the things our council ought to do, but Monday evening’s session in Castlegar was presented by two well-informed experts on the topic whose ideas have withstood the test of reality. If you have served on Council and think you’re...
From the Hill - MP speaks to wildfires
It’s now official — 2018 has just become British Columbia’s second worst forest fire season in history, second only to last year. Residents have endured weeks of heavy smoke, some have been evacuated from their communities, and some have unfortunately lost their homes. Businesses have suffered as tourists leave or stay away,...
Op/Ed: Wildsight comments on Columbia River Treaty negotiations
By Wildsight Representatives of the Canadian and American federal governments met on August 15th and 16th for the second round of negotiations to update the 54-year old Columbia River Treaty. The meetings were held, not in Ottawa or Washington, but in Nelson, in the Canadian Columbia River Basin. The treaty between the two ...
MP Dick Cannings to 'Ride the Riding' for third year in a row
Richard Cannings, MP (South Okanagan-West Kootenay) is happy to announce that he will “Ride the Riding” for the third year in a row. Each of the last two years he decided to complete a bicycle trip through the riding, which gave him a unique chance to meet the people, businesses and industries that make up the riding. The...
OP/ED: National lobby group calls for Victoria to give BC Interior a tax break
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is calling on the provincial government to give interior residents a break by cutting fuel taxes, fixing ICBC and axing the Employer Health Tax (EHT). With many interior businesses depending on long haul trucking, tourism and shipping, the high cost of fuel and fuel taxes are punishing...
Opinion: Reconciling Energy and Indigenous Rights
In 2007, Canada was one of four countries to vote against the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (with New Zealand, the United States and Australia). With its single-minded focus on making Canada an “energy superpower,” albeit only with fossil fuels, the Harper government feared the declaration’s concept of ...
Castlegar hosts pre-election workshop for region
Government! Government! Government! Despite your initial reaction, government is not a four letter word. Too often, we criticize it and complain about it as if it were the enemy. Federal and provincial partisan governments get lumped in with local government often leaving a sour taste in people’s mouth. But your local government is different. It […]
Column: From the Hill -- Columbia River Treaty issues
Last week I spent three days in Spokane at the Pacific Northwest Economic Region meetings. Over 600 legislators, business people, and other interested folks from BC, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, Alberta, Saskatchewan, the Yukon and Northwest Territories gathered to talk about issues important to this region....
Letter: PR levels playing field
To The Editor: One of the things that first attracted me to proportional representation, PR, apart from the fact that it just made sense, is that it is supported by people across the political spectrum. At my first PR meeting in 2004, I sat next to someone from the Canadian Rate Payer's Federation and Andrew Coyne was the...
City of Victoria wins lawsuit over plastic bag bylaw
More action on single-use plastic bags? Rossland City Council has stated that it was waiting for the outcome of the court challenge against the City of Victoria’s bylaw to ban plastic “check-out” bags. The Canadian Plastic Bag Association challenged the City of Victoria’s right to regulate plastic bags. Now the Supreme Court...