Last week I travelled with Jim Carr, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, to the G20 energy meetings in Argentina.  The meetings are a mix of reports from the G20 countries and of presentations by world experts about the state of energy markets and future energy demand. The main theme of the talks was the “grand […]

Canadian democracy is not a matter of fairness. Since European invasion, Canada has had 200 years of colonial autocracy, then 50 years of elections without votes for women, and an additional 50 years without votes for Indigenous people. In every form democracy has taken since Confederation, it has been used to defend the...

Editor’s Note:  Many people are not yet aware of the proposal to turn about 700 square kilometres of the southern Purcell  Range into a heli-playground, cutting new trails and building lodges, with helicopter flights carrying in skiers in the winter and hikers and mountain bikers in the summer.  The...

The Province will host a series of meetings this month to engage with and update communities about the recently launched negotiations on the future of the Columbia River Treaty. "As we begin negotiations around the future of the Columbia River Treaty, our government is committed to engaging in meaningful consultation," said...

The Castlegar and Area Fair Vote Chapter, a local citizens group for proportional representation, welcomed the announcement today of the referendum question by Attorney-General David Eby. “We're pleased to have a clear question for the citizens of BC. Now we can get to work on reaching as many voters as possible in our community...

After the 2015 federal election, most Canadians were happy about the prospects for positive electoral reform.  Both the Liberals and the NDP had campaigned on promises that first, there would be no more elections under the old first-past-the-post system, and second, that they would repeal the unfair aspects of the Conservative’s so-called “Fair Elections Act.” […]

Following a complaint to the BC Ombudsperson, Jay Chalke, an investigation determined that the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction had failed to follow the law in calculating entitlement to income assistance benefits. The Ministry had improperly imposed a policy of a one-month suspension the earnings exemption,...

The CIty of Castlegar is seeking public input on how to proceed with the municipal aspect of cannibas legalization. In a press release issued Monday morning, the city announced two public meetings to take place later this month seeking feedback and offering information in discussing next steps within the context of communiity ...

The flood situation in the south Okanagan and Boundary regions has dominated the news for the past month and the news seems to get more serious by the day. Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes and many have lost everything—houses, vehicles, land. Last Friday and Saturday I drove from Penticton to Trail and...

Kootenay West MLA Katrine Conroy said students at schools in Slocan and New Denver are getting new playgrounds, thanks to $180,000 in provincial funding announced by the Premier and Minister of Education today. “Playgrounds should be part of a healthy childhood no matter where you live,” said Conroy, who is also the Minister...