Regular news

Canada-wide changes proposed by Canada Post that will see local mail rerouted from rural communities to sorting centres in cities have drawn the ire of local NDP Member of Parliament Alex Atamanenko (BC Southern Interior).

“This completely defies all logic,” said Atamanenko.

“In this riding, the result will be that some letters will travel over 1,200 kilometres, round trip, for processing in Vancouver on the weekends and back again prior to delivery on Monday.”

Novelists Amitav Ghosh and Margaret Atwood have accepted the Dan David prize at Tel Aviv University, an institution at the heart of Israel’s military-industrial complex. By doing so they have spurned Palestinian civil society’s call for boycott, divestment and sanctions on the Zionist state. Atwood has specifically ignored this wonderful open letter from the students of Gaza.

It’s always easy to critique local politicians who make decisions that impact the future of their communities if you’re sitting on the outside. How would you do if you were sitting at that table? Would your region become a “Gem of the Gem” or could you end up in “Poverty with a View?” You might find that the task and the decisions to make are not so easy, as participants at an evening hosted by the Boundary Economic Development Committee (BEDC) and Community Futures Boundary discovered when they played the Futures Game.

Organizations seeking some extra money to help their endeavours have another opportunity to submit a proposal to the City of Grand Forks for support. In March the city opened the call for proposals for their grant-in-aid program, and on April 19, council made their decisions on the proposals received granting $62,750 to groups. At last council’s meeting on May 10, Councillor Joy Davies argued for an increase to the community gardens funding that was decided in April based on their application. In the end, the question resulted in another open call for proposals.

A fantastical morality tale, spiced with a little intentional cheesiness, set in the present day tells the story of Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) and his extraordinary 'Imaginarium', a travelling show where members of the audience get an irresistible opportunity to choose between light and joy or darkness and gloom. Get ready to experience Doctor Parnassus' unique imagination in "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" coming to the Gem Theatre on May 18 with Spotlight Films.

Britain is poised for a long period of political instability as it enters its first coalition government since WWII, when the wartime unity government was led by Winston Churchill with Labour in tow.

Our region is about to get 'raided' by extreme sports fans, as a six-day, 500-kilometre adventure race invades the West Kootenay. Raid the North Extreme has hosted intense, non-stop wilderness races through some of Canada's most challenging landscape, from Newfoundland and the Queen Charlotte Islands to Revelstoke and Whitehorse, and chief adventure officer Geoff Langford says the competitors mean business.

Leave it to the NDP to introduce a Private Members Bill that I believe will not only be devastating to the Canadian economy but also one that is seemingly based on inconclusive science.

Bill C-311 requires the Canadian federal government to set regulations to attain a midterm target to bring green house gas emissions 25  per cent below 1990 levels and a long term target to bring emissions 80 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050.

Issues like community risk assessment and dispute resolution took centre stage May 3 and 4, at the second meeting of the province's Industrial Taxation Steering Committee in Victoria.

Castlegar mayor Lawrence Chernoff, who serves on the committee, said the meetings are moving forward quickly as a result of tight timelines.

A public hearing this Monday, essentially forced by new provincial legislation, is providing an opportunity for city staff and council to discuss environmental goals and initiatives with residents.

The hearing, which will be held at the Community Forum at 6:30 p.m., is the result of new legislation passed at the provincial level.