At Christmas this year we will be treated once again to a film adaptation of a fantasy by Tolkien, this time The Hobbit. I am gratified because this author and his works form one foundation of the kind of person I have become, insofar as a book of fiction is fundamental to how one understands the world. What is it about Tolkien...

When the B.C. Court of Appeal struck down the government's not-so-subtle attempt to stifle citizens with its ill-advised “gag” law this month, it was only a partial victory.   Regrettably, the Court never had the chance to consider the multitude of contradictions and loopholes that exist in the B.C. Election Act, most of which...

By: Jordan Bateman, British Columbia Director, Canadian Taxpayers Federation It seems the further you get away from Vancouver, the more hated the carbon tax becomes. The B.C. government has sent its Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services around the province to hear submissions on what should be included...

Stories about crumbling public infrastructure are being reported right across the country.  As the federal government continues to download more of its responsibilities onto the provinces, and the provinces onto municipalities, it is inevitable that the next generation will be the ones forced to foot the growing bills. This...

You would think that federal Liberals would by now have immunized themselves against the affliction that almost did them in: the kind of delusional giddiness at the prospect of a political saviour. It is so embarrassing watching Liberals talk about Trudeau 2.0 – as if beating a Conservative Senator in the boxing ring somehow...

I recently returned from a whirlwind tour across northern BC, one of many legs of filming for a documentary and multi-media project I've been co-directing for the past year and a half, called Fractured Land. The people we spoke to along the way, the sights we witnessed and documented finally brought into focus the real ...

Some readers might have stopped reading already, having seen the headline. The message is an insult; it is patronizing and arrogant and stinks with superior attitude. Who does Jeanes think he is? I could not agree more. The trouble is, everywhere I turn to find people thinking about the evolution of “more conscious humans”,...

Someone, please! Tell Dan Albas what to think. Westbank First Nations (WFN) plans to open a private hospital, but the rookie MP for the area, Okanagan-Coquihalla, doesn’t know what his opinion should be. He has no problem throwing public money around. Albas supports upgrading the Merritt Civic Centre with your tax money, and...

The world’s in rough shape and it's easy to feel overwhelmed. At the turn of the millennium, I stormed out of university in anger at a global system of economic injustice, environmental pillage, and—in North America at least—social impotence and apathy.This attitude began to change when my tortuous path wound its way to a...

A damning new peer reviewed study, ‘Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize ‘is calling into question not only the safety of genetically modified (GM) food but the stringency of government regulations and assessments.  For the first time, a long term and comprehensive study...