Yesterday, the Liberal government voted against an NDP motion that would provide dental coverage to millions of Canadians who struggle with the cost of dental care. The NDP proposal would have allowed 6.7 million people in Canada whose household income is less than $90,000 a year to access the dental services they desperately...

The discovery of 215 unmarked and seemingly undocumented graves of children on the grounds of the former residential school in Kamloops has produced an outpouring of grief and anger across Canada.  While the discovery was not a surprise to many people, especially to residential school survivors, it served as a shocking reminder...

Canada is in the middle of a housing crisis, and the south Okanagan, Boundary and West Kootenay areas are very much in the middle of that crisis.  This is an urgent and rapidly growing problem that demands the cooperation and priority of all levels of government. The crisis has emerged out of a perfect storm of factors....

COVID-19 has impacted each of us in many ways. One of the areas that we are monitoring closely is mental health. Mental health affects all of us. As we mark the 70th annual Mental Health Awareness Week I’d like to take this opportunity to recognize the toll that the ongoing pandemic is having on people’s feelings of stress,...

Many struggling Canadians hoped that today’s budget would offer meaningful supports and steps towards recovery. But more than that, they hoped that it would be the ultra-wealthy who have profited from the pandemic who would be paying for these supports, not the workers who have been hit so hard.  According to local MP, Richard...

As a country and as individuals, we have done a lot to try to stop the spread of COVID-19. However, there is one obvious step for which we have made only timid efforts—paid sick leave. Going to work sick was once a badge of honour.  Taking one for the team.  Not letting your side down.  It was never a good idea, but in the ...

Question period in the BC legislature involves a lot of theatre--which frankly I rather enjoy.  Within the theatre, there is an opportunity for hyper-partisanship to shine.  This, I don’t care for, but I understand and respect it.  When this spills into hypocrisy, I lose my interest and enthusiasm.  And, in turn, when the...

Last year, Gord Portman saved two people in a house fire in Penticton.  When he saw his picture in the local newspaper, he said to himself ‘Oh boy I need help.” Gord was addicted to drugs. So he turned to Discovery House, a local organization that helps men battle their addictions, and he now thanks Discovery House for saving...

An Open Letter to Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, Katrine Conroy: Dear Minister Conroy, Congratulations on your appointment as Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. We hope you will usher in considerable change from the former destructive...

Dear Editor: Monday, February 1 marked the four year anniversary of Trudeau's broken promise on electoral reform.  “We are committed to ensuring that the 2015 election will be the last federal election using FPtP” It was a key campaign promise which Trudeau repeated over 1800 times. An all party parliamentary committee, ERRE,...