As of July 1st, the governments of Canada and B.C. intend to institute a Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) of 12 per cent, combining a 7 per cent Provincial Sales Tax (PST) with a 5 per cent federal Goods and Service Tax (GST). As well, despite the Provincial bill still not being passed at the time of this column’s writing, some...

The sorry spectacle of Conservative cabinet ministers flying around the world defending banks from a tax to cover their next, inevitable, meltdown is bad enough. What is perhaps worse is that it is being largely justified by the perpetuation of the myth that Canada did not have to bail out its banks.Wrong.We are, according ...

The oil spill that now jeopardizes the entire ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico, and potentially beyond, is a chilling reminder that all is not well with our planet. And what’s actually worse: the amount of oil gushing from the seemingly impossible-to-stop deep-sea oil well or the complacent attitude taken toward the spill by...

I went to the local Shell the other day for snacks, yes it was a late night munchy attack, and as I was perusing the shelves for the appropriate chip a label on a bag jumped up to catch my eye - 100% compostable bag. I was so excited I had to buy it! Good thing it was a chip I like – Sun Chips.Recently I have been having some...

How often do we complain that our governments are passing legislation or bylaws that affect us but we have no control over? How many times a year do we grumble about the high cost of this or that? Well a small group of citizens have pushed hard enough to allow us to have the chance to say no to new taxes. In the next 90 days...

Canada’s flax industry is scrambling to repair damage to our export markets because of contamination by unapproved genetically engineered (GE) flax. This problem will reoccur as more genetically engineered crops are approved without rules that consider existing regulations in export markets and the potential negative impacts...

It seems that everyone agrees, from our regional rural development chair at Selkirk College to the federal government, the biggest problem threatening our economic future is babies. Or rather, the lack of them. Its not that our population is declining, immigration is boosting the numbers, but that, overall, the population is...

In 2000, then Liberal Finance Minister Paul Martin cut corporate income tax rates by a quarter, from 28 per cent to 21 per cent, phased in over five years. The Harper government has continued those cuts from 21 per cent in 2007 to 18 per cent today, and is ignoring NDP advice and further reducing corporate taxes 15 per cent...

As the Regional District Director of Area “C” Christina Lake the following is my opinion so far on the latest submission and request for rezoning by Aquilini Renewable Energy – John Negrin.First, as we have so often said, everyone is entitled to submit a request for rezoning consideration to the Board of the Regional District...

After listening to the gurus and pondering the provincial budget for the last week, I confess that I’m confused. And the source of the confusion is the spin being put on the pill to make it easier to swallow. Headlines read: “Province protects services for low-income clients.” Details include all the areas they have cutback...