"BC Greens oppose the Enbridge  pipelines between the Alberta Tar Sands and Kitimat. The Michigan  spill proves that Enbridge has misled the public on the general safety  of pipelines and on its own record of spills," said Green Party of BC  Leader Jane Sterk."It seems that it is only after a disaster happens that the...

Canada and the European Union are currently negotiating a new free trade agreement called the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA). According to a detailed report prepared by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) Negotiating from Weakness, if CETA is implemented as currently written, Canada’s progressive...

Any cop, lawyer, judge or prosecutor knows that when you give in to blackmail, it’s not the end of the shakedown. Not by any means! Too bad the Canadian Radio Television and Telecommunications Commission never learned that lesson.It’s only a few months ago that the CRTC caved in to the demands of Canada’s private television...

As you may have noticed I haven’t been blogging much over the last couple of weeks. (Largely this is because I have been immersed in fighting the privatization of the local sewage treatment system). But in part it is the result of having some doubts about what the point is. I often say to people that the left – whatever that...

The hurt has begun: BC consumers are now being hit with a higher sales tax (HST) almost every where they turn.  And as a result some of those who can hardly afford it, like food servers, are already taking the hit.A friend of mine told me the following story: each morning he has coffee and toast at a neighbourhood restaurant;...

Many people in British Columbia feel both dismayed and betrayed by the HST. It is a $2 billion shift in hidden sales taxes from business to consumers done by a government who said sales tax harmonization was not on the radar screen during the most recent election. True, government reduced income taxes to soften the blow of ...

Police states don’t appear full blown, over night. They are, like any other social phenomenon, part of a social and political process - the end result of a long term corruption of the political culture and the incremental diminishing of democracy. This is a process that has been taking place for at least twenty years in Canada...

Anxiety over retirement planning and inadequate pension security are on the minds of many Canadians these days. For about two-thirds of Canadians the focus is on how to deal with not having a pension at all, (other than the Canadian Pension Plan or CPP). In stark contrast 75 more lucky Members of Parliament (MP) can now focus...

When looking for inspiration for columns it is sometimes the little things that keep coming up. This week I saw the name “Boundary Country” in several locations with the main one being the recent new visitor’s guide that has been distributed across the province. We live in the Boundary region – which by the way Wikipedia...

Dear Editor, I would like to clarify for your readers the facts regarding statements that Mr. Alex Atamenenko made is his opinion piece on June 9. It is important for Canadians to understand that the Budget bill will not change the fundamentals of environmental assessment. These changes are about process in order to remove ...