OPINION: Time to move on in the marijuana conversation
In early April of this year one of the most brilliant marketing campaigns ever designed was launched. With a splash of media exposure, a small group of eight people started a conversation that has not stopped nearly three months later. As the chatter moves contagiously through more and more people, the volume has been amplified...
Beyond Harper: Rebuilding community
Of all the appalling abuses of democracy and ruthless dismantling of the country represented by Bill C-38 one stands out of as representative of the right wing dystopia that Stephen Harper has in store for the 99 per cent. And that is the mentality and ideology behind the draconian changes to EI. This is particularly true of...
Marshall Lake dam faces 11th hour decisions
Local governments and the public have until the end of this month to come up with a plan to preserve Marshall Lake. That’s all the time the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations (MFLNRO) will allow for a decision to be made on whether or not the city, regional district or the public are willing and able...
OP/ED: Healthy forests for communities
By: Bill Bourgeois In the past two decades, British Columbians have witnessed two starkly different approaches to managing the province’s forest resources. Following the so-called “war in the woods” in the early 1990s, the Provincial Government responded with a series of initiatives emphasizing land-use planning, greater...
Politicians are a shadow. What casts the shadow?
I have been writing about politics lately. Now I will turn my attentions to a wider subject, minds and consciousness. It is a great virtue of history that—through its study--people can be cured of thinking they are undergoing something unique, when in historical fact something very similar has happened before. Harper is in...
SUMMING IT UP: Grand Forks City Council
Last week's meeting of Grand Forks city council was a 'strictly business' short meeting with little controversy. Key items for the meeting were: a report back from staff on potential models for corporate tax incentives from comparisons of other similar size cities which was sent to the economic development committee for review;...
Rural communities find their voice at summit
Growing sustainable communities was the focus of last week’s B.C. Rural Summit held in Grand Forks for the first time. The conference aims to highlight challenges and advantages for rural communities. “A lot of the resource based economies in the province and all the regions of the province are looking for ways to diversify,”...
Watershed study gears up
Residents of the Kettle River watershed will soon have the opportunity to shape the future of the Kettle River. The Kettle River Watershed Management Plan, led by the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary (RDKB) with an advisory committee chaired by Grace McGregor of area C, aims to have a broad level of public involvement...
Mene. Mene. Tekel. Upharsin.
The words that title my piece are biblical and mean, roughly, “number, number, weight, division.” They are apt to this moment. I believe that numbers, judgment, and a state of feeling divided, are clues to our malaise as Canadians right now. To say that Stephen Harper divides Canadians like no other prime minister before him...
Taylor puts marijuana back on the table at city council
A challenge to step up leadership was given to Grand Forks city council when mayor Brian Taylor asked them to join the campaign to end the prohibition of marijuana in Canada. Taylor wants council to join in with the other B.C. municipalities, now over 13 of a possible 160 and growing, in the Stop the Violence campaign. The ...