Truth be told, the truth is elusive. It can never be “final” since it is grounded in the human mindset and limited to facts known at a point in time. As more details become known, social attitudes and customs change and a new truth emerges. This is our life story, yet humans hunger for a reality that is anchored to our senses....

When it comes to jobs and the economy we often get conflicting messages as to how many jobs were actually created.  I thought it would be interesting to share some figures that Statistics Canada released for the month of May. THE BASICS The Canadian economy as a whole added just 7,700 jobs in May – a relatively weak showing. ...

More than 1,300 small businesses in the Okanagan and Kootenays are reaping big savings on their electricity bills thanks to a $6.85 million lighting installation program sponsored by the Province of British Columbia and FortisBC.  “Small businesses in the Okanagan and Kootenays wanted a program that would make saving energy...

United Nations trade and climate change advisor Aaron Cosbey—a Rossland resident—attended the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and he was back again last week for the glitz, fanfare, and "complete failure" of the Rio +20 anniversary conference."It was a very predictable thing," Cosbey said, listing many reasons...

Partners in the Waneta Expansion Project - Fortis Inc., Columbia Power Corporation and Columbia Basin Trust – and the Community Impact Management Committee invite you to visit the project’s viewing area this summer. The viewing area and platform, constructed by the contractor, provide a place across Highway 22A to safely watch...

“Sino-Canadian Selkirk College of Taiyuan Normal University”: this sign rests on the side of a building at Taiyuan Normal University (TNU) in Taiyuan, China.  The three-year English diploma program housed in this building represents a unique collaboration between TNU and Selkirk College in British Columbia.   TNU develops and...

My brother Kenneth--aged 22--drowned in the Thompson River in 1988. I cannot begin to tell you how that changed me. Nothing like it did my parents, or my sister, or our youngest brother, 21 years old at the time. They were close. Kenneth and I were just beginning to know each other as adults. As the oldest by 8 years, I had...

Interior Health is reminding residents to take extra precautions against mosquito bites this summer.  West Nile virus, a disease that is spread from infected birds to humans through mosquito bites, has been present in B.C. since 2009. West Nile virus (WNv) was first detected in B.C. in the South Okanagan during the summer of...

In his book A Fair Country John Ralston Saul argues that, among other things that make us unique, Canadians have developed as a society of community out of our close attention to our First Nations/Metis roots. He sees those roots in every Canadian institution and in most Canadian ways of doing things. It's the basis of our ...

To help customers conserve energy FortisBC PowerSense plans to again distribute 10,000 laundry lines this summer at community events in Kelowna, the South Okanagan and the Kootenays. “Hanging laundry is a simple and cost effective way to show that you care about the environment and the energy you use,” says Tom Loski, vice ...