Last week’s provincial  budget includes two items that will directly impact municipalities: the increase in Medical Services Plan (MSP) premiums, and the creation of a new Auditor General for Local Government. MSP will increase local government expenses Increases to MSP premiums will amount to about $60 per year per person. This cost will be passed […]

If you are a parent in the process of helping your child plan his or her post-secondary education, there has been a recent report giving high praise to Canadian community colleges for their ability to effectively deliver programs and get people on the fast track to rewarding careers. The Hechinger Report, an American non-profit...

Students and staff at L.V Rogers High School plan to join tens of thousands across Canada as part of “Pink Shirt Day” Wednesday. Pink Shirt Day is a nationwide movement that originated at Central Kings Rural High School in Cambridge, Nova Scotia more than a decade ago. There, two students witnessed a bully harassing and […]

Even police are describing an arrest in Nelson this afternoon as “bizarre”. “On Monday afternoon, Nelson Police responded to a report from a woman of an intruder in her Fairview residence,” said Nelson Police Department’s Sgt. Howie Grant. “When officers arrived on scene they found a 21-year-old Nelson man sitting at a computer desk in […]

I was encouraged, I really was, when Interior Health Authority (IHA) representative Linda Basran came to Castlegar to offer city council, and residents, an unqualified apology for the closure of Castlegar’s emergency ward for eight hours on Feb. 4. She acknowledged that communication around the closure was totally unacceptable,...

A local Conservation officer was forced to destroy a cougar this morning after a car accident left the animal injured near Blueberry, according to RCMP Sgt. Laurel Mathew.   "At approximately 6 a.m., Castlegar RCMP responded to a motor vehicle accident in which a vehicle had struck a cougar on highway 22 in the Blueberry/Fairview...

In a rare split vote, city council decided 4 to 2 against sending a delegation to Castlegar’s sister city, Embetsu, Japan. Councillor Gord Turner, who serves as the chair for council’s Cultural and Civic Pride Committee, argued in favour of the expenditure at last Monday’s regular meeting, explaining that Embestu sent a large...

Over 20,000 Canadians have joined with online campaigning organization Leadnow.ca to call for a full and independent public inquiry into an alleged systematic voter deception phone campaign that targeted likely non-Conservative voters in key ridings during the May 2011 election. Since the campaign launched on Friday, 20,000...

Young leaders from around the Basin are invited to participate in an important conversation at the Columbia River Treaty Young Leaders Conference. Hosted by Columbia Basin Trust (CBT), the conference takes place March 16 to 17 in Rossland. The event is FREE to attend. The goal of the conference is to help young people better […]

IntegrityBC has awarded seven broomsticks in the first of its annual Broomstick awards signifying the most egregious examples of ineptitude on B.C.’s political landscape from the past year. “Our choice of a broomstick is meant to symbolize that it’s time to clean up a mess,” said IntegrityBC executive director Dermod Travis. “Yet it’s easy to […]