Recent comments by Coun. Cary Fisher and Coun. Jill Spearn—regarding Brenda Trenholme's appeal to subdivide her Happy Valley property—taste like a slice of logical swiss cheese on a slab of imagination tofu. And you'll need a pinch of salt for the cracker too. Sure, sure, everyone's in favour of local agriculture. Just not ...

North Vancouver primary teacher Ian Cunliffe spent the past weekend running through the Boundary as part of his 22 Marathons Against Bill 22 campaign across B.C. He is running the width of the province over 22 days as a public protest against Bill 22, which was recently introduced in the provincial legislature in response to […]

Sometimes, when I stand in front of others and relate my journey, I begin with my family and the communities I've lived in, and I recount a partial history of the jobs I've held. Sometimes I relive relationships I've had. Once in a long while I'll tell the story of the time I was buried alive up in Pass Creek in '98. Despite...

Our report last week on “Li’l Cinnamon”—the black bear runt who’d learned to forage in human property and so was caught and killed by conservation officers—generated a lot of interesting discussion. Les Anderson’s comments struck a particularly harmonious chord for me: “Humans have no understanding of wild animals whatsoever,” he wrote, “so they turn to […]

The House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance has launched its annual pre-budget consultation process, which will result in a report to be tabled in the House of Commons prior to the December 2012 parliamentary break. This year, the pre-budget consultation process will take a slightly different form: online submission of answers to specific questions […]

One of my infantile leftist ex-friends recently referred to the Free Syrian Army as a ‘sectarian gang’. The phrase may well come from Asa’ad Abu Khalil, who seems to have a depressingly large audience, but it could come from any of a large number of blanket thinkers in the ranks of the Western left. I admit that I sometimes...

A new provincial regulation aimed at stopping copper thieves in their tracks has scrap metal dealers doubtful. The new law came into effect yesterday, Monday, July 23, requiring the more than 60 BC scrap metal dealers to ask for and record the identification of anyone selling high-value metals like copper to them. That...

As Canada prepares to withdraw from Afghanistan in 2014, it is time to reflect on the future role of our military in the world. Our active involvement in Afghanistan transformed Canada into a “nation at war”. The tragic loss of 158 Canadian men and women to this war along with the enormous price tag of […]

Human waste, unattended fires and toxic litter often accompanies seasonal squatters in the Boundary. It happens every year -- people who are down on their luck set up house along a river bank or in the bush to save themselves rent and utility costs while the weather is good. Their activity may seem harmless enough but it is...

A gay couple from Vancouver was awarded over $4500 for discrimination in a  B.C. Human Rights Tribunal decision yesterday after being refused Grand Forks accommodations in 2009. The decision, by Tribunal member Enid Marion, found that Les and Susan Molnar, operating the Riverbend Bed and Breakfast business at the time, were...