On February 11, the Nelson Chapter of the Council of Canadians held a public forum on CETA, the latest trade agreement that the Canadian Government is negotiating with the European Union at Nelson United Church. Guest speakers were Peter Julian, the NDP International Trade Critic along with Alex Atamanenko, our local MP. A three part […]

Would Stephen Harper attack Libya simply to justify spending tens of billions of dollars on F-35 fighter jets? Perhaps. But, add on doing it for major Canadian investors, reinforcing his “principled” foreign policy rhetoric and reasserting western control over a region in flux, and you pretty much have the range of reasons why a half […]

 Hundreds of thousands of people joined marches in London on Saturday against public sector cuts by the British government. One union estimated up to half a million people travelled from across the country to demonstrate as the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition implements wide-ranging spending cuts. According to reports, a small group of protesters dressed in black threw paint and smoke bombs […]

By Timothy Schafer, The Nelson Daily There is expected to be a 40 per cent increase in the demand for electricity in BC over the next 20 years, according to BC Hydro, and the Crown corporation is in the process of drafting a 20-year plan to meet those needs. Public input on the Integrated Resource […]

So what do we do now? We’re about to have an election almost no one wants; that likely won’t change the political balance of power; and, despite the rhetoric, probably won’t actually result in substantial policy changes.  And for this non-altering experience taxpayers will shell out $300 million! Sigh… I am not a dedicated partisan. Over my life, I have voted for all […]

Walking the trails around Christina Lake you may see a new kind of wildlife which will surprise you – wild boars. Initially being raised at a near-by farm, the pigs are loose and on the rampage.  Despite all the issues being raised about the missing piggies, Brenda LaCroix, co-ordinator of the Christina Lake Stewardship Society […]

The drama is over and Jack Layton and the NDP clearly did the right thing, very quickly rejecting the Conservatives’ budget and pledging to vote against it “in its current form.” That held out the possibility of voting in favour of an amended budget which Finance Minister Flaherty quickly scotched with a Bush-like – you […]

By Michael Jessen As the nuclear nightmare heats up in Japan, a question comes to mind. The question is not: Is nuclear power safe? Rather the question is: Is nuclear power necessary? The crippled nuclear reactors in Japan that could not withstand the double whammy of a 9.0 earthquake and a tsunami will hopefully signal […]

By Andy Soos, ENN The March 11 magnitude nine earthquake in Japan may have shortened the length of each Earth day and shifted its axis. Using a United States Geological Survey estimate for how the fault responsible for the earthquake slipped, research scientist Richard Gross of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., applied a complex […]

During the leadership race, Christy Clark committed to a smaller cabinet and to redefining and empowering the role of MLA. Appointing a smaller cabinet gave the appearance of follow through. The addition of 10 parliamentary secretaries means 56% of the Liberal caucus has appointments.   “Christy Clark is continuing the trend of using perks to […]