They should have landed with a thud. But instead last week's financial filings by hundreds of candidates in B.C.'s 2011 municipal elections were met with matter-of-fact reporting or shrugs of indifference. Yet, the tale they told couldn't have been sung better by Liza Minelli and Joel Grey in Cabaret if they had tried: “money...

This weekend, the federal NDP will not only choose a new leader, but determine whether the party descends further as a parochial servant of Quebec or re-establishes itself as a true national party. NDP supporters won’t like it, but the truth is that, in the push for power, former leader Jack Layton and the NDP party sold out […]

MP Alex Atamanenko (BC Southern Interior) said the Conservative’s plan to make changes to the Fisheries Act in an omnibus federal budget bill next week has been exposed and the federal government needs to come clean on its agenda. A former DFO employee Otto Langer leaked documents last week that shone a light on government ...

Whether or not salmon farms continue operating in BC's marine waters may depend more on economic than environmental factors. Despite withering criticism concerning the ecological safety of its open net-pen operations, the salmon farming industry has doggedly continued on its corporate course. However, two unforeseen factors...

There are so many factors that NDP members have to look at when choosing who to vote for in their leadership race that I don’t envy them (I am not a member). How do you weigh the various elements: policies, philosophy, engaging personality, ability to take on Stephen Harper in the House, co-operation with the Liberals, and ...

Check out this new cartoon from Gerry Hummel highlighting the push to open up BC and Alberta's fossil fuel resources to emerging Asian markets like China. In recent months both Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Resources Minister Joe Oliver have told Canadians and leaders on the world's stage that the Enbridge Northern ...

You can say one thing for the powers that be in the banking industry. They’ve got a lot of nerve. This past week our own finance minister Jim Flaherty, along with Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of Canada, came out strongly in opposition to a modest proposal to regulate the US banking system. Their interventions followed...

BC teachers must realize they will get NOWHERE with the Liberal government and school employers without job action and a major fight. They should learn from the mistreatment and suffering of BC’s paramedics at the hands of their employers and an intransigent  government under an expired contract since 2001. The paramedics’ ...

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,...

Across our country, no other public social service is cherished as much as our healthcare system and its underlying principles set in the Canada Health Act. Canadians appreciate knowing that whatever health problem they have, help is available to them, regardless of their ability to pay. But our system is not perfect. There are still […]