Halloween is a favourite holiday for many locals (myself included), but Covid-19 has brought a chillingly real kind of fear to the festivities. Does this mean we have to cancel Halloween altogether? Will this year be only a ghost of Halloweens past? Not at all – but we do have to get more creative than we ever have before to...

The global pandemic has created a unique and challenging back-to-school season. Many parents, guardians and teachers are struggling to balance children’s safety with education, all while keeping their households running smoothly.   It’s like nothing we’ve seen before. Many adults are rightfully focused on making sure the...

Editor, the Rossland Telegraph: I want to be wrong about this. I am only half certain. I think the BC NDP are heading for a defeat.   Premier Horgan has watched New Brunswick's election result and drawn a conclusion, but he is wrong about British Columbians. We are not tolerant of crude political tactics to sustain his power...

Parliament begins its fall session this coming week and I have just returned from a week of meetings in Ottawa to discuss how that sitting will look—both in terms of how we will meet and the policies the government may bring forward in the Speech from the Throne on Wednesday. Throughout the spring and summer, the House of...

In today’s landmark ruling in the Cambie Surgery Centre case, Justice Steeves dealt a strong blow to the efforts of Dr. Brian Day and others to undermine Canada’s publicly-funded health care system. The decade-long legal attack launched by one of the largest for-profit surgical centres in Canada sought to invalidate key...

I will start with one word, “unacceptable.”  That is how I, and many others view your plan.  The theory of it is sound, based on what we have learned with the various epidemiological crises of our times, beginning with the first SARS outbreak of 2003.  There is no argument about the benefits of physical distancing, frequent...

Columbia Basin Trust is a unique and amazing organization, with huge benefits to residents of the Columbia Basin.  As most people know, it was set up in 1995 with a lump-sum settlement to help compensate the region for damage and losses caused by construction of dams under the Columbia River Treaty, which was signed in 1964,...

Recent ongoing media revelations of abusive, discriminatory  and deadly police practices across Canada, coupled with reports of numerous racist killings and hyper-militarized police actions from south of the border, have led some to demand “defund the police!”  Others have begun using the acronym “acab” – meaning, “all cops...

I recently spent a week touring through the South Okanagan-West Kootenay, meeting elected officials and constituents as well as enjoying the lakes, rivers and mountains that make this such a wonderful place to live.  Now that COVID restrictions have been lifted somewhat, I was able to chat with people over coffee at picnic ...

Some people have land that can grow crops, but they don’t want to farm; others want to farm and can’t find land. The solution – a program that matches people who want to farm with those who have land available to lease, and want it to stay in production or start producing crops. It's called the BC Land Matching Program (BCLMP)....