As I get older, I find there are fewer and fewer things I’m willing to get upset about – hence the lack of editorial rants of late. There is, however, one issue that has me so incensed, so appalled, so disgusted, so flat-out ashamed, that it’s taken me weeks to write about it without using some of the more colourful (and less...

So far, most of the discussion about Proportional Representation (PR) has focused on fairness. Without a proportional voting system, there’s no way to make every vote count equally. But there are other reasons to adopt it, arguably as valid: it would bring social and financial stability and cut waste. In elections using...

This week the House of Commons passed Bill C-76, the Elections Modernization Act, the federal government’s answer to the so-called “Fair Elections Act” that the Conservatives enacted in 2014.  And although I and the rest of the NDP caucus voted in favour of the bill, I would say this bill is “a day late and a dollar short.”...

Several times in our province we have had election results distorted by our current voting system (first past the post). As a result the political landscape has been plagued by polarized politics for as long as anyone can remember and many voters find themselves voting to block something they despise and/or not having their...

To The Editor:   Would you vote for a party list without candidates? Of course, you wouldn't, and neither would anybody else. Of course, we will keep local representation under pro rep, and of course nobody will be 'appointed' an MLA unless we vote for them. How dumb do Liberal Party bosses think BC voters are that we would...

After months of negotiations and a seemingly endless series of false deadlines, negotiators have hammered out a new trade agreement between Canada, the USA and Mexico.  The new agreement (called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA for short) will create winners and losers, of course, and the general consensus...

Last Tuesday I was in Ottawa for an emergency meeting of the Standing Committee on Natural Resources in the wake of the Federal Court of Appeal decision that quashed the federal government’s approval of the Trans Mountain Expansion project.  The court quashed the approval based on two errors—the lack of consideration of marine...

It’s now official — 2018 has just become British Columbia’s second worst forest fire season in history, second only to last year.  Residents have endured weeks of heavy smoke, some have been evacuated from their communities, and some have unfortunately lost their homes.  Businesses have suffered as tourists leave or stay away,...

Caleb Moon is a 29-year-old yard master for a railroad in Spokane, and the creator of the Facebook event entitled, “Blow Spokane’s Smoke Away to Canada.” The event description is as follows, “There are roughly 550,000 residents of the Spokane, Washington metropolitan area (per worldpopulationreview.com). To get rid of this ...

Recent announcements on air quality have stressed the hazards of breathing smoky air to children, old people, and anyone with respiratory issues such as asthma. But it’s bad for everyone, and we should all avoid it, whatever our age and level of health. Need convincing?  Here’s some information about wildfire smoke from the...