British Columbia Southern Interior, NDP MP Alex Atamanenko says goodbye to his time representing the riding during the closing of the 41st Parliament in Ottawa. Mr. Alex Atamanenko (British Columbia Southern Interior, NDP):       Mr. Chair, as always, when I get up here, there is a standing ovation.   This has been quite a ...

Interior Health’s board chair Erwin Malzer today announced that president and CEO Dr. Robert Halpenny has informed the board of directors of his decision to resign in the fall of 2015 in order to pursue other opportunities. “In his tenure as president and CEO, Dr. Halpenny has been a passionate leader, working tirelessly to...

In Canada we have been conditioned to believe that hard work will get us anywhere.  The belief that we could all be rich someday keeps us going through the hard times, keeps us pounding the pavement looking for work, and makes those long shifts at gas stations and fast food restaurants all over the country go by a little...

Eileen Delehanty Pearkes has been researching and writing about the history and politics of water in the upper Columbia Basin since 2005.  Her book on the Columbia River Treaty, A River Captured, is forthcoming in 2016.  Recently, her travelling exhibit on the Columbia River Treaty, curated for Touchstones Nelson, won a...

Patient advocates are concerned that the BC Ministry of Health's plans to increase contracts with for-profit clinics is not an effective solution to surgical wait times. They are urging the province to scrap contract plans and focus instead on taking advantage of unused public Operating Room time. Minister of Health Terry...

Dear Editor, I've been seeing a large number of "kind people" picking up "lost pets" and posting on social media. It's a bit disturbing to me and others that people are so quick to grab the animal and take it home to keep safe until owners are located.  Last fall one of our dogs ran out our front door and down the street and...

Derek Vanstone, VP Government Affairs, Industry And Corporate Strategy Air Canada Dear Mr. Vanstone, Thank you very much for taking the time to meet with us to discuss the future of the West Kootenay Regional Airport. As you are aware, technology currently exists to improve the reliability of airports such as our Airport in...

Ed Note: I should, by rights, accompany this article with a topless photo, not a head shot. But, ironically, I believe I would be imprisoned for doing so … even though we sexualize everything from orange juice to alcohol in every media ranging from newspapers (Sunshine girls), TV, radio, etc. We spend billions of dollars […]

In my opinion, every NDP MP should be sending Justin Trudeau a Christmas card this year. Not because they like or agree with him, but because I think he just unwittingly threw an election and drastically limited left wing vote-splitting, giving the Federal NDPs their first fighting chance at really taking the House of Commons. […]

In the last dozen years, eight out of nine commissions or citizen assemblies created by governments in Canada have not only advocated getting rid of our first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system but have recommended adopting MMP, or mixed-member-proportional representation. In the upcoming 2015 federal election, Tom Mulcair...