Trivia time: who was the last leader of the BC NDP to lead his party to more than 45 per cent of the popular vote in a provincial election? One would have to go back six leaders and eight elections to 1979 when Dave Barrett won 45.99 per cent of the popular vote and still lost the election to Bill Bennett and the Social Credit...

CBC Radio recently aired an interesting interview on with Dr. Paul Kershaw, an associate professor in the College for Interdisciplinary Studies at UBC, who has started an initiative called Generation Squeeze. We’ve all either heard of or personally experienced the Boomerang Generation, where children we thought we had...

There’s something about this amazing weather that turns every red-blooded Canadian’s mind to … that’s right … BARBECUE! Ribs being the quintessential barbecue item, I spent many years longing for barbecue but unable to find gluten-free barbecue sauce we could eat. Oh, the horror. Turns out, though, that ribs are easy and don’t even require […]

When life brings you change it is often hard to shift gears to meet the new direction you need to head. Most of you have seen the new style of the Boundary Sentinel that arrived last week. The new look comes with a shift in the Sentinel as a whole. After bringing the Sentinel to life three years ago, and nurturing the business...

You’ve heard the term “currying favour” (fancy way of saying ‘sucking up to…’)? Well, these noodles will do the trick – all my friends love them. They are hot, though – I recently made them for a friend, and she kept saying her face was on fire (but she kept eating anyway, so they must […]

 It can hardly come as a surprise to anyone that governments – like corporations – employ spin to portray their actions in the best possible light (and to cast their opponents in the worst possible light). Nor is it news that many corporations – and the PR companies they employ – operate a revolving door for helpful politicians....

The search for the new MLA in Kootenay West is well under way. Finally there  are options that go beyond the historic party politics that have caused so much voter apathy in our province; an independent. But how is an independent any better? People say they would love to vote for an independent but they […]

Dear Editor; My name is Rosie Mitchell and I would like to tell you a story. My family originated in the Kootenays, I was born in Rossland and I still have relatives all over up there. My mother decided to move us all back in 1966. I fell in love with Castlegar as only a […]

Mr. Deepak Chopra, President Canada Post Corporation 2701 Riverside Drive Ottawa, ON   K1A 0B1   Dear Mr. Chopra, I have just learned from the Castlegar local of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) that Canada Post has served notice of its intent to open a postal franchise office within one half of a kilometer […]

There is no accounting for political judgment when it gets caught up in irrational euphoria. The overwhelming victory of Justin Trudeau in the Liberal Party's leadership race demonstrates just how impoverished the state of our political culture has become. Did the polls -- almost completely meaningless at this stage of the ...