Despite the many rewarding experiences of recent months, I’m grateful to come home for Christmas to the Kootenays and my family. It has been an eventful year in B.C. politics with the election in May resulting in a new NDP government under Premier John Horgan. We promised to make life more affordable, to improve the services...

The BC Supreme Court has ruled against the BC Oil and Gas Commission (OGC), and overturned the approval of a natural gas pipeline north of Fort Nelson.  In an oral decision on December 15, 2017, Madam Justice Gerow found that the OGC’s conduct was “unreasonable” and described the Commission as being “intransigent” (or...

One of the many happy tasks of a Member of Parliament is meeting up with constituents when they visit Ottawa.  Last Thursday I had the pleasure of inviting representatives of the Okanagan wine industry to lunch.  They and their legal team had just had a memorable morning intervening in an important Supreme Court action, known...

A plea for civility in the law, politics and our everyday lives Mid-winter is approaching, with our various seasonal celebrations:  Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, and maybe even Festivus? We celebrate our religious and / or ethnic affiliations; we celebrate the return of the sun for longer periods of time each...

There were crowds of guests filling the new, 4200-square-foot terminal building on the afternoon of Wednesday, November 29, including a large selection of local dignitaries; people were eating cupcakes with sky-blue icing; there were several heart-felt speeches of thanks; people were encouraged to enter a draw for free flights;...

Approximately 20 residents, a near record crowd for an event of this type, attended Monday's Grand Forks City Council meeting to express interest in proposed changes to the Zoning Bylaw, most notably, changes that could allow garden suites and tiny houses on wheels that meet certain criteria. In a media release, City Council...

Curious about how the proposed water and sewer rate structure might affect your utility bill? Check out the new rate calculator on the City of Castlegar website at www.castlegar.ca/waterandsewer There are five rate calculators, one for each customer type: residential, residential with suite, residential without sewer service,...

The City of Castlegar is planning for the 2018 budget process and is encouraging residents to have their say by using a new, interactive online budgeting tool. “Each year, we encourage residents to provide feedback on how their tax dollars are spent,” said Mayor Lawrence Chernoff. ”As Council continues to focus on Community Engagement as […]

The timeline is set for the development of Castlegar’s 2018 budget and five-year plan, with opportunities for the public to weigh in on priorities at the outset, and later on the proposed finish product before it is adopted as law. “For 2017, Council added a new line item into its budget. A communication budget line item was...

The City of Castlegar is now beginning a public consultation phase to bring the city closer to a user-pay water/sewer system, an initiative that has been in the works since 2005. According to a report by city deputy director of finance Lois Hunter, the move toward water meters and consumption-based rates was a necessary goal...