Developing literacy skills begins at home. Whether it’s a book, board game, magazine, newspaper or website, all British Columbians are being encouraged to take part in a literacy activity with their families for 15 minutes at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 27 to celebrate Family Literacy Day. Today and throughout this week, events celebrating literacy […]

Pump prices played a big role in putting annual inflation at 2.4 per cent in December, Statistics Canada said Tuesday. That’s higher than the two per cent rate recorded in the last two months. Higher gasoline prices were cited as the main reason for the growth in inflation last month — they were up 13 […]

One of the best BC blogs, in my opinion, is done by Laila Yuile: I’m Laila Yuile and This Is How I See It. She has broken real news, taken on the powers that be, and opened up some great discussions on many, many topics of interest and importance to British Columbians.   And her […]

Just back from the Vancouver Sun live chat with Kevin Falcon, in which every question I submitted was given to Falcon except the last, because time ran out. So, what can you expect from Kevin Falcon if he were to be the leader of the Liberals, or worse yet–shudder–premier? He will continue to use and promote P3 projects […]

Few developments in our era of savage capitalism are so powerfully symbolic of the new feudalism than the obscene compensation paid out to the new economic elite: the CEOs of the most powerful corporations in the country. The CCPA’s Hugh MacKenzie now reminds us yearly of this economic and social sickness by identifying exactly when […]

America is at war with itself. And anyone who watches Fox News or listens to US radio talk shows should not be surprised that another gunman has taken aim at his own government, his own elected officials or his fellow citizens.   Being in the midst of what is going on, the American people have […]

What kind of year in politics is 2011 going to be? Very likely another year (or at least ten months) of gridlock at the federal level, with no sign of any so-called game changer on the horizon.   A spring election is looking less likely as the Conservatives try to make a deal with the […]

The power goes out on a regular basis in the West Kootenay during the winter. In light of the fact today is the first official day of winter, BC Hydro has introduced a new mobile-friendly version of www.bchydro.com that makes it easier for customers to access information on their smart phones during power outages. The mobile […]

Two studies conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) point to wide-ranging economic and social benefits from hosting the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The reports, which cover the period of 2003-2009 and the first three months of 2010, show some positive impacts for both B.C. and Canada in the areas studied. The greatest cumulative impacts […]

Christy Clark’s suggestion that the next BC Liberal leader will need to get a “mandate” from BC voters through an early election shows she doesn’t understand our parliamentary system. And former attorney general and author of the fixed election date legislation Geoff Plant’s statement that the legislation did not anticipate the current situation is absurd. […]