MLA recognizes heart month
This February, we recognize Heart Month, an important time to learn more about heart health. Cardiovascular disease is a common term used for a number of medical conditions that affect the heart and/or blood vessels. Coronary heart disease, heart failure, hardening of the arteries and irregular heartbeat are all examples of...
COMMENT: The War on the Poor
The conservative movement in the US and Canada is maintained by the CIA and a legion of “think tanks” mainly funded by the oil industry.[1] To their purposes, they support the myth of a “communist” conspiracy in order to wage war on the poor, to eliminate obstacles to the further accumulation of wealth by the rich. Communism,...
COMMENT: Too many struggling to get by in a have province
Halifax or Vancouver? Ask most folk which city boasts the higher median family income and chances are they'll say Vancouver. They couldn't be more wrong. The median income for a two-parent family living in Halifax was $87,430 in 2011. Vancouver wasn't even close at $74,510. In fact, family incomes were higher in St. John's,...
Has Big Oil Hijacked democracy?
Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power. Benito Mussolini With the announcement by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) of formal complaints against the RCMP and Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) for illegally spying on environmental groups...
IntegrityBC launches Reimagine B.C. consultation
As B.C. MLAs prepare to return to the legislature tomorrow, IntegrityBC is today launching an online consultation on electoral and democratic reform. It's the first in a series of consultations that the organization plans as part of its Reimagine B.C. campaign. Reimagine B.C. is a chance for British Columbians to work online...
COMMENT: FATCA
On Feb. 5th the Canadian government signed an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with the United States to govern The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). FATCA is an American tax law requiring all Canadian financial institutions to provide the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with account information on customers...
Councillor responds to editorial criticism re: acute health care
Dear editor: In regard to your latest rant : Where are all the grownups looking after our health care? I believe the City if Castlegar did the right thing. We entered into this regional information gathering because someone had to get the ball rolling. We knew, of course, that there would be opposition, but that is no reason...
LETTER: Jimenez death in CBSA Vancouver - Oh Canada - a land of Prisons and pipelines
Dear editor, I am appalled by the jailing and the subsequent death in custody of CBSA in Vancouver, of Lucia Vega Jimenez - a 42 year old Mexican woman working to save money to care for her ailing mother. Days before Christmas, she was jailed for not having bus-fare and not having immigration papers!! While alone in CBSA...
COMMENT: Where are all the grown-ups overseeing our health care?
I'd like to paint a picture for you, explaining why, in my opinion, this region enjoys sub-par health services: Imagine, if you would, that you're the BC Minister of Health. You oversee five health authorities, with 16 health services delivery areas under them, all of them clamouring for a finite pool of funding and resources....
LETTER: Reader feels despair over logging in Lynch Creek
Dear Editor Reading 'Logging in Lynch Creek North is underway' filled me with despair and anger. Dispair because Lynch Creek North is an important corridor for a threatened grizzly bear population and the road density in the area already far exceeds the level recommended by grizzly bear biologists. Five-hundred logging...