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John McDonald
John began life as a journalist through the Other Press, the independent student newspaper for Douglas College in New Westminster. The fluid nature of student journalism meant he was soon running the place, learning on the fly how to publish a newspaper.
It wasn’t until he moved to Kelowna he broke into the mainstream media, working for Okanagan Sunday, then the Kelowna Daily Courier and Okanagan Saturday doing news graphics and page layout. He carried on with the Kelowna Capital News, covering health and education while also working on special projects, including the design and launch of a mass market daily newspaper. After 12 years there, John rejoined the Kelowna Daily Courier as editor of the Westside Weekly, directing news coverage as the Westside became West Kelowna.
But digital media beckoned and John joined Kelowna.com as assistant editor and reporter, riding the start-up as it at first soared then went down in flames. Now John is turning dirt as city hall reporter for iNFOnews.ca where he brings his long experience to bear on the civic issues of the day.
If you have a story you think people should know about, email John at jmcdonald@infonews.ca
Competition stiff as Okanagan cities compete to hold seniors’ games
OKANAGAN - Long before the competitors in the B.C. 55+ Games face off against each other at the annual event, there is a competition of another sort amongst B.C. communities vying to host the games. This year, Vernon, Kelowna and Penticton are all submitting competing bids to host the popular event. The competition is going...
What to do with 100,000 metres of steel rail, ties and a grafitti-covered boxcar
KELOWNA - Now that the CN Rail corridor purchase is complete, there’s the small matter of removing about 100 kilometres worth of steel rail, railway ties, flashing lights and signs, and some contaminated soil sites. Oh, and one graffiti covered boxcar. Fortunately for the Okanagan communities that just ponied up $50 million in cash and...
Water board calls on province to take action on invasive mussels
OKANAGAN - The Okanagan Basin Water Board is using the province’s declaration of June as Invasive Species Action Month to prod it into increasing its role in the fight against zebra and quagga mussels. “Awareness is great but action is better. The water board is doing all it can within its mandate to prevent the...
Abandoned camper underscores illegal dumping problem in Central Okanagan
KELOWNA - They had to use a tow truck to get rid of a piece of garbage, an old camper, illegally dumped up Postill Lake Road today. The regional waste reduction office says it recently learned through social media of the dumped camper. The camper is just the tip of a much larger problem though...
Gospel Mission extends its reach to courtyard
KELOWNA - The Gospel Mission, Kelowna’s single mens shelter, has announced it will build a courtyard next to its Leon Ave. building, with the aim of giving downtown homeless somewhere to go during the day. “Too often during the day the homeless, due to lack of options, are staying in places that put them at...
Ethel Street cycle track separates bikes from cars and pedestrians
KELOWNA - A determined cycist could cover the first phase of the Ethel Street active transportation corridor in about two minutes but the construction of a new cycle track between Bernard Avenue and Saucier Avenue will be welcomed by local cyclists. Construction on the corridor begins this month and will continue in phases until 2020...
Knox Mountain disc golfers score deal with city
KELOWNA - If disc golf is gaining popularity as a sport it’s because of guys like Ryan Derksen. Despite the rain this week, the young man from Saskatchewan was chucking discs at far-off holes, enjoying a solo practice round at the Knox Mountain Park disc golf course. “I played in Calgary yesterday. Whenever I travel...
Okanagan College receives big donation
KELOWNA - The fundraising campaign for Okanagan College’s new trades training complex has officially raised more than $4 million toward its $7-million goal, with support coming from every corner of the Okanagan. Okanagan College President Jim Hamilton says the outpouring of support for the $33 million renovation and expansion project illustrates the extensive network...
Bike To Work week biggest ever in Central Okanagan
KELOWNA - Preliminary numbers are in and by all accounts the Central Okanagan’s 2015 Bike to Work Week was a resounding success thanks to record breaking participation. Between May 25-31, 2,375 riders on 268 teams cycled 59,103 kilometres. That’s the equivalent of one and a half times around the planet. Those numbers are up...
UBC celebrates 10th graduating class in the Okanagan
OKANAGAN - Two major milestones in health sciences are being celebrated with Convocation 2015. The first class of 30 physicians will have graduated from UBC’s Faculty of Medicine’s Southern Medical Program, based in the Okanagan. The Okanagan School of Nursing sees the first cohort of its “2+2 BSN program” of collaborative nursing graduates. These students...
Salmonella outbreak proof that monitoring system works: Buckerfield’s CEO
KELOWNA - The recent spike of salmonella cases connected to live poultry sales is a good news story, proof the system works rather than an indictment of its failings, according to a local business. “Fourteen cases is a very small number and it was detected and caught and the public was actually protected from what...
Community gardens get big green thumbs up in Kelowna
KELOWNA - Better support for community gardens, both public and private, can happen if there is a better understanding of what food security means for the community. City staff hope to provide a better understanding by amending the food security policy in the official community plan and the zoning bylaw. “This is turning a landscape...
Experimental affordable housing in Kelowna could mix industrial with residential
KELOWNA – City planners want to see how mixing residential housing with light industrial will…
Injunction fails, Okanagan Rail Trail land purchase goes ahead
KELOWNA - The last real hurdle to the purchase of the CN Rail corridor purchase was removed this morning in B.C. Supreme Court where an injunction sought by the Okanagan Indian Band blocking the sale was denied. “With no injunction in place CN is within its right to sell the corridor lands,” City of Kelowna...
Property tax exemption? How do I get me one of those?
KELOWNA - It's hard to see what Valley First Credit Union in Rutland, the yet-to-be-built luxury Westcorp hotel near Kerry Park and the newly-rebuilt Kelowna Yacht Club might have in common. But what links them is all are either eligible or have already received a ten-year property tax holiday under Kelowna’s revitalization tax exemption bylaw,...
West Kelowna faces signifcant water and sewer rate hikes
WEST KELOWNA - It’s going to cost more for water and sewer service on the Westside after a decision this week to increase utility rates. Citing significant cost pressures, West Kelowna council gave first and second readings to its fees bylaw, which will see an increase of 20 per cent to district sanitary sewer user...
City policy changes aimed at stopping double-dipping shoe box suite developers
KELOWNA - Concerns about micro suites and their impact on City of Kelowna finances, plus how and where they are built, are raised in a new report by city staff. City planner Ryan Roycroft says the city has already foregone $1.7 million in development cost charges for the 315 so-called shoe box suites which have...
Those red light cameras? Apparently they work pretty well
THOMSON-OKANAGAN - There’s no question drivers run red lights on the highways and byways of the Southern Interior but compared to the Lower Mainland, they’re amateurs. A story this week in the Vancouver Sun shows the worst 25 intersections for red-light running out of the 140 intersections where ICBC operates red-light cameras account for more...
Southern Interior water beat by Chilliwack in tap water taste test
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Waterworks staff in the Okanagan and Kamloops will be drowning their sorrows tonight after losing out to Chilliwack in a tap water taste test which wouldn’t have looked out of place at a winery. “It’s a clear winner,” joked Tanja McQueen, CEO of the B.C.Water and Waste Association, who hosted the tasting and...
How far the City of Kelowna must go to get commuters out of cars
KELOWNA - Forget bike to work week; this is just one of 52 weeks in a larger year-around social engineering campaign to change your mindset on getting from A to B that will hopefully reduce our overall need to engineer new roads and bridges. And in the Central Okanagan, that's no small task which probably...
Nine salmonella victims in B.C. Interior contracted from live chicks
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - The Interior Health Authority is bearing the brunt of a B.C. salmonellosis outbreak connected to live poultry distributed from a hatchery in Alberta. The health authority has dealt with nine of 13 confirmed cases within the province and one of the two that required hospitalization, according to Althea Hayden, a public health physician....
Laundry privatization decision expected this summer
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Hospital Employee Union members who filled the Interior Health Authority board meeting yesterday to show their concern about laundry service privatization got a polite but firm message from chairman Erwin Malzer. “Thank you very much for bringing your concerns to us but no decision will be made until we receive the request for...
Aboriginal health strategy hopes to improve care outcomes
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Tailoring healthcare for the 54,000 First Nations living within the Interior Health Authority will improve the quality of life and health outcomes and ultimately save money by reducing the need for services amongst a population that is overrepresented within the system. That’s the message behind the aboriginal health and wellness strategy adopted yesterday...
What would you pay for a gently-used school board office?
KELOWNA - For sale: one well-used school board office built in 1972 and the four acres of land that sits under it. Asking price: $6.5 million. Make us an offer, please. After three years on the market and a recent price cut, the Central Okanagan School District head office across from Orchard Park Mall, which...