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
Glenrosa Cemetery added to heritage register in West Kelowna
OLD BURIAL GROUND MAINLY USED FOR CHILDREN WEST KELOWNA - The Glenrosa Cemetery is officially being added to the West Kelowna heritage register and there are plans to study three more possible historic sites as well. Glenrosa Cemetery, hidden in plain sight on the side of Glenrosa Road, is the burial ground for 10 children...
ELECTION 2015: Strategic voting group calls for Liberals to vote NDP in three Southern Interior ridings
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Stephen Harper says strategic voting doesn’t really exist but Just The Facts Canada Inc. says it does and it is using a full-page ad in the Globe & Mail newspaper to get the message out. The pitch by the strategic voting group includes a call for Liberal supporters in three Southern Interior ridings...
ELECTION 2015: No advance polls for Kelowna’s UBCO and Okanagan College
KELOWNA - There is nothing underhanded about the lack of advance polls on the Okanagan College and UBCO campuses during a recent pilot project aimed at post-secondary schools, at least according to an Elections Canada spokesperson. Dorothy Sitek, a spokeperson for Elections Canada, says a pilot project from Oct. 5 to 8 put advance polls...
Stuart Park in downtown Kelowna in running for best public space award
KELOWNA - Stuart Park in downtown Kelowna is well known to locals as a great place to visit and now the park is being featured on a wider stage as a finalist for a 'great public space' award. With the addition of the former Kelowna Yacht Club site this summer, Stuart Park is now complete....
ELECTION 2015: Liberals and Greens join forces in Kelowna to take down Conservative Cannan
KELOWNA - Local Green Party members have chosen to back Liberal candidate Stephen Fuhr in the upcoming federal election. Greens in the Kelowna-Lake Country riding made the decision last night after Fuhr agreed to incorporate key planks from the Green platform into his campaign. Although the national Green Party office has yet to give its...
ELECTION 2015: Kelowna Chamber will host federal candidates forum
CENTRAL OKANAGAN - Three candidates battling it out for the Kelowna-Lake Country federal riding will square off in a candidates forum next month. The Kelowna Chamber of Commerce says it has invited Conservative incumbent Ron Cannan, New Democrat Norah Bowman and Liberal Stephen Fuhr to a federal candidates forum. The forum will allow the three...
ELECTION 2015: What happens when you mix green and red
IT'S NOT PRETTY
ELECTION 2015: MP Ron Cannan hopes Conservative track record on economy will ensure him a fourth term
KELOWNA - Ron Cannan, Member of Parliament for Kelowna Lake Country, has the weight of history behind him as he looks for a fourth consecutive term this fall. The former Kelowna city councillor took 56 per cent of the vote in the 2011 federal election, a comfortable margin that far exceeded the Conservative’s record across...
ELECTION 2015: Would-be Conservative-killers already campaigning in Kelowna-Lake Country
KELOWNA - Official campaigning for the federal election is still months away, but in the Kelowna-Lake Country riding, the parties with the best chance of upsetting the federal Conservatives, are knocking on doors like the writ has already been dropped. “I don’t know about the other parties but I’m certainly campaigning,” the NDP candidate Norah...
Years of bad water convinces Kelowna man irrigation districts have to go
KELOWNA - A Glenmore man says Kelowna residents need to get educated on how water is delivered in the city and the turf war going on behind the scenes with local irrigation districts. “I understand how we came to have four irrigation districts, but we’re not the same city anymore, it isn’t 80 years ago....
Autism’s children look inward in an outward-looking world
KELOWNA - Autism is a condition everyone seems to have heard about but hardly anyone can define. Lisa Watson, who lives with it every day, says there’s a good reason for this. “When you you’ve met one child with autism, you’ve met one child with autism, is how the saying goes. They are all so...
Kelowna mother rattled by fake RCMP phone hoax
KELOWNA - Its a phone call no parent wants to get — a call from their son or daughter saying they’ve been in an accident, made twice as scary when the call supposedly comes from the RCMP detachment. “My son called and said he wasn’t having a great day,” a local mom says, who asked...
Vials of E. coli found in Kelowna transient camp
KELOWNA - Vials containing the bacteria E. coli, apparently stolen from a medical laboratory, have been discovered at a transient camp near Munson Pond. The unusual find by local bylaw officers prompted a call to Kelowna RCMP and a local hazardous material disposal company, who sent out personnel to retrieve the vials. "It's pretty common...
ELECTION 2015: UBC Okanagan students get a chance to grill local candidates
CENTRAL OKANAGAN - Candidates from both local ridings delivered a youth-oriented message to a couple of hundred UBC Okanagan students during the first all candidates forum in Kelowna. And while voter apathy amongst youth is a long-standing issue, you would be hard pressed to find a more engaged group of young people than the crowd...
Kelowna property tax exemption denial a hit for local non-profit
KELOWNA - City hall handed out more than $1.5 million in property tax exemptions this week to churches, private schools and other non-profit organizations, but one organization did not get approved for exemption status. Most of the organizations receiving the exemptions are already on the books with the city, so after a review by city...