John McDonald

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

  • Joined: January 01, 2023
  • Articles: 1632

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...

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...

Health authority continues to monitor possible Ebola cases

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - If the ongoing Ebola epidemic has a human face within the Interior Health Authority, it’s that of Patrice Gordon, a nurse practioner who returned from West Africa last December and promptly began displaying the early signs of of the disease. Gordon tested negative for the virus, but since then the health authority has...

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...

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...

Condoms in Kelowna high schools the goal of pilot project

KELOWNA - Condoms could soon be handed out to students around the Central Okanagan if a pilot project gains approval. The Central Okanagan School District is considering a request from the Interior Health Authority to allow local high schools to participate in a condom pilot project. The pilot project will supply participating schools within the...

Kelowna housing market numbers reach pre-financial crisis levels

KELOWNA - The Kelowna housing market has reached levels not seen since 2008, right before the global financial crisis, when the local market was red hot. Both single-family and multi-family housing starts as well as total residental sales have been trending upward since then, according the Canadian Mortage and Housing Corporation’s spring housing market outlook....

Westbank cemetery to see new life under expansion plan

WEST KELOWNA - The District of West Kelowna is considering spending $694,000 on the expansion of the Westbank Cemetery. In a report to council, parks supervisor Stacey Harding is recommending the district award the expansion contract to Arterra Construction, the low bidder on the plan to expand the graveyard which opened in 1925. Harding says...

Hot dog calls on rise as weather heats up in Southern Interior

THOMSON-OKANAGAN - Though summer isn’t even officially here, the unseasonably warm weather in the Interior is already prompting concerned calls about dogs left unattended in cars. “We’ve had three or four already this morning (May 22) and yesterday we had half a dozen before lunch,” Cam Buksa, spokesman for the Central Okanagan branch of the...

No end in sight for sewage sludge sit-in at premier’s constituency office

WEST KELOWNA - The chiefs of the five native bands occupying Christy Clark’s office in West Kelowna say only an agreement with the province will end their protest. “We’re prepared to stay as long as it takes to come to some kind of the agreement with the province,” Chief Aaron Sam of the Upper Nicola...