Opinion General

The province is checking boats at provincial borders to check for the highly invasive zebra and quagga mussels. This is a commendable proactive approach but I get the feeling it will be like trying to stop computer viruses at the border: Some are going to get in. With these mussels, it doesn’t take much for...

One of the perks of being a city councillor is that I'm exposed to a flood of ideas from folks all across the political and philosophical spectrum. They come in the form of emails, texts, phone calls, and sometimes handwritten letters. Today I received an email from a citizen concerned about the "broken window syndrome"...

Long before I ever thought I would get married in a run-away ceremony at the edge of the Washington wilderness there were elements of the traditional wedding process that just didn’t appeal to me. I was all for the white dress and the cutting of the cake and the one really drunk family member, but...

The Legislature is sitting through the formality of “debating” the Liberals’ multi-billion dollar plans for LNG extraction. Hope they’ll make a better deal than their current attempt to give away a natural resource. Conservatives, such as our misnamed B.C. Liberals, like to warn that the NDP couldn’t run a popcorn stand. The Liberals may know....

“It's interesting when Conservatives go off their talking points and start speaking their mind...and disturbing.” Thus spake MP Pat Martin (representing Winnipeg Centre for the NDP since 1993) yesterday afternoon on my Facebook wall. He was referring to recent effusings from Conservative Party of Canada MP Wai Young (Vancouver South) to attendees at Harvest City...

"Change" is a slogan used by politicians because it seems to influence us regardless of what exactly is changing. We seem to like change even though we know it isn't always good.  Think of the worst and best things that have happened in the world, and you'll inevitably find change lurking behind them in equal...

“How does it feel to have an entire week off?” my friend asked me as I sat lounging in my underwear sipping a Perrier at one in the afternoon. “Good,” I replied, “the house is spotless and I finally read the text book I never opened for that final three years ago.” To be clear,...

For light summer reading, I learned about solar power (har, har). The book is the biography of Elon Musk. Musk is Bill Gates II or Steve Jobs II, take your pick. He’s the guy behind the Tesla electric car and the private space company SpaceX. One of the SpaceX rockets crashed recently but Musk is...

When I awoke yesterday morning my city was gone. Ordinarily I hit the back-deck first thing after feeding the puss and putting the coffee on. The first smoke of the day (for all you unfortunate non-smokers out there) is surely one of the most agreeable, and the back-deck morning smoke is surely one of the...