A packed Thorold Council Chambers broke into applause on June 18th following a decisive 7-1 vote.  It had nothing to do with any controversial development application or the approval of a badly needed neighbourhood park — the type of council matters that often galvanize the general public, and their elected representatives. The vote was to […]

The abortion pill is slowly changing the reproductive health landscape in Alberta, new data suggests. When Mifegymiso came on the market in Canada in 2017, advocates and medical professionals hoped the medication would expand reproductive health care in rural and remote communities. In the years that followed, however, severe access issues in Alberta persisted and […]

The director of information technology at Elections BC has been put on administrative leave while the organization looks into a recent B.C. Supreme Court judgment that found he breached privacy rules in a previous job. The judgment found that Guy Gondor had copied private information to aid his son in a bylaw dispute while working […]

The president of the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC) says his organization is facing major cuts that risk setting the industry back a decade. This week, at the peak of tourism season, Keith Henry informed staff at ITAC that around half the organization’s staff will be laid off in November. He also said smaller […]

“In the context of ever-increasing police budgets and weak oversight agencies, the public should be very alarmed about the further erosion of our civil liberties and human rights through the passage of C-70,” warns Meghan McDermott, policy director of the BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA). “The rapid enactment of these new laws without any kind […]

In 2018, Joe Bailey was running a successful tourism business showing guests the colourful Aurora Borealis. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic locked down the Northwest Territories. The territory was shut off from the rest of the world for two years, which meant no revenue for Bailey’s business, NorthStar Adventures, except government funding. His business received some […]

“Policing has become a complex process,” and with resources stretched to meet the community’s needs, “it is a very difficult balance to control costs and provide the services the community expects,” according to Kingston’s Chief of Police. On Thursday, Jun. 20, 2024, Chief Scott Fraser released his first annual report to the Kingston Police Services […]

Two events under the “town hall” label were held in Tiny Township in March and June, with an invitation specific to “Councillor Dave Brunelle’s supporters” wanting to be engaged and have input regarding local municipal government issues.  In both meetings the topic was for an “introduction to iMatr”, a Burlington-based internet technology company dedicated to […]

The call starts as a run-of-the-mill internal corporate presentation.  With a cheerful preamble, Liam Iliffe, a  B.C.-based political staffer turned industry executive, introduces  himself to his colleagues at TC Energy,  a major North American energy company that builds and operates crude  oil and natural gas pipelines and other energy infrastructure. He  summarizes his background working […]

After a more than 20-year effort, Port Moody has been officially declared a Bear Smart Community, one of only 11 cities to have been given the hard-won provincial designation. Mayor Meghan Lahti, Couns. Haven Lurbiecki and Kyla Knowles, MLA Rick Glumac, city staff, wildlife advocates, and B.C. conservation officers gathered in Port Moody’s Pioneer Park […]

A five-year-old has taken off from a residence into a wooded area in Îyârhe (Stoney) Nakoda First Nation. This was the mock scenario Cochrane RCMP painted for a drone demonstration on Friday (June 14) during trials it was conducting in the First Nation earlier this month.  From a meeting room at the Cochrane detachment, a […]

Suspected scammers appear to be becoming more brazen following a roadside incident this week on Thunder Bay’s outskirts that was looked into by city police.According to a social-media post, a man standing beside a car on Wardrope Avenue demanded a motorist’s personal information after the motorist — believing the man was in distress — stopped […]