Anti-smoking activist Barb Tarbox died in 2003 Ten years after she died of lung cancer, Barb Tarbox is still helping Albertans kick the nicotine habit, thanks to a new campaign launched by Alberta Health Services. Albertans are encouraged to share their stories of quitting or never starting tobacco use to mark the 10th anniversary of the [...]
Scandal surrounding Senator Mike Duffy’s expenses takes down PM chief of staff Surely the wrong man has quit! Nigel Wright, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s chief of staff, resigned yesterday in the imbroglio that followed the revelation he gave disgraced Senator Mike Duffy $90,172 to pay back the Parliamentary expenses the supposed representative for Prince Edward Island in the [...]
Canadian politics promises to be turbulent as voters disgruntled For citizens from coast to coast to coast, this summer promises to be a time of discontent with Canadian politics. What most of us want, most of the time, is simply that our governments be competent: display a sense of where they’re going, and that as [...]
BC gasoline taxes among highest in North America By Jordan Bateman As Canadians, we have become conditioned to paying higher prices than our American neighbours for pretty much everything. Milk, cheese, clothes, electronics, books, airfares, sporting goods, cars, liquor: we know we’re being gouged, but we don’t know what to do about it. “Tax [...]
Charles Rusnell down-sized by Edmonton Journal before being hired by CBC You’d think it would be easy to run a petroleum-soaked, cash-rich jurisdiction like Alberta, but a day seldom seems to pass out here on the western edge of the Great Plains without our governing Progressive Conservative Party suffering another pratfall or embarrassment. But how [...]
More evidence needed before convicting Rob Ford in court of public opinion Schadenfreude is all very well, but this whole Rob Ford video scandal has me feeling just the tiniest bit hinky. It’s a due-process thing, and I recognize that there can be no due process in politics, as unjust as that may seem. No, realpolitik demands that [...]
University of Victoria salaries rising much faster than inflation By Jordan Bateman If the University of Victoria is going to be fiscally sustainable, its board of governors needs to have the courage to take a Viking-size battleax to its payroll – not a measly toenail clipper. On Thursday, the Times Colonist reported that UVic [...]
Victoria Police warn of possible cougar sightings in James Bay Beacon Staff News VicPD are warning residents to be alert after more cougar sightings in James Bay. A resident reported seeing a cougar early this morning, the third such report this month. Officers are patrolling the area of the James Bay community school centre, and [...]
BC gasoline taxes among highest in North America By Jordan Bateman As Canadians, we have become conditioned to paying higher prices than our American neighbours for pretty much everything. Milk, cheese, clothes, electronics, books, airfares, sporting goods, cars, liquor: we know we’re being gouged, but we don’t know what to do about it. “Tax [...]
Expect energy, labour issues to dominate Christy Clark agenda The dust is beginning to settle after Tuesday’s stunning election victory for Christy Clark and the BC Liberals. Premier Clark still has to find a seat for herself, of course — and rumours are strong that she’ll choose to compete for one outside the Vancouver area. [...]
Christy Clark started campaign 22 points behind Adrian Dix and NDP The strangest scene of a strange election campaign was the final one: Liberal Leader Christy Clark taking the stage Tuesday night to declare a solid majority victory. Clark’s come-from-behind win astounded many pundits and pollsters, who had the Liberal leader down by 22 points at [...]
Canada should concentrate on training its own citizens, not using temporary foreign workers Canada has become too dependent on the temporary foreign workers program and has failed to address the lack of skilled workers through domestic-made solutions, says a new report into foreign workers in Canada. Kevin McQuillan, the author of All The Workers We [...]
CBC TV is a mess and no longer fulfills original mandate The CBC popped back on Canadians’ radar last week. A Harper Government bill to give it more control over crown corporations has upset defenders of public broadcasting. Infographics exhorting me to join the fight to “save” the CBC are flooding my social media networks. [...]
The least Ambassador Gary Doer can do is pick up the phone The working stiffs of Canadian diplomacy, members of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers, were walking a picket line in Washington, D.C., yesterday – which raised some eyebrows in the Imperial Capital and must have created some minor discomfort for the Canadian ambassador, a former [...]
Wealthy Canadians ordered to pay $22.2 million in back taxes Wealthy Canadians with money stashed overseas have come forward in droves to confess their misdeeds after secret lists began circulating with the names of people apparently evading taxes in foreign banking havens. The Canada Revenue Agency has seen the number of voluntary disclosures of foreign, [...]
Entrepreneurs are not their companies, which sometimes have to fail By Warren Bergen Jody Sherman founded several companies. Some got bought out for modest success and others failed. Ecomom was his last startup. Management and staff tried hard but Ecomom didn’t work and it burned. When Sherman saw no hope for Ecomom, he saw [...]
Body language same for sighted and blind paralympic athletes For insight into the body language of pride and shame, scientists studied the behaviours of judo matches at the 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The competitors represented 30 countries, including Algeria, Taiwan, Ukraine and the United States. The research report in the journalProceedings of the National [...]
Scandal surrounding Senator Mike Duffy’s expenses takes down PM chief of staff Surely the wrong man has quit! Nigel Wright, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s chief of staff, resigned yesterday in the imbroglio that followed the revelation he gave disgraced Senator Mike Duffy $90,172 to pay back the Parliamentary expenses the supposed representative for Prince Edward Island in the [...]
Canadian politics promises to be turbulent as voters disgruntled For citizens from coast to coast to coast, this summer promises to be a time of discontent with Canadian politics. What most of us want, most of the time, is simply that our governments be competent: display a sense of where they’re going, and that as [...]
Charles Rusnell down-sized by Edmonton Journal before being hired by CBC You’d think it would be easy to run a petroleum-soaked, cash-rich jurisdiction like Alberta, but a day seldom seems to pass out here on the western edge of the Great Plains without our governing Progressive Conservative Party suffering another pratfall or embarrassment. But how [...]
Alison Redford says construction company donations had no effect on awarding of contracts New documents that reveal large political donations to the Alison Redford Progressive Conservative party from a coalition of construction companies should be investigated as possible bribes, says a national democracy watchdog group. The correspondence, obtained by the Alberta Federation of Labour under [...]
Cal Wenzel video – Mayor Nenshi suggests election finance laws were broken The secretly taped video that shows Calgary home builders in a room listening to Cal Wenzel talk about supporting candidates they feel will vote in their favour was finally released in its entirety Tuesday night. Mayor Naheed Nenshi fought back Wednesday morning, calling [...]
Manning Centre denies $1.1 million donation to be used in next election As the fallout from the Cal Wenzel video continued Wednesday, the incoming chair of the Manning Centre for Building Democracy said the conservative training facility does not function to further their donors’ personal ambitions. On a secretly taped video released earlier this week, [...]
Easter tradition evolves as children grow By Kelly McKenzie It’s my late husband’s fault. Little did he know that his two simple trails would blossom into a 20-year Easter tradition between the two families. On the morning of the first occurrence, I awoke to a sunlit bedroom and the sensation of John falling into [...]
BC seniors can expect new locations in First Nations communities as well The United Way’s Better at Home program is adding 38 new locations to its network, more than tripling its size in a move that will help BC’s seniors. Expansion will take Better at Home to some remote locations including several in First Nations [...]
Anti-bullying app makers claim to have prevented 11 suicides Beacon Staff Reporter A new smartphone anti-bullying app called TipSoft has found a user-friendly, confidential way for students to provide information to authorities regarding bullying, drugs, weapons, potential suicides, and other issues at school. The TipSoft app allows administrators to easily manage incidents in a single cloud-based application. Some [...]
Anti-smoking activist Barb Tarbox died in 2003 Ten years after she died of lung cancer, Barb Tarbox is still helping Albertans kick the nicotine habit, thanks to a new campaign launched by Alberta Health Services. Albertans are encouraged to share their stories of quitting or never starting tobacco use to mark the 10th anniversary of the [...]
Big Pharma sales reps generally don’t discuss harmful side side effects By Alan Cassels It sometimes takes a long time to discover environmental hazards and, once discovered, even longer to do something about them. The dangers of second-hand tobacco smoke, leaded gasoline and asbestos were all deemed bad for our health many years ago, [...]
Obese airline passengers shouldn’t be discriminated against By Arya Sharma Last week the wires were active with suggestions that people with obesity pay more for airline travel. This discussion was prompted by a Samoan airline announcing that they would begin charging passengers by the pound. It was also stimulated by Bharat Bhatta, an economist [...]
Surrey Party for the Planet is BC’s biggest celebration for Earth Day Surrey styles itself as a green city and to prove it takes environmental protection seriously, it will be hosting the huge Surrey Party for the Planet on Saturday. In celebration of Earth Day, Surrey will kick off its free-for-all Surrey Party for the Planet [...]
SnowDays Festival celebrates winter with a fun-filled month of new activities Beacon Staff Reporter The second annual SnowDays Festival of the Banff National Park will be held from Jan. 12 to Feb. 10 and it is time to grab skis, skates and scarves. The SnowDays festival will welcome visitors to celebrate the winter with a [...]
PURE Philanthropy attracts global fund-raising and social change strategists Beacon Staff Reporter Toronto will host PURE Philanthropy in February, bringing in some of big names in philanthropy for this unique summit-style conference. Speakers from Canada and the United States, including John Tory, Mallika Chopra (founder of Intent.com and daughter of Deepak Chopra), Hugh Evans (recently [...]
Sharkwater director Rob Stewart launches latest film ‘Revolution’
‘Revolution’ documentary is anticipated follow-up to Rob Stewart’s ‘Sharkwater’ Canadian filmmaker Rob Stewart was in Calgary yesterday promoting a follow-up film to his award-winning documentary Sharkwater. Stewart spoke to The Beacon News about his latest film Revolution. Stewart’s mission is simple, if a little ambitious – save humanity. The Canadian conservationist has expanded the scope of his [...]
The Arts must innovate to survive in today’s world
Giving value to the arts and culture By Shawna Stirrett Traditional arts groups such as orchestras, ballets, operas and theatres that neglect to think about how they fit into the broader social context and respond accordingly will fail. This might not happen today or the next day, but the writing is on the wall. While [...]
Historic Barkerville exhibit to tour British Columbia and China
Barkerville exhibit captures Chinese experience during Cariboo Gold Rush An exhibit depicting the lives of Chinese immigrants during the Cariboo Gold Rush will travel to China next year thanks to a $20,000 grant from the B.C. government. The Barkerville exhibit is put together from archives kept in the historic gold rush town, which capture the [...]
