Gulf Islands National Park – the need to complete the job
One of the wonderful things about moving to this area is that I can live in and around a national park for which I have been an advocate…
Elizabeth MayMP for Saanich and Gulf Islands
Elizabeth MayOne of the wonderful things about moving to this area is that I can live in and around a national park for which I have been an advocate…
The November 2 mid-term elections are now over and if your television picks up US news, you can breathe a sigh of relief. You have probably been using…
From December 7–18 in Copenhagen, Denmark, the United Nations will be holding the most significant climate negotiation since 1992 when the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)…
For the first time in the history of the United Nations, the member nations of the world community did not support Canada’s bid to be on the Security…
It is axiomatic that a new technology is introduced to the media and the public by those who have developed it. And, that they are the very people…
It is a central principle of our system of government that civil servants stay out of partisan politics and political masters respect the independent expert advice of the…
It seems a lot longer than a year ago that I wrote my first column in Island Tides, ‘From cod to salmon: when do we ever learn?’ Last…
The latest flashpoint in the long-standing conflict over the loss of Canadian corporations to foreign buyers is over potash. Potash is the stuff from which industrial fertilizers are…
Salt Spring Island’s climate hero, Dorothy Cutting, gave me Bill McKibben’s new book “Eaarth,” and I set it aside to read on my cross country train trip. Crossing…
On July 16, Defence Minister Peter MacKay announced that Canada was going on a shopping spree. If he had asked Canadians for a shopping list, with the added…
In my latest book, Losing Confidence: Power, Politics and the Crisis in Canadian Democracy, I detailed the multiple ways in which the culture and practices of Canadian parliamentary…
World leaders had been planning for a G20 meeting in 2010 for over a year, when Stephen Harper changed the plan. The 2010 G20 meeting was planned for…
I am deeply troubled by the failure of many in the media and in political life to distinguish between anti-Semitic comments and legitimate criticism of the policies of…
The somewhat informal, but institutionalized annual meetings of the G-8 have been held in Canada only four times over the last three decades. Starting in the late 1970s,…
Remember the US Republican Convention in 2008? Ecstatic delegates chanted ‘Drill! Baby, Drill!’, led by a euphoric Sarah Palin; she of Alaska who yearns to destroy the calving…
On April 7, the Council of Canadians Victoria Chapter hosted an event focussing on Politics, International Trade Deals and Climate. The panel for this topic was a wonderful…
Recently, municipalities on the Saanich Peninsula, and throughout British Columbia, have embarked on public consultations to determine how they will meet their share of GHG reductions in the…
On the first Sunday of spring, I was lucky to be on Galiano Island among those present for a conference on the imperative to grow healthy local food.…
The striking thing about the 2010 federal budget as a physical document is its colour scheme. Its cover matches the ubiquitous Canada’s Economic Action Plan logo—shades of blue…
Apparently a number of readers have tried to get a straight answer on this. The answer is pretty straightforward. At this point it makes no difference. So long…
With the current shut down of Parliament, the cry of ‘accountability’ is once again abroad in the land. This time it is directed at arguably the most unaccountable…
The post-COP15 perspectives and analyses have been grim and negative. It could hardly be otherwise. Much of the media has been focussed on finding blame. On December 22,…
As I write this, the 15th Conference of the Parties has reached Day 3, and I am home in Sidney. By the time you read this, I will…
The mainstream news media loves the ‘man bites dog’ story. Anything counter-intuitive is more likely to be front page news. So too, does the media like ‘debunking’ environmental…
British Columbia may have no other animal as iconic as the wild salmon. Creature of deep forest streams, raging rivers and open ocean, the wild salmon feeds the…