YOU WOULD THINK WE WOULD KNOW BY NOW that trusting the NDP, especially in the field of medicine - and specifically cancer treatment - is treading on unstable ground. A vast group of politicians and health experts this week asked for council support in pressuring the government to redesign plans for new cancer facilitie...

NURSES ARE THE BACKBONE of our healthcare system. They don't just support our physical health, they carry the emotional weight of care with empathy, strength and grace. Their skill, commitment and compassion shape the experiences of patients and families every single day across British Columbia.This National Nursing We...

FOR THE PAST WHILE, I have enjoyed the weekly newsletters of School District 73 Superintendent Rhonda Nixon, who takes us through her week visiting schools in the district and pointing out what various classes are doing. While I still admit to being wary about the loss of things like cursive writing and some of the old...

THIS WEEK, we saw the highs and lows of what Kamloops council can do.First, the highs.What council did this week in launching the process to open its own medical clinic is a glimpse of the potential positive impact local government can have on its community.It's an example of being innovative enough to think outside th...

WHETHER IT'S A SCHOOL, hospital or highway, British Columbians rely on our province's public infrastructure every day. Yet B.C.'s extraordinary population growth in recent years has placed significant pressure on our infrastructure and has underscored the need to build out this infrastructure and to do so more quickly ...

I WOULD LIKE TO INTRODUCE MYSELF as a parent of two children at Kamloops School of the Arts. My eldest daughter, Avalon, has had the privilege of learning to play the cello this year through the Strings program after school each Wednesday. It is my understanding that this program has been cut recently and will not resu...

IS DONALD TRUMP'S PLAN working? You might be right if you said "yes" to that question. When Trump came to power just over 100 days ago, he signed so many executive orders, twisting the global economy so out of shape it could take decades to recover. He played tariff war with countries who started off rough an...

ANYONE WHO WAS PREVENTED FROM VOTING on Monday because of a screwup at Elections Canada has a right to be more than a little perturbed.Many residents of the Kamloops-Shuswap-Central Rockies riding received voter cards that told them polls would be open Monday between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.That was actually only true i...

COUNCILLOR KELLY HALL OF KAMLOOPS is proposing a unique initiative that could assist in securing family doctors for thousands of residents. He envisions the City of Kamloops developing its own municipal medical clinic. The motion was introduced during the council's last meeting and if approved, the clinic could benefit...

I ALWAYS ADMIRED MY DAD'S ability to manage money. He would always be able to make sure we had good food and other necessities as required. If we had to borrow money for something major, he would never miss a payment. He was always of the opinion that if you couldn't afford it, you didn't get it. Sadly, the apple fell ...

IN THEORY, our Canadian parliament is supposed to be about local representation.Each electoral area chooses one representative to go to Ottawa, sit in the House of Commons and stand up for the interests brought forward by the communities who sent them there.Of course, we know a major flaw has developed in that model, a...

I HAVE ADVOCATED for some time now that we need new directions in providing primary health care. And finally, some new possibilities are showing up. Councillor Kelly Hall served a notice of motion Tuesday for council to discuss a plan that is operating well in Colwood. This plan, in rough terms, sees doctors become mun...

I know that given recent events, I'm not the only one who is focusing more on buying Canadian.After months of economic uncertainty and the threat of Trump's tariffs, I have heard from people throughout my constituency on how they are paying more attention to where their money goes and how they can be more mindful in ch...

IT ALWAYS AMAZES ME how easily we get sucked in by promises that never materialize. Many of us see some bauble on a social media site. It doesn't cost too much so out comes the credit card. We never see the gift or our money - and if we do see it eventually, it turns out to be a piece of junk. If history hasn't taught ...

MAYOR REID HAMER-JACKSON has not received a lot of love on Two and Out since he came to office more than two years ago.This week, though, he struck just the right tone in his response to a councillor's idea that the city replace the long-ago stolen Mayor's Chain of Office.The item is best described as ceremonial regali...

LAST WEEK, I faced off in the legislature in Victoria with the NDP Minister of Health, Josie Osborne, over the future of the Kamloops cancer centre.The two of us went back and forth for about 20 minutes during of the course of the annual exercise known as budget estimates, where cabinet ministers take questions from ML...

NOT MANY OF US have become immune to the scatterbrained schemes of Donald Trump. It's inhumane to have to put up with that every day.But not everyone plays along with Dingo Donnie. Throughout our country and elsewhere, there are groups of men and women who have one goal in mind - to protect our forests and the people w...

WE KNOW THAT ACROSS B.C., people are struggling with global inflation and rising costs. British Columbians also care deeply about protecting our environment and they want a government who is focused on the climate alongside affordability efforts. One way we're helping is making sure people have affordable options avail...

FOR THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS, all attention has been focused on the big white elephant to the south of us and the man who would be king who has upended the entire world order, creating chaos. At the same time, we need to take this opportunity to stare at our navel, examine our future goals and make a plan to reach them...

THE KAMLOOPS-THOMPSON SCHOOL DISTRICT is proposing deep staffing cuts in order to balance the budget next school year. The district wants to eliminate more than 75 positions - 27-and-a-half on the teaching side and 49 on the support staff side. That is about three per cent of the district's total workforce. Speaking to...

IN 2024, we published the Kamloops Food Assets Index representing a list of local, culturally appropriate food options in Kamloops. This year, we developed a user-friendly map that showcases the locations of cultural food providers in the area. If you want to learn more about culturally appropriate food and the Kamloop...

WHY IS IT TAKING SO LONG to fix the elevator in the Lansdowne Street parkade? If you Google the parkade, it is listed as being 'accessible'. However, given that the elevator has been out of service for over three weeks now, not to mention the times it was out of order during the winter months, parking anywhere above th...

THERE IS NO QUESTION that the carbon tax has been an important tool for B.C.'s fight against climate change. However, it has become a divisive issue across our country, and the debate about it distracts from the important work being done to address the climate crisis. Given the real cost-of-living pressures facing peop...

NATIONS RISE FOR THE SAME REASONS that they fall, as what once made them powerful eventually becomes a debilitating weakness which threatens their very existence!For Rome, it was their legions of seemingly invincible soldiers whose swords conquered an empire which predictably later turned inward, reducing that empire t...

OVER THE YEARS, Kamloops has been seen as a poor second cousin to Kelowna. We are still a mining and mill town, still a dusty city without the beauty of our southern neighbour. So it was nice to get some backhanded good news last week that Kamloops is considered one of the best-positioned cities in the country to withs...

KAMLOOPS COUNCIL faced the age-old conundrum this week - pay now or pay later?Council was debating a suite of proposals from staff to knock down the projected tax increase from north of 9 per cent to about 7-and-a-half.That's no small potatoes for most of us. The most significant portion of that saving would come from ...

I'M TOTALLY IN SHOCK over how easily Prime Minister Mark Carney got bowled over by President Trump. Since the president put his tariffs in place, Canadians have risen in anger against the roughshod and illegal tactics by the Trump followers, all of them seemingly wanting to move from a democratic society to an authorit...

IN NOVEMBER 2021, British Columbians watched as heavy rainfall caused catastrophic flooding in southern B.C.The damage to homes, businesses and infrastructure made the floods one of the most disastrous climate-related emergencies in B.C.'s history. While each community faced unique challenges, the City of Merritt was p...