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ARMCHAIR MAYOR by Mel Rothenburger

TWO & OUT by James Peters

ONE MAN’S OPINION by Doug Collins

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Columns

One Man's Opinion
COLLINS: It's almost too late to prepare for wildfire season
IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY NOTICED, temperatures are rising. An early spring has started. While most of us are preparing for a return to warmer weather, we pay relatively little attention to the consequences of an early warming trend. Extremely low snowpacks mean another round of drought will hit, heavy sprinkling regulati...
Mar 17, 2024
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Armchair Mayor
ROTHENBURGER: A low-key start with high hopes of changing the face of local politics
THERE WERE NO BALLOONS, banners, placards or cheering crowds at Friday's official announcement of the BC Conservative candidates for the two Kamloops ridings. Just the candidates themselves, a couple of supporters from the party, some reporters and a homeless guy who happened by on his rounds.Never mind, it was a pleas...
Mar 16, 2024
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One Man's Opinion
COLLINS: Government often has the power at election time
DURING THE TIME LEADING UP to an election, the government almost always has the hammer. As promises are made, we have to determine whether they are believable. And when the government makes them, they seem more believable because the government actually has the power to bring them to fruition. Opposition promises come ...
Mar 15, 2024
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SOUND OFF
SOUND OFF: B.C.'s health care system moves closer to collapse
EVERY BRITISH COLUMBIAN deserves access to timely and dignified health care. This week in the B.C. legislature, I shared the heart-wrenching story of an elderly man from my community who was neglected in a hospital bed, left with his feet hanging over the rails to avoid laying in his own waste. The lack of basic care a...
Mar 14, 2024
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Columns

ARMCHAIR MAYOR
ROTHENBURGER: We should get rid of governors-general and their free-spending ways
GOVERNOR-GENERAL Mary Simon has been awarded a salary boost of $11,200 for 2024, bringing her annual paycheque to $362,800. She doesn't need it and, sorry, she doesn't deserve it.Simon came into office with high hopes as a governor-general who could bring people together, partly because she has indigenous roots.While s...
Mar 14, 2024
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SOUND OFF
SOUND OFF: Health care access, reproductive health; a key priority for B.C. government
AN ACCESSIBLE, HIGH-QUALITY and sustainable healthcare system is a top priority for British Columbians, and it is for us, too. British Columbians should have a healthcare system that is there to meet their evolving needs. David Eby and our government are making record-setting investments in recruiting and training more...
Mar 13, 2024
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ARMCHAIR MAYOR
ROTHENBURGER: It was a good day around the City council table for a change
IT WAS A GOOD DAY at Kamloops City council yesterday. It's hard to know where to begin but let's start with the plan for a cleanup of beaches.It's a great idea, one that will generate some new pride in River City. Similar to the Adopt-A-Road program, the Clean-The-Beach program will result in a cleanup of the river sho...
Mar 13, 2024
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One Man's Opinion
COLLINS: Southern evangelical Christians make a deal with the devil
ACCORDING TO A COLUMN in USA Today this week, southern evangelical Christians are flocking to Donald Trump in record numbers. Most of my life has been centered around my faith. And I have a great deal of difficulty wondering why a group of people who proclaim to believe in the Bible would align themselves with a man wi...
Mar 10, 2024
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Armchair Mayor
ROTHENBURGER: Battle for new Kamloops Centre riding bound to be contentious
THE MAN WHO THINKS non-profit agencies that criticize City council should be barred from receiving grant funding wants to be the next MLA for Kamloops Centre.Bill Sarai announced his intention this week to seek the NDP nomination for the Oct. 19 provincial election in the newly configured urban riding. With his name re...
Mar 09, 2024
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Two & Out
PETERS: Ageism alive and well in the U.S. presidential race
I'M NOT SURE WHAT President Joe Biden ingested before this week's State of the Union address - and perhaps I don't want to know.Sleepy Joe has been one of the more effective barbs thrown the president's way throughout his term, but he was anything but sleepy Thursday night, despite starting the speech well past bedtime...
Mar 08, 2024
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One Man's Opinion
COLLINS: Provincial election fever gaining momentum
ARE YOU READY FOR THE ONSLAUGHT? I hope so.For the next seven months we will hear all of the promises you could want to hear about who will do what for you and why they are the ones you should vote for in October. You can't govern without a plan - some guidelines about what you want to accomplish. But bringing those pl...
Mar 08, 2024
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Sound Off
SOUND OFF: NDP's public safety crisis failing British Columbians
ONE OF THE CORE FUNCTIONS of our provincial government is the responsibility to look after British Columbians, ensuring people have access to health care, education and safe communities. But right now, people do not feel safe in their communities. Over the last few years, we've noticed rising rates of crime and street ...
Mar 08, 2024
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ARMCHAIR MAYOR
ROTHENBURGER: Sending KFR medical response issue to committee is no answer
ASSUMING COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE recommendations are confirmed when Kamloops City council sits in regular session, taxpayers will be on the hook for a slightly lower increase than originally predicted.Tuesday was the day to deal with so-called "supplementary" budget items, a wish list generated from City Hall ...
Mar 07, 2024
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SOUND OFF
SOUND OFF: Taking action to ease everyday costs
A FEW WEEKS AGO, our government announced Budget 2024, outlining actions we're taking to address the cost of living for British Columbians. Despite rising global inflation, we are committed to supporting people here in B.C. by putting more money back into their pockets through new and expanded programs that help addres...
Mar 06, 2024
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ARMCHAIR MAYOR
ROTHENBURGER: Caputo's melodramatic video aside, prison system needs review
MP FRANK CAPUTO'S video on killer Paul Bernardo's living conditions is dramatic, even theatrical, but it turns out it might not be totally accurate.With thumping background music, file footage and a declaration that "I came face to face with Paul Bernardo," the seven-minute production has gone viral on social...
Mar 06, 2024
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ARMCHAIR MAYOR
ROTHENBURGER: Wokeism reigns with banning of classics from school library shelves
SHADES OF FAHRENHEIT 451. That's the Ray Bradbury novel from 1953, later made into a couple of movies, about a future in which books have been outlawed and firemen (i.e. firefighters) burn them.It's about censorship and the destruction of knowledge so the state can more easily control the populace. The Surrey school bo...
Mar 05, 2024
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ARMCHAIR MAYOR
ROTHENBURGER: Oregon recriminalizes while B.C. doubles down on public drug use
THE B.C. COURT OF APPEAL has rejected a bid by the provincial government to let its Restricting Public Consumption of Illegal Substances Act go into force. So an injunction against enforcing the Act remains in effect, at least for now. Those who believe drug use should be allowed in most public places are celebrating t...
Mar 04, 2024
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One Man's Opinion
COLLINS: Supplemental budget items need another look
KAMLOOPS COUNCIL IS TRYING HARD to lighten the load on taxpayers by discussing whether or not they should cut back on some of the budget items that will lead us to an approximately 11 per cent tax hike this year. Coupled with other rising costs and the possibility of going to a referendum to finance various cultural an...
Mar 03, 2024
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Armchair Mayor
ROTHENBURGER: The turbulent era that led to an apology to the Sons of Freedom
THE SONS OF FREEDOM Doukhobor community received an official apology and $10 million this week for the removal of children from their homes in the 1950s.Without question, it was a traumatic experience for those kids, a heavy-handed response to a social problem rooted in religious radicalism. At the time, though, attitu...
Mar 02, 2024
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Two & Out
PETERS: Whether they build a fence or an overpass, TRU and the City of Kamloops can't wall off their relationship
THE PROPOSAL FOR AN OVERPASS spanning Summit Drive and leading to the Thompson Rivers University campus is so old, it's almost eligible to enroll at TRU.It's so old, I remember former councillor John O'Fee discussing how jaywalkers have to be sharper than other pedestrians because they don't have the crosswalk to prote...
Mar 01, 2024
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One Man's Opinion
COLLINS: Traffic problems at First and Victoria won't be easily resolved
THE CITY OF KAMLOOPS is making yet another attempt to resolve traffic problems at First Avenue and Victoria Street. I wish them luck. These latest proposals to muck up the long-standing issues will not do the trick. The only thing that will work in the long run is a big expenditure to totally revamp that whole area, wi...
Mar 01, 2024
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SOUND OFF
SOUND OFF: NDP budget spends more, delivers less
WHEN DAVID EBY BECAME PREMIER OVER A YEAR AGO, he promised to deliver results that people could see, feel, and touch.Last week, the NDP delivered their 8th and final budget before the 2024 election, Eby's final chance to deliver on his promises to British Columbians. Unfortunately, this budget maintains the status quo ...
Feb 29, 2024
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ARMCHAIR MAYOR
ROTHENBURGER: We're right where we should be on getting a new cancer centre
NOW WE'RE GETTING SOMEWHERE with the cancer centre. Doesn't seem like it, but we're right where we should be.Last week's provincial budget has local politicians hopping mad because it didn't include mention of the cancer centre. The excuse given by the government is that it missed a printing deadline.That sounds pretty...
Feb 29, 2024
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SOUND OFF
SOUND OFF: Government bringing more housing to B.C. in new budget
LAST WEEK, MY COLLEAGUES AND I returned to Victoria for our first week back in the legislature. Our government presented our Throne Speech and Budget 2024, which lays out our priorities for a stronger British Columbia that focuses on the things that matter most to British Columbians.My colleagues and I know that housin...
Feb 28, 2024
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ARMCHAIR MAYOR
ROTHENBURGER: There's still a lot of fence mending to do between City and TRU
THERE'S STILL A LOT of fence mending to do between Thompson Rivers University and Kamloops City council.TRU president Brett Fairbairn visited yesterday's council meeting in the wake of council's tough-talking insistence that the Summit Drive pedestrian-cyclist overpass must go where the City says it should go.TRU, on t...
Feb 28, 2024
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ARMCHAIR MAYOR
ROTHENBURGER: New rule from the NDP - don't call yourself a British Columbian
BRITISH COLUMBIANS have reason to be cheesed off over an NDP government writing guide that tells us we should stop using the term "British Columbians."Here's what it says: "The term 'British Columbians' is often used to reference people living in B.C. This term excludes Indigenous Peoples who may not ide...
Feb 27, 2024
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ARMCHAIR MAYOR
ROTHENBURGER: The number 31,000 should be a wakeup call for Ukraine's allies
THIRTY-ONE THOUSAND. That's how many Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Russia's illegal invasion of their country was launched two years ago.The anniversary was on Saturday, and President Volodymyr Zelenski revealed the number yesterday, the first time his government has provided a total. It doesn't include tho...
Feb 26, 2024
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One Man's Opinion
COLLINS: Education in a rapidly changing world
EVERY WEEK, I receive a report from School District 73 Superintendent Rhonda Nixon. I think I get this because I am on the emergency contact list for my grandchild. At any rate, I am most appreciative to receive this, because it's a treasure trove of what's happening throughout the district. As the Superintendent trave...
Feb 25, 2024
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