I'M AN OLD MAN. This is a fact I've been reluctant to acknowledge. I hate it when the media refer to anyone over the age of 60 as "elderly." I hate it even more when the opinions of older people are dismissed because... they're old, and therefore they don't count. My career as a full-time working journalist e...

IT WAS NO SURPRISE that the Kamloops school board chose an indigenous name for the new school in Pineview Valley.For one thing, reconciliation is on everyone's mind and an indigenous name for the school was part of that thinking. For another, the naming committee included "indigenous rights holders" who were ...

IT WILL SOON BE TIME for the Kamloops citizen satisfaction survey, when taxpayers will have an opportunity to say what they think of their city. The survey will be carried out in the fall and it's an important tool for letting City Hall know what's going well and what's not in the Tournament Capital. For example, the l...

I'LL WAGER THAT if B.C. had recall legislation for municipal politicians, eight of the nine current members of Kamloops City council would be under threat of removal from office. The only one who wouldn't be is Coun. Margot Middleton, because while she's solidly in the Gang of Eight, she stands aside from the fray. She...

CHEERS OF APPROVAL have already begun over the impending closure of The Loop after the announced sale of its current leased building. The Loop is a volunteer-run drop-in centre that provides meals and other occasional services for street people on the North Shore, and it has a chequered history there. It is an eyesore ...

CONTRARY TO PREVAILING public opinion, City Hall has not always been a place of discontent between councils and administrators.While there have been times when administration has bullied council, and times when administration has happily stepped into the gap when leadership from elected representatives was lacking, in ...

IF YOU'VE BEEN WONDERING who to blame for allowing illicit drug consumption and weapons in B.C. hospitals, and leakage from the "safe" drug supply, here's the answer: whoever's in government, anywhere.And who will fix the problem? Easy: whichever political parties are not in government, anywhere.For the past ...

IT WAS GOOD NEWS when the City announced that all the problems have been ironed out with the Canadian Union of Public Employees over the switch from Bylaws to Community Service Officers. "We can confirm that the entirety of the dispute and all differences have been resolved to the satisfaction of the City and the ...

THINGS SOMETIMES arrive in unexpected ways. Take the Integrity Group report on an investigation into Mayor Reid-Hamer Jackson's conduct at City Hall, for example. The investigation, triggered by a shouting match between the mayor and a City councillor in the mayor's office, was completed almost a year ago, and a report...

DEVELOPMENT COST CHARGES don't make for exciting reading. In fact, a lot of people probably don't even know what they are, but they go to the root of a very important question: how much should residents be expected to pay so land developers can increase their profits?Right now, with the provincial government rushing pe...

THE BYRON McCORKELL affair is over. Let it stay that way.Acting CAO McCorkell was suspended from his job, then he was re-instated. Let it end there.Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson, at first quoted as saying he intends to carry through with his original plan to explain the suspension on April 9, currently appears inclined to l...

THE CARBON TAX hasn't changed my life. I don't drive less because of it.Yet, I support this tax because I'm an environmentalist at heart and worry about climate change, and the experts say the carbon tax accomplishes what it's designed to do, which is discourage people from burning so much fossil fuel.I just don't happ...

THE LATEST BIT of turmoil at City Hall was always bound to end badly. When Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson suspended acting CAO Byron McCorkell on Tuesday, it kick-started a chain of events that has become all too common. Somebody leaks it to the media and by yesterday the whole world knows about it, though not the details. C...

A LITTLE MORE than a year ago, TRU was in the midst of a major controversy over allegations made against two of its senior administrators. It was big news. Dozens of claims of bullying, sexual harassment and disrespect were made, and the university launched a lengthy and very expensive - $1 million - investigation. Whe...

I'LL BET YOU THOUGHT last Sunday was a celebration of the Irish missionary St. Patrick, a time to wear something green and drink green-coloured beer.Well, that, too, but more importantly it was the anniversary of the St. Patrick's Day manifesto, the day in 2023 when all eight City councillors gathered the media in coun...

I READ AN ARTICLE the other day in which Mayor Reid-Hamer Jackson says the honorific "Your Worship" has lost some of its meaning and he's OK with plain "Reid." Unless those who address him with "Your Worship" are sincere, he said, there's not much point to it. A number of other Canadian ma...

WHEN BC CONSERVATIVE candidates Ward Stamer and Dennis Giesbrecht held their introductory news conference last weekend, the first question they were asked was if they felt they would split the free-enterprise vote between themselves and BC United. Not at all, they replied. There are "significant differences" ...

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...