This is where cold hard facts give way to the hottest of takes, mostly mine I suppose. I’m the editor, Marshall Jones.

Want to include yours? Listen, this isn’t the comment section, this isn’t social media. Discussion and debate requires context and a wee bit of bravery — we need your name and where you’re writing from. Include it in your account or email me anytime.

I’m starting to get a disturbingly familiar feeling about Prime Minister Mark Carney.

Feels a little… Justin Trudeau-y so far.

Trudeau was a breath of fresh air after Stephen Harper’s Conservatives, struttin’ around with his shirt off “because it’s 2015”, remember? Turned out it was mostly air — ten years of deeply unserious governing, pandering to a base electorate and generally standing still as a country.

Now here’s Carney. A serious leader after Trudeau was like a sip of cold water on a hot day. He wrote one heck of a speech in Davos, Switzerland and got everyone all fired up.

That was in January.

Since then, he hasn’t spent much time back here in Canada, the country he runs, and when he has, it’s been a series of missteps.

His latest bungle of all messaging regarding an affordable housing plan in BC is a perfect example. Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives have a far more robust online game and they’ve been effective where Carney and the Liberals are weak. They sold it as a bailout for developers of undersold Vancouver condos and won.

It took Premier David Eby to explain the plan properly, almost a week after it was announced.

It’s hard to overstate how badly this went, except his communications haven’t fared well from the start. It’s hard to tell at this point if it’s Carney, his people or if he’s not listening to those people.

After ten years of Trudeau, I wonder how much leash they can continue to give without seeing him do something and do it right.

What do you think? Email me at mjones@infonews.ca.

Marshall Jones

Managing Editor

The upcoming municipal election campaign is promising to be a doozy.

In Kamloops, they learned nothing about the consequences of vote splitting so it appears they’re going to do it again. Roughly four years ago, three council incumbents opted to take a run for the mayor’s chair, allowing Reid Hamer-Jackson to walk up the middle.

Reid and his wife Lori are going through a tough time and we wish them all the best. I also really wish, once again, for the mayor to get his priorities straight (this probably isn’t the time to try scoring political points.)

Meanwhile in Kelowna, Ron Cannan is out front in the mayor’s race while the one candidate who could have perhaps beat him — Loyal Wooldridge — isn’t running at all. If some quality candidates don’t start popping up soon, this city council is going to be vastly different a year from now.

Which brings me to my favourite story so far. Nevermind the dangers of AI psychosis, this guy makes no apologies for the fact his entire campaign is artificial intelligence. His AI is reinforcing his best ideas such as using AI-generated policies to create AI-generated scripts to produce as many AI-generated videos as he can that changes how he says it and where he says it. And he thinks people will vote for him BECAUSE of it (and also promote his business, which I have to wonder isn’t the real reason for this and previous campaigns.)

Does that make you want to vote for him? What are you seeing out there so far? Email me at mjones@infonews.ca.

Marshall Jones

Managing Editor

It was a campfire.

I expected folks to react with more exclamation points and questions marks when news broke that that’s what kicked off fire season in the Central Okanagan last week.

It was discovered around 11 a.m. on a Wednesday when the wind kicked up. Presumably sometime overnight, perhaps early in the morning, someone didn’t think twice about starting a fire in a nature park in West Kelowna surrounded by homes.

In June. In a drought.

We can all agree we got lucky, I’d argue it was even a good result to clean up some fuel in there. The next few years are going to be stunning in that park.

But we know around here that kind of luck doesn’t last. We have vast swathes of thick forest all around the Okanagan and Kamloops.

People have complained for years about campfires on riverbanks, parks and makeshift camps for years around all these areas.

It won’t be the last one. No one knows who did it. Could be homeless people, could be grad partiers. Could be a romantic date night gone wrong for all we really know.

But we aren’t curing ignorance today, so how do you even solve a problem like this?

I’d like to hear your ideas, email me any time.

Marshall Jones

Managing Editor

iN RESPONSE

iN RESPONSE to Friday’s newsletter opinion-editorial on Prime Minister Carney’s BC condo bungle

I might agree with your recent info, only I voted for Mark Carney to deal with the mentally challenged people of the USA and their leader, they have not gone away yet.
The real threat to our way of life is that if one or more of these world idiots push the right button at the right time you will not have to worry about Conservatives, Liberals, NDP, or Greens as the world will not exist.
We have not learned from two world wars, cold war, Cuban crisis, that mankind can destroy itself in a second. With that in mind you can continue worrying about housing, crime, separation, and all the other things that are day to day problems, which you pointed out Pierre Poilievre can solve overnight if elected.
Well enough of the rant, but I do believe Mark Carney is trying to keep Canada out of a depression, keep our sovereignty, then make arrangements with other world leaders for economic/defence agreements to fill the void of the US.
Keep up the comments, I might not always agree but it makes me think, thank you.

— Wayne Miller via email

I think he is all talk before doing his homework! One example is the new port at Churchill Manitoba!
Over the years, virtually all serviceable spur rail lines have been removed from Sask. and Manitoba. In addition the rail beds apparently are not at the level required to absorb the shipping weights over the tracks. Churchill is not in any shape to handle all the new activity through this port. So before they can ship one carload of product, they need to install new spur lines, new rail beds, especially over the tundra areas, port upgrades, fleet of icebreakers to keep the port open during winter months. This will require years to be done, again, before anything gets shipped. This seems to be Carney’s MO….make the announcement and hope for the best!

— Jeff Wuolle via email

I think this idea is fantastic and should go ahead full steam. What an innovative way to get housing back to the needy. And save money for the province. The developer’s don’t get a hand out.
Carney is brilliant. Whether he’s away from Canada for several trips, he is doing it on behalf Canada, making deals, to keep our sovereignty in place. Making partnerships that will compensate for the traitors south of here.
The conservatives are sneaky and I am sick to death of PP’s constant whining and lying, he’s a Trumper and let’s never forget that!

— Diane Courneyeur via email

I don’t know how anyone could buy-in to a second silver spoon failure of a leader who doesn’t read the room.
Carney may not be involved with a carnival, unless you count his career as a failure of bankers among other failure bankers but the man has barely shown himself as such.
Carney is as much a fraud and joke as many consider Trump to be.

— Patrick Longworth via email

If I make a poor investment in stocks, bonds, or a rental home, can I ask for money from the government(s)?
BC has stopped people from renting out properties on short term basis after purchasing them under old rental rules. It seems they made bad investments the Govt of BC is penalizing rather than paying out.
Life is not fair but rules should be deployed evenly.

Evan Winkelaar, Enderby, via email

iN PHOTOS: Wildlife spotted feasting on berries in Thompson-Okanagan

WOW what great photos.

— Bonnie Derry via iNFOnews.ca

iN PHOTOS: More feral cats rescued in ongoing effort to reduce colonies in Kamloops

In answer to your article about feral cats and not finding places to place these kittens/cats, the problem in Kamloops is so many buildings have a NO Pets Rule. I would foster but that’s my problem!

— Betty Cadre via email

iN RESPONSE to Monday’s newsletter opinion-editorial on the West Kelowna wildfire

My opinion for preventing fires is bigger fines and penalties. Fines should start at $5,000 or more, there is no excuse for lighting a fire during these conditions. Bigger penalties would certainly help as of now it is a few hundred dollars, which is nothing to a lot of people.
There should also be much more advertising on prevention on TV, billboards and Facebook. Not to date myself, but I remember the Smokey the Bear commercials on TV and big billboards as a child, to deter people from throwing cigarettes from their car windows.

— Maureen Macdonald via email

To start with how about raising the fine from $1,000 to something more like a deterrent. And some mandated firefighting and clean up.

— Bonnie Derry via email

Could there be more ads aimed at city folks who go recreating in the dry Interior?
Showing how ATV and dirt bike mufflers can light up dry grasses, how any kind of steel tool can make a spark, how you can enjoy the outdoors without lighting a campfire, how easy it is for a roach you drop to start everything on fire. Maybe get the beer and pop and pot and chip companies involved advertising their product while cleverly informing people? Get the little RV boxes to have that info painted on their sides along with information on the insides about pulling over to let folks pass:).

— Jane Duber via email

iN NUMBERS: British Columbians want to bring back the death penalty for murderers

What we need is a life sentence for murder that is exactly that. Life behind bars not 25 years.

— Bonnie Derry via iNFOnews.ca

Salmon Arm dentist jailed for ‘abusive and demeaning’ social media posts

People who have known this guy for years are not at all surprised. Since childhood he’s been a Dateline episode in the making.

— Carrie Little via iNFOnews.ca

Canada looks to build up to 10 new nuclear reactors, sell more Candu reactors abroad

Of course PP has doubts about it. 😆

— Bonnie Derry via iNFOnews.ca

iN RESPONSE to Friday’s newsletter opinion-editorial on provincial government over regulation

Dear Mr. Jones,

Do you remember way back when the NDP were elected and Glen Clark was premier from 1996 to 1999? My husband and I had a mortgage broker company at that time. When the NDP came into power, within three short years they damn near bankrupted us and our business. It seems that our province will be doing well until an NDP party is elected and within a couple years even their own party wants their premier to step down. Remember Dave Barrett? Glen Clark? Of course being a business person I would never elect an NDP party. Never. Borrow and spend seems to be their ideology. A more right of left ideology is invest, attract business to our province, build cash cows (Coquihalla and Highway to Whistler, Convention centre big enough to handle big conventions, Olympics) etc.

This government has to go. As usual with ‘hoops, handouts and clawbacks’ yet again they are not only not attracting investment to this province but driving it out. I don’t know about the current conservatives but jeez anything is better than what is there now.

Your editorial was right bang on.

— Helen Price via email

Disclaimer: Any views, thoughts, and opinions expressed on this page are solely those of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of the editor, iNFOnews.ca, iNFOTEL MULTIMEDIA, its partners, principals or advertisers.