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Opinion
BEPPLE: The politics of pesticides
Soon, Kamloops could have a bylaw banning pesticides outright on lawns and flowers, but allow use on vegetable gardens and fruit trees. Or not. It is still up in the air whether the bylaw will pass or not. Last week, city council debated Coun. Tina Lange’s motion to ban outright the application of pesticides on...
POULSEN: Good news, bad news and a conspiracy theory at the airport
People care about their airport, probably more than most other public buildings. The airport is the first impression for many visitors, including our family and friends. We want it to make a statement on our behalf, in the way more attention is paid to the front door than the one in the back with the...
LOEWEN: ‘It’s good to know that people are still dying these days’
Death. It’s not the hottest topic on the cocktail party circuit, or the returned-to-refrain at one’s coffee-shop meet-ups. It’s not. We’re transfixed by Death, of course. But it’s something to observe, for the most part. It spills into one’s purview through the endless screens that mediate our lived lives. And if the bloodbaths reported on...
ANDERSON: No sympathy for split in Canada’s political left
This is turning into my favourite political summer in a long while. I was a small-c conservative on the heady evening of a late spring election in 1993 when a Reform wave swept across western Canada, painting the west in Reform green and driving a deep wedge into the heart of Canadian conservatism. I remember...
PARKER: Bye bye Bruce, hello trailblazer
On Monday morning my Instagram feed exploded with the face (and breasts) of a woman I had never seen before. “Oh,” I thought to myself, “maybe Fifty Shades of Grey has a new lead actress.” Only seconds later did I realize that the woman gracing the cover of Vanity Fair and the feeds of tech-obsessed...
HELSTON: Knowing who your real friends are
Usually, we only hear about the girls who kept their conversations with strange men a secret. The girls who found themselves trapped in a vicious circle of extortion; nude photos or exposure of what was already obtained to their friends, family, classmates. We hear their stories, recounted in courtrooms, of how it all began, innocently...
HELSTON: Knowing who your real friends are
Usually, we only hear about the girls who kept their conversations with strange men a secret. The girls who found themselves trapped in a vicious circle of extortion; nude photos or exposure of what was already obtained to their friends, family, classmates. We hear their stories, recounted in courtrooms, of how it all began, innocently...
POULSEN: My conversation with online scammer Najibah
Have you ever answered a scam email? Of course not. You’re not stupid. I, on the other hand . . . Here is my conversation with Najibah Khazal. I warn you that it’s kind of long, but justice needs to be done to Najibah’s imaginative prose and heartfelt sincerity. Najibah to me: Greetings my beloved...
LOEWEN: For what it’s worth: Thoughts on Truth & Reconciliation
Callous indifference to, willful ignorance of Canadian history’s catalogue of insult towards, and impatience with Indigenous peoples’ aspirations have pretty much defined Canada’s regard for First Nations people. And in the words of Stephen Stills’ classic, “For What It’s Worth”: ‘Think it's time we stop Hey, what's that sound Everybody look what's going down...' June...
ANDERSON: Bill C-51: Still no roaming death squads
Well, here we are in the early days of Bill C-51, the "controversial" bill that's supposed to mean, according to a very noisy contingent on social media, the end of freedom and human rights in Canada. The most bloodcurdling memes show up in hysterical progression on Facebook..."Bill C-51, why all the Fuhrer?" and "Canada is...
PARKER: Catching a wave of courage
As I type this, my hair is filled with salt and sand and I refuse to wash it. This isn’t entirely abnormal for me, seeing as I firmly believe in a don’t-wash-don’t-tell hair policy, but the fact that it tastes like the ocean and partially like blood is an indication I should veto that policy...
