Opinion

Torrance Coste Have you ever had a friend who just won’t listen when everyone is telling them to get out of an unhealthy relationship? That’s what comes to mind when I think of the B.C. government’s relationship with tree-farm licences.

At the northern tip of Vancouver Island, in a quiet village of 805 people, cradled between a tree-covered mountainside and the Neroutsos Inlet, our 13-vehicle convoy rolls in, lights and sirens blazing.

The 21 st century greeted this world with the promise of the answers to the wars and hunger and disease. But a year into this new era, these hopes came crashing down with the Twin Towers in New York.

Riding public transit between downtown Victoria and downtown Vancouver, with plenty of help from B.C. Ferries, can be a hassle.

Cowboy boots. Check. Epic country band in a cool venue. Check. Jack Knox in a bedazzled, heart-and-clover embroidered cowboy shirt...

It is said that the best result from any negotiation is one where nobody is happy. If that’s the case, the B.C. Teachers’ Federation-versus-government compromise is one for the books. Nobody won.

As we approach the 150th anniversary of Canada’s founding in 2017, we still have some unfinished business to deal with.

Canada is running a sustainability deficit. But our politicians aren’t taking this seriously — they seem to believe that balancing a green and sustainable economy is less important than balancing its budgets.

In a world forever discovering and declaring the next new thing, language struggles to keep pace. When sociologists discuss the challenges ahead, they speak of the need for “disruption” and “innovation.

Imagine: You’ve just come off a surprise election victory after promising voters a $100-billion “Prosperity Fund,” courtesy of royalties and taxes from an industry that doesn’t yet exist in B.C. and based on tax rates that still haven’t been set.