Category: Opinion

For the sake of my sanity I’ve been trying my best to stay disconnected from most political discussions lately, especially those that occur south of the border. As amusing as it can be to watch the … well, whatever it is you want to call it that’s going on with our closest neighbours, it can…

I sometimes get calls from people frustrated with city hall. I try to give them my best advice.  As a former city councillor, I understand the multi-directional pressures city council members and city staffers face. I also know that ultimately the citizens need to be in the drivers’ seat — all of them, together, not a…

O’Reilly’s mayorship may mean more “pies in the sky” Dear Editor, Now that Mike O’Reilly has announced his candidature for the post of Mayor of Kamloops in next year’s election, he has made it a bit easier for me to decide who NOT to vote for. Mike has been extravagant with his Build campaigns, promising…

According to The Democracy Project, a joint initiative led by the Public Policy Forum and the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University, more than 340 communities have lost local news providers since 2008. The report also talks about 11 recent new starts in Canadian community news providers — and one of those…

If you asked me in August 2024 if I would be helping run our community newspaper, I would have laughed pretty loudly. If you ask me today if I am good at helping run the paper, I would say I am still learning. As a citizen, I am a huge supporter of trusted local news.…

It’s hard to believe we’re rapidly approaching the first anniversary of the Kamloops Chronicle. I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve gotten older and time moves differently now, or if it’s because we’re only putting out one issue a month, but as of next month we will have been publishing this thing for a year.…

In April 2023, I found myself in a downtown Vancouver cafe with Mayor Reid Hamer Jackson. Relationships between the Mayor and Council were already pretty tense and, after a long day at a Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) housing summit, I asked him if he would like to go for a drink. He graciously accepted.…

Proportional ballot idea is naïve Dear Editor: I feel obliged to respond to the letter by Andrew Tomsen that appeared in the August issue of the Kamloops Chronicle.  He implies that democracy would be better if we used a proportional ballot for provincial and federal elections.  He suggests that this process would ensure that each…

I’m not a big fan of artificial intelligence. That might surprise some of you who know me as a tech-friendly nerd who bought my first PC in my early 20s, leapt onto the Internet as soon as it was remotely possible, and has owned a variety of different gadgets — things like Palm Pilots, Blackberries,…

I’m proud to be a Kamloopsian all year round. And, in the past month, Kamloops has really been shining. Today, I just want to tell the story of some of my personal experiences. With all the craziness and challenges in today’s world, my hope is that you will also reflect on the positivity that is…