Blog

Going blue to protect our water

Maude Barlow to take part in Whistler Writers Festival Saturday Night Gala with new book, Whose Water Is It Anyway?

Maude Barlow just might have tapped into the one issue all political parties can agree upon. It might seem like an impossible feat in the midst of this fiery federal election season, but it’s rooted in the most basic of human necessities.…

Trudeau accuses Tories of running ‘one of the dirtiest, nastiest campaigns’

MONTREAL — The Conservatives are running one of the dirtiest, nastiest election campaigns Canadians have ever seen, Justin Trudeau said Wednesday as he suggested that a Liberal government would be open to greater restrictions for third-party election advertising. “We are, I think, all of us as Canadians, a little saddened to see the polarizing, negative nature of the campaign being run by some or our opponents, which is directly imported from the challenging electoral situations we see in fellow democracies around the world,” Trudeau said at a campaign stop in Montreal.…

Scheer says ethics violations should come with bigger penalties

ESSEX, Ont. — Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer says he will add fines of up to $20,000 for politicians who break Canada’s ethics laws. Scheer is in southern Ontario this afternoon, campaigning in NDP- and Liberal-held ridings, and is trying to turn attention back to the ethics of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau.…

Court tosses lawyer’s alleged social media defamation case

Vancouver lawyer alleged review of him on Yelp was defamatory

B.C. Supreme Court has tossed out a lawyer’s attempt to sue social media company Yelp for defamation after a client’s bad review of him. A ruling posted online Oct. 15 said that, in August 2013, Vancouver lawyer Peter T. Busch created a business owner account with Yelp, using an email address.…

Whistlerites are invited to the municipality’s budget open house, set for Nov. 12

Council briefs: CAO search broadens; Q2 financials presented; Whistler Fire Rescue Service members recognized

Whistlerites will get their first look at the municipal budget a little bit earlier than usual this year. The annual budget open house—typically held in February—is set for Tuesday, Nov. 12 at the Maury Young Arts Centre.…

Tourism Whistler announces $3.5M renovation to the Conference Centre

Upgrades are designed to ‘create a more sophisticated facility with a consistent look and feel’

The Whistler Conference Centre is getting a major facelift. On Tuesday, Oct. 15, Tourism Whistler, which operates the facility, announced plans for a $3.5-million renovation that will include design and technical upgrades, such as new lighting, acoustical treatments, floor and wall coverings, furnishings and artwork.…

No winner for Whistler at all-candidates debate

Some things were very clear to me from our all-candidates debate Oct. 9—some of those on the stage thought the event was all about them personally, and, no one candidate is the “complete package.” Each of the candidates with established parties had something to offer, but I’m not sure anyone in the audience left the venue ready to tick the ballot box based on what was heard at the meeting.…

Letters to the Editor for the week of October 17

Whistler’s Celebration of International Day of the Girl Last week was our community’s seventh celebration of International Day of the Girl Child, a United Nations day that aims to highlight and address the needs and challenges girls face while promoting girls’ empowerment and the fulfilment of their human rights. …

Free will astrology for the week of October 17

ARIES (March 21-April 19):
“We can’t change anything until we get some fresh ideas, until we begin to see things differently,” wrote Aries psychologist James Hillman. I agree.…

Federal candidates talk climate, labour and more at Whistler all-candidates meeting

Advance voting up Canada-wide; election day Oct. 21

Advance polls are now closed, and the Sea to Sky’s federal election candidates are in the homestretch to election day on Monday, Oct. 21. According to preliminary figures from Elections Canada, the four days of advance polling—open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. for the first time—saw 4.7 million electors cast an early ballot, a 29-per-cent increase over the same period in 2015.…

Whistler 50 aims to become accessible ultra marathon

New 50-kilometre distance launches on Saturday, Oct. 19

Nine years ago, after the birth of her first child, Deidre Potter decided to tackle her first foot race. She had competed in plenty of 12-hour endurance mountain bike races in Australia and was starting to delve into 24-hour races when she got pregnant, so she reasoned a 100-kilometre running race wouldn’t be a stretch.…

84% of Canadians feel housing affordability negatively affects their lives

Housing is a major source of stress, yet most people also feel homeownership is an important part of life

According to a recent poll, over 80 per cent of respondents feel that housing affordability is a major issue that is negatively impacting Canadians. Zoocasa, an online real estate company, conducted an online survey of over 1,300 respondents between Sept. 17 to Sept. 29.…

Principal suspended for not telling mother of ‘inappropriate touching’

Credibility assumption harmed principal’s judgment: report

B.C.’s Commissioner for Teacher Regulation has suspended a high school principal for three days for failing to tell a mother her child had complained of inappropriate touching by another teacher. A commissioner’s consent resolution report released Oct. 15 said the student also told the principal at about 8:30 a.m. one day that they did not wish to be in the teacher’s class and that the principal should tell the student’s parents.…

Our health is not for sale

LETTER: For the week of Oct. 10

Consider this: $1 million in exchange for a part of your healthy body, let’s say half a lung. You’ll be paid over the course of your lifetime while sections of your lung are harvested each year until 50 per cent is removed.…

Harvesting big ideas about climate change and energy on the Kansas prairie

Speaker at Prairie Festival suggests some should join in civil disobedience to fight climate change

Bill McKibben didn’t always make a habit of getting arrested. He was a wunderkind, a Harvard graduate who became a staff writer at the New Yorker at the age of 25 but also was a competitive cross-country skier, ran a homeless shelter, and taught Sunday school at a Methodist church.…