The art of compromise — a case study

I spent three days in Prince Rupert the end of last week, the first time I’d visited that city in about 30 years or so. It’s a beautiful place, though I’m not sure I’d want to spend a winter there.
Reason for the visit was that I joined several other Kamloops Chamber of Commerce board members [...]

How do we know how many swine flu cases there are?

It was just after 11 p.m. when I heard the door shut. Syd was home from a four-day business trip to the Coast.
Her timing was perfect — I was lying in bed beginning to feel sorry for myself.
“How’d everything go?” she asked.
“I seem to have a thing happening with my stomach,” I said.
Twenty minutes later, [...]

Real reason Liberals won in Kamloops

Like everyone else, I’ve been analyzing why things went the way they did Tuesday. What did the Liberals do right, what did the NDP do wrong?
Then, as I was looking at our front page the other morning, it came clear. There, on page one, was a picture of Kevin Krueger and Terry Lake doing huggies.
To [...]

Producing website a whole new experience

Election  nights, I usually spend some time guesting with one of the electronic media, then visiting a couple of campaign offices before sashaying into the office to fire off an editorial.
Last night was different — I actually had to put in some work. In fact, I never made it out of the office. City editor [...]

Campaign workers feel the pressure

It’s very often the case that candidates are easier to deal with than their campaign teams. This provincial election campaign has exhibited flashes of that, though, for the most part, the folks who toil passionately for their candidates have been co-operative and helpful.
This evening, though, I received a call from Brenda Craig, a former national [...]

Hanson Brothers enter local election fray

Politics in B.C. is often referred to as a blood sport. Comparisons are drawn to mud wrestling, hockey and other pugilistic endeavors.
Indeed, Liberal candidates Terry Lake and Kevin Krueger have sometimes been like the infamous Hanson Brothers of the old Slap Shot movie as they crosscheck their hapless NDP opponents.
When people get bored with elections, [...]

Politics suddenly a contact sport

Written for publication in The Kamloops Daily News on Friday morning, May 8, 2009
Politics became a contact sport in Kamloops Thursday night.
As the media-sponsored provincial election forum ground its way through a raucous night of shouts, accusations, and jostling for political points — and that was the audience — things got a bit testy at [...]

The fruits and veggies theory of STV

Sorry I didn’t get this posted promptly, but for those who may not have read it in last Saturday’s Daily News, or seen it on the KDN website, here’s my regular column from May 2. See you at the forum tonight, 7 p.m. TRU Grand Hall.
In 2005, I voted against BC-STV because I didn’t understand [...]

Elections forums good way to judge candidates

Election forums are as much about forming gut feelings about candidates as they are for getting information on how they stand on specific policy matters. Last night’s chamber of commerce forum was the first chance I’ve had to see all the candidates in one room.
The chamber forums are tightly controlled and designed to avoid any [...]

Is The Daily News biased toward STV?

It was a sincere question. Is The Daily News biased against STV?
“If so, I think you owe it to your readers to say so.”
That was what a reader had to say after reading our coverage of the Chamber of Commerce-Daily News forum on the single transferable vote. The basis of the comment was that she [...]