All posts by Guest Post

Health, Politics

Why a Top BC Heart Surgeon Quit for Politics

By Moira Wyton, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Dr. Sanjiv Gandhi was more frustrated than usual. The pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon and former chief of cardiac surgery at BC  Children’s Hospital had just spent a shift in the midst of an  unrelenting respiratory illness season. In between caring for his most  urgent patients, he’d had to inform some parents their children’s  non-emergency surgeries were being postponed yet again.

Before driving home that  night of Nov. 14, Gandhi fired off a tweet to his few dozen followers at  the time, calling for mask-wearing as a “mandatory inconvenience”  during such a crisis. 

The tweet blew up,  gathering more than 11,500 likes to date. It also added to the ire from  Gandhi’s employer, the Provincial Health Services Authority, for his  comments to media outside the official channels. 

Continue reading Why a Top BC Heart Surgeon Quit for Politics →
Rivers & Oceans

Death on the Coast: A Stormy Night, a Missing Tugboat

By  Zak Vescera, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Troy Pearson had never wanted a job on land. On Feb. 10, 2021, he got up early to make a big breakfast for his wife, Judy Carlick-Pearson,  and their 11-year-old son who had an 8 a.m. hockey practice in Prince  Rupert. 

Pearson worked on tugboats  at Wainwright Marine, a tug and barge company in nearby Kitimat. He had  been on the water since he was a 10-year-old on his dad’s fishing boat,  but Carlick-Pearson said safety problems at work were keeping him up at  night. “He didn’t feel safe,” she said. 

Continue reading Death on the Coast: A Stormy Night, a Missing Tugboat →
Finances

Canada’s emergency wage subsidy served as ‘blank cheque’ for companies: Canadians for Tax Fairness

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Some of Canada’s biggest corporations received a pandemic subsidy intended to keep their employees on the payroll, but a new report finds that in many cases, these large companies actually reduced employment while padding the pockets of shareholders.

These findings, from a report by Canadians for Tax Fairness, should make Canadians angry and point to a double standard, the federal NDP’s finance critic Daniel Blaikie told Canada’s National Observer in an interview. It is “egregious” for the federal government to have the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) “hound” some individuals who applied for and received financial support through emergency programs like the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) to return the money, he added.

Continue reading Canada’s emergency wage subsidy served as ‘blank cheque’ for companies: Canadians for Tax Fairness →
Sports

Soon-to-be Stars

Originally published on qathet Living

The U15 Powell River Queens are about to go global in the International Ice Hockey Federation’s GGG event

Sitting on the benches just off the rink at the Rec Complex – skates half-on, pre-practice – the U15 Queens hockey team gathered around to hear a special announcement. They had been chosen to play a special game February 18, against the Sechelt Blues, representing all of BC, in the Global Girls Game (GGG) event which will feature female hockey teams from all over the world. It took the teens a few minutes to realize that this is, indeed a big deal.

Continue reading Soon-to-be Stars →
Environment

A place worth fighting for

Logging and real estate development threaten Stillwater Bluffs. A growing number of the bluffs’ “friends” are committed to preserving it.

By David Harris, Originally published on qathet Living

Moving across town can be stressful. Moving to a completely new town can be even more stressful. Add in that the new town is two ferries away from anywhere, and that you picked it because of its natural beauty and access to wilderness rather than because you actually knew anyone there, and the potential stress can reach Guinness-Book-of-Records levels.

But sometimes Fortune smiles on the foolish as well as on the brave. In my case, Fortune’s smile was the opening of a climbing gym in Powell River on almost the same winter day I parked the U-Haul truck in my new driveway, and my wife and I were soon welcomed into the local climbing community.

And not long after winter turned to spring, one of my new friends said “Hey, let’s go to the Bluffs tomorrow!”

Continue reading A place worth fighting for →