Opinion

  Sonia Kashuk was just about the last one out the door Wednesday. Professional make-up artist to the stars and supermodels (like Cindy Crawford) Kashuk has her own line of lush cosmetics. Her products are widely featured in Target stores across the U.S. and Canada. Baskets piled high with Kashuk brand blush, eyeliner, lipstick, nail polish, facial cleansers and other beauty products still remained in the hours before Target closed its doors to the public at the Prince George location....

  My first encounter with Ben Meisner happened when I was in Williams Lake. I was the editor of the Tribune and it was election time. Ben called me up and said he wanted to put me on his radio show to talk about the Cariboo election races (I don’t remember whether it was a federal or provincial election). He slotted me 10 minutes and I spent some time preparing. After the radio gig was over somebody asked me what it was like. I joked I talked for about two minutes and Ben for the other...

VICTORIA – Why did the B.C. government suddenly slam the door on their old friend George Abbott, after spending months recruiting him to head up the B.C. Treaty Commission? The instant media narrative, embraced by a shocked Abbott and then by NDP leader John Horgan, was that this was payback for grievances nursed by Premier Christy Clark from the 2012 B.C. Liberal leadership contest. Done on a whim, Horgan said after a week grilling Clark and Aboriginal Relations Minister John Rustad. Clark...

This week marks a bit of a milestone for me. Last night I sang my swansong at the Prince George Chamber of Commerce. After four years on the board of directors, three-and-a-half of those on the executive committee, I am no longer on the board. It was by choice, however I did have to deliver a financial report last night, so after that my decision to not run again might have been timed perfect. As former Chilcotin author, columnist, newspaperman, and MP Paul St. Pierre used to say about his...

It is truly a shame that the inquest into the deaths of Glenn Roche and Alan Little has gone so far off the rails. As Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe pointed out Wednesday, inquests are not trials. They are supposed to be adversarial. They are about the “public need for ascertaining the facts.” She also pointed out that participants testifying at an inquest are protected. In other words, what they say at an inquest cannot be used against them somewhere else. It’s a key part of the process....

  It is sad when our collective intelligence fails us. The recent labour action at the university is another example of utilizing brute force to try to resolve a dispute. Strikes and lockout still have a place and can be useful tools in bargaining in industry. It is questionable if they are the correct tools to use as we endeavour to resolve a dispute where significant collateral damage to innocent parties is the result. In the fields such as education or health care and other fields,...

Lesson learned. Read your own newspaper online before you leave the office. I could have been saved myself a lot of confusion, anxiety, angst and profuse sweating had I done that. First, just the facts. I was driving down 15th Avenue Wednesday morning, as usual driving carefully and minding my own business – this is my story so I can tell it the way I want to – on my way to a photo assignment at the PG Railway and Forestry Museum. As an astute reporter, I began to feel very uneasy. I...

Yes, it’s spring in Prince George, despite the little bit of snow we got on Saturday. One easy way to tell the seasons have changed is to see the number of drivers being forced to do the pothole two-step on local streets. Just driving in a fairly limited area on the weekend, especially Sunday, I found a few spots that had nasty-looking holes. There were a couple in the eastbound lane of 18th Avenue, just past Ospika, as well as a couple on the entrance to the Exhibition Grounds off 18th...

Editor: I suggest (Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs Grand Chief Stewart) Phillip ask himself that question (Is this man a terrorist, Free Press, March 13), without the bias of being First Nations. You are correct sir, you are not a terrorist because of your beliefs. Chaining yourself to a tree or putting up a blockades also are not acts of terrorism, so why must you believe what this bill “really” is? If you care and respect this land then don’t make everything about your people....

Editor: We, the Northern British Columbia Dental Hygienists Society are writing this letter in response to the CNC executive’s recommendation to suspend the dental assisting and dental hygiene programs. Like many others who heard this news, we were stunned by such a thought. These programs have brought much needed oral health education and employment to the north. As a society of more than 140 dental hygiene members from the north, almost all of us were educated at CNC over the past 28...