AltWeeklies Wire
Canada's Harmonized Sales Tax Will Hurt Alternative Healthnew
Peter Wood, a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, is just one of many B.C. health professionals who are going to have to start charging the 12-percent harmonized sales tax when it comes into effect next July.
The Georgia Straight |
Gail Johnson |
08-18-2009 |
Science
Hello Local, Goodbye Global: Relocalization Movement Gains Momentumnew
A burgeoning relocalization movement has the potential to revolutionize the way we eat, shop, work, and vacation. The movement's proponents argue that it's an essential response to climate change and peak oil, which both threaten to transform agriculture around the world
The Georgia Straight |
Charlie Smith |
07-27-2009 |
Economy
Take a Pass on Back Surgery and Decompress Your Spine Insteadnew
Spinal decompression, a procedure what involves computer-assisted application of "distraction forces" may provide relief for individuals with chronic back problems. However, critics feel that laypeople may be forking over large amounts of cash for a treatment that hasn't been scientifically proven to work.
The Georgia Straight |
Gail Johnson |
07-27-2009 |
Science
Big Brother is Watching You With RFID Microchipsnew
Consumer-privacy advocate Katherine Albrecht advises people to resist RFID. "There are certainly things you can do with RFID that might be cool, but the costs of introducing this technology into our society so vastly outweigh the benefits, the technology shouldn’t be deployed at all," she says.
The Georgia Straight |
Erin Millar |
07-27-2009 |
Civil Liberties
War Resister Brad McCall Has Gone into Hidingnew
Fearing arrest by the Mounties and deportation to the United States, former American soldier Brad McCall fled his East Vancouver home and is living on the lam.
The Georgia Straight |
Charlie Smith |
07-10-2009 |
War
Canada Ratifies Peru Free Trade Agreement, Stays Silent on Amazon Massacrenew
Unlike the Canada-Colombia free-trade deal, the Canada-Peru agreement almost slipped under the radar. But then the bloodshed in the Peruvian Amazon earlier this month put Canada's push for free trade with Peru under the microscope.
The Georgia Straight |
Dawn Paley |
06-22-2009 |
Business & Labor
AIDS Professionals Urge Expansion of HIV Care to Vulnerable Communitiesnew
The goal of a new HIV prevention program in British Columbia is to drastically increase access to effective treatments among vulnerable communities.
The Georgia Straight |
Jessica Werb |
05-18-2009 |
Science
Pipeline Would Bring Tankers Into B.C. Inletsnew
Although governments prefer to dance around the prickly question of an oil-tanker ban on the British Columbia coast, conservation groups, many First Nations, and other critics say the reasons for a moratorium still stand: simply that tanker traffic and oil spills pose a serious threat.
The Georgia Straight |
Andrew Findlay |
02-09-2009 |
Animal Issues
Canadian Artists Are Getting Poorernew
A new study indicates that Canadian artists are poorer now than they were over a decade ago.
The Georgia Straight |
Jessica Werb |
02-09-2009 |
Economy
British Columbia Municipal Cops Call for Federal Police Accountabilitynew
Municipal police officers in British Columbia want Royal Canadian Mounted Police forces doing contract police work in the province to be accountable to the same civilian-oversight process for public complaints as the municipal police are.
The Georgia Straight |
Carlito Pablo |
01-26-2009 |
Policy Issues
Olympic Critic Says Vancouver Charter Changes Threaten Civil Libertiesnew
Neuroscientist Chris Shaw, along with other speakers who attended Thursday's meeting of the Vancouver City Council, is very concerned about the impact on civil liberties of 16 new amendments to the Vancouver Charter.
The Georgia Straight |
Matthew Burrows |
01-26-2009 |
Civil Liberties
Avian Influenza Confirmed in B.C. Commercial Poultry Farmnew
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has confirmed the presence of H5 avian influenza virus in a commercial poultry operation in Southern British Columbia.
The Georgia Straight |
Charlie Smith |
01-26-2009 |
Science
Snowstorms Don't Mean Climate Change Threat Has Passednew
Andrew Weaver, a lead author with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, explained that whenever a cold streak hits, some people question accepted theories of climate change and grow skeptical about global warming. But a few days of snow does not mean that the Earth is not getting warmer. "People mix up weather and climate," Weaver says.
The Georgia Straight |
Travis Lupick |
01-13-2009 |
Environment
Israel Must Make Peace with Neighborsnew
The war against Hamas in Gaza looks more and more like the three-week Israeli war against Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006, which could hardly be called a success. It will last about as long. It will kill about as many Arabs, probably a thousand or so. And it will end with Hamas, like Hezbollah, still able to fire rockets at Israel.
The Georgia Straight |
Gwynne Dyer |
01-13-2009 |
International
Users Get Tests for Bad Cocaine in British Columbianew
The province's health officer has confirmed that testing is now available for people with a fever who believe they may have used contaminated cocaine.
The Georgia Straight |
Matthew Burrows |
01-05-2009 |
Drugs
